Staff Photo by Robin Rudd /
The Heritage Generals take the field. The Heritage Generals visited the Northwest Whitfield Bruins in GHSA football action on October 6, 2017. The Times Free Press sports department invites our readers to join in on the high school football fun this season and be a part of our weekly Prep Pick'em box. Each Monday, sports editor Stephen Hargis will tweet out a list of matchups. Simply vote on who you think will win, and the teams with the most votes will appear in Friday's section as the "readers choice" to win.
Follow Hargis on Twitter @StephenHargis so that you can vote and to keep up with the latest scores and links to stories from the TFP sports department.
Holland picks Peay
Sale Creek senior golfer Hannah Holland has committed to sign a scholarship with Austin Peay State University, choosing the NCAA Division I Lady Governors over offers from several other programs.
An all-district and all-region selection, Holland has won seven junior golf tournaments and 25 high school matches during her career and finished 10th overall in last year's state tournament. She also was an all-state selection in softball as a freshman and is a starting guard for Sale Creek's basketball team.
Baylor third nationally
According to MaxPreps.com, Baylor School has the third best overall high school sports program nationally. Having four spring sports teams earn state championships, and finishing runner-up in two others, helped catapult the school higher in the national rankings.
The MaxPreps Cup is a ranking system used to rate every high school sports state championship in the nation as a means to determine the best overall programs. Varying point totals are awarded to teams that win a championship, or finish second, based on the type sport, the size of the state, the type of enrollment division and the number of teams participating.
Baylor finished behind American Heritage of Plantation, Florida, and Atlanta's Westminster.
Baylor won six state championships during the 2017-18 school year: in volleyball, girls' soccer, baseball, softball, boys' soccer and girls' tennis. The school's combined and boys' swimming titles were not factored into the voting because that sport is not sanctioned by the TSSAA. Baylor was runner-up in boys' basketball, duals wrestling, boys' tennis and girls' track and field.
Ringgold challenged
Robert Akins has been a head football coach for 36 years, and he admits last season's 5-5 finish for Ringgold was one of the most frustrating years he's had.
To that end, and with several key players back, Akins and his staff made the offseason uncomfortable for the Tigers. The summer has been spent reminding players that few starting positions are set.
"We have a lot of younger kids who are pushing the older kids, and my philosophy is that if you are a younger kid who is as good as the older kid, I'm going to play the younger kid," Akins said. "I've got freshmen who can challenge juniors and seniors. In fact, this freshman class is probably the best to ever come through here.
"We've got some guys like Andre Tarver and Pete Brower who are set - there aren't a lot of challenges left for those guys - but there are several others who are in solid position who will have to hold off some challenges. We can't get complacent."