The finalists for this year's Scrappy Moore Male Athlete of the Year already own plenty of hardware for their high school athletic accomplishments, but each would like to add one more piece.
The finalists are Bradley Central's Cole Copeland, Trion's Gabe Howell, East Ridge's Traneil Moore, Baylor's Ryan Parker, Calhoun's Kaelan Riley and Rhea County's Chase Sholl.
The winner will be announced at the annual Times Free Press Best of Preps banquet Thursday evening. Doors open at 5:30, and the guest speaker is former Tennessee All American and current Kansas City Chiefs All-Pro defensive back Eric Berry.
Copeland was a Mr. Football semifinalist as a junior after throwing for 2,489 yards and 26 touchdowns and rushing for 864 yards and 14 TDs in 2015. He also helped the basketball Bears win the District 5-AAA regular-season championship, averaging 21 points and making better than 51 percent of his field-goal tries. He added 11.3 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 2.3 steals a game to lead his team to the Class AAA state sectional.
Howell is a newly graduated infielder who is expected to be picked in the top 10 rounds of the Major League Baseball draft this week after hitting at a .620 clip with nine home runs, 14 doubles, five triples, 36 RBIs, 45 runs scored and an on-base percentage of .745.
Moore entered his junior season as a virtual unknown but helped lead the Pioneers football team to the first unbeaten regular season in program history, and he was named the state's Class AA Mr. Football award winner after rushing for 2,295 yards and 27 touchdowns. He averaged 10.6 yards on 216 carries and ran track before a knee injury during spring football practice cut his season short.
Parker will continue his football career with Army and ends his prep career as one of the most decorated athletes in recent memory. He was the Division II-AA Mr. Football lineman of the year after he making 120 tackles, including 32 for loss and six sacks, and blocking two kicks. He also won his fourth state wrestling championship, at 195 pounds, and finished with a 51-0 season record. This spring he won the D-II state title in the discus and was second in the shot put.
Riley is a two-year starting quarterback and Mercer University signee who completed better than 70 percent of his passes and had more than 3,000 total yards and 30 touchdowns last season. In basketball, he earned his second Class AAA all-state honor after leading the Yellow Jackets to the Georgia quarterfinals with averages of 16 points, eight rebounds and three assists per game.
After trailing by 380 points heading into the second day of the Class AAA state decathlon, Sholl made a dramatic rally to end his senior season in style. He won three of the final five events to become only the second area athlete to win consecutive state decathlon titles. He also won the 110-meter hurdles at the state track meet and qualified for the 300-meter hurdles and 200 dash.
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.