Weather halts prep sports

All high school athletic events involving teams from Hamilton County scheduled for today have been postponed due to inclement weather. The county school system mandates that if schools are closed because of weather, no athletic events can be played.

Also, all of today's scheduled prep events in outlying counties, including Bradley, Marion and Rhea, as well as Northwest Georgia have been either postponed or canceled.

The Howard at Brainerd basketball game which was set for tonight, has been moved to Saturday, with the girls tipping off at 6, followed by the boys' game.

"We had already discussed it and decided that once school was called off for the snow, we would just play on Saturday," Brainerd coach Robert High said.

Area wrestling

The annual Central and Soddy-Daisy wrestling tournaments are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Saturday.

Soddy-Daisy's tournament will feature a 16-team varsity tournament, a junior varsity tournament and a girls' tournament.

Teams joining the host Trojans are Blackman, Bolton, Bradley Central, Cookeville, Cordova, Greenback, Trussville (Ala.) Hewitt, Independence, Kingston, Notre Dame, Ooltewah, Science Hill, Seigel, Tullahoma and Walker Valley.

"I think the tournament is well balanced, extremely strong. It is going to be competitive. What's great about the field is that there are several medium to heavy caliber teams," Soddy-Daisy coach Steve Henry said. "We have teams from upper East Tennessee, southeast Tennessee, the mid-state and the west which adds to the diversity. We get to see people from around the state and I'm sure they're coming here wanting to see Chattanooga teams and Chattanooga officiating and let our referees see them before the state."

In the latest coaches' poll, Bradley Central is ranked No. 1, Science Hill No. 6 and Ooltewah No. 10. Independence, Tullahoma and Walker Valley are listed among teams receiving votes.

The Trojans won the tournament last year, outscoring second-place Independence by 53.5 points. Ooltewah finished third, Science Hill fourth, Blackman fifth, Notre Dame sixth, Cookeville seventh and Trussville eighth.

Among returning champions are Notre Dame's Grayson Mullin, Walker Valley's Cole Dias and Blackman's Josh Patton.

The power balance shifts this year, though, with the addition of Bradley Central's Bears, the defending Division I dual and traditional state champions.

Teams entered in the varsity event are Arab, Ala., David Crockett, Coffee County, Lookout Valley, Fort Payne, Ala., Chattanooga Christian, McMinn Central, Sale Creek, Sequatchie County, Red Bank, East Ridge, Christian Academy of Knoxville, Silverdale Baptist, Signal Mountain, East Hamilton and Brainerd.

Darden, Fugh sign

East Ridge seniors Dimon Darden and Shalonda Fugh recently signed volleyball scholarships with Tennessee Wesleyan College.

Both were outside and middle hitters and were the Lady Pioneers' only seniors. Darden was a three-year starter and two-time all district and all region player. She had 339 kills, 70 blocks, 109 aces and 145 digs last season.

Fugh is also a three-year starter and two-time all district and all region performer. She had 391 kills, 108 blocks, 20 aces and 315 digs last season.

"They're talented enough to make a difference in a program at the next level," East Ridge coach Catherine Neely said. "Over the years they've worked hard, stuck it out and invested a lot of their time to be better players."

Dade ranked No. 1 in AA

It wasn't the news that his program had ascended to the top spot in the latest Georgia Class AA coach's basketball poll which pleased Dade County boys coach Glen Hicks. It was the way his players took it.

"It was kind of like, OK, that's good," said Hicks of his 13-0 team. "They realize we've got some bigger fish to fry. They're pretty focused. We like the ranking. It gives our kids some pride of accomplishment. The bad thing is we're gong to get everbody's A-game and make their season if they beat us. We're tickled, though. A lot of the credit goes to the guys last year. They set the foundation and these guys have carried on."

The fast-paced Wolverines, led by all-star guards Andrew Houts and Travis Core, are averaging just over 100 points per game as they head into their Region 7-AA schedule.

The other area schools in the polls are all girls teams. Northwest Whitfield is ranked fourth in Class AAAA, Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe fourt in AAA and Gordon Lee seventh in Class A.