Family photo of Kainen Boring, a 17 year-old football player at Bledsoe County High School who died after a head injury sustained during football practice. His organs were donated afterwards.He may be gone but Bledsoe County hasn’t forgotten Kainen Boring, the player who died on Sept. 8 last year after collapsing at practice.
In addition to adding a sign underneath the scoreboard, the 2012 Warriors are wearing “7KB” on the backs of their helmets and one senior each week will wear Boring’s No. 7 jersey.
“The sign under the scoreboard is on white aluminum, and it has Kainen’s name and number and says, ‘True Warrior,'” Bledsoe coach Jason Reel said.
The idea of seniors wearing the 7 came from senior Riley Wooden, who told Reel that Boring was still with them and that he would have been in this graduating class.
“We’re trying to make sure Riley gets to wear the jersey at some point this season, but being a lineman makes it tough [for a one-digit number],” Reel said. “We’re hoping to get him into it for a couple of defensive series.”
Boring died from arteriovenous malformation, an abnormal connection between arteries and veins in the brain that usually forms before birth.
Lions salute troops
In its season opener tonight against Soddy-Daisy, Red Bank is having a “Salute to our Troops” night. Members of the U.S. Army have been at the school this week and have given a couple of leadership talks about honor and legacy.
“We’ll have 16 soldiers paired with our 16 seniors, and they’ll be on the sideline during the game,” new Lions coach E.K. Slaughter said.
Each soldier and corresponding player will be introduced and the team will be on the field for the playing of the national anthem. Red Bank coaches will be wearing black U.S. Army T-shirts and camouflage hats.
“It has been a humbling experience for us. You think you’re really doing something and then people like this come in that are fighting for your freedom,” said Slaughter, who said Red Bank hopes to make this an annual event.
Wright, Wimberley out
Signal Mountain defensive end Jacob Wright, who was injured in the Eagles’ loss to East Hamilton, will miss a couple of weeks because of a dislocated kneecap.
Polk County will be without Chris Wimberley for the next couple of weeks. The free safety and wingback suffered a sprained MCL in the Wildcats’ loss to Bradley Central.
Marion on sixth QB
One game into the season, Marion County already is on its sixth quarterback.
“Four of them went down with injuries before we ever started the season. Then the fifth went down on the first series of our game with Grundy County,” said new Marion coach Mac McCurry, whose team rallied and held on to beat the Yellow Jackets.
Eric Qualls was No. 5 and went out with a separated shoulder. He’ll be out at least two weeks. He was replaced by running back Hamilton Shoemaker, who’ll likely be under center tonight when Marion plays Whitwell.
Tyner tailgating
The Tyner Alumni Association will have a tailgating party from 5 to 7 this evening before the Rams’ season opener against Signal Mountain. The party is the kickoff for the group’s annual membership drive. Anyone interested in joining the alumni association can see Jimmy Overholt during the event or email him at Jimmyoverholt@yahoo.com.
PlayOn! viewing
PlayOn! Sports will be covering several Chattanooga-area football games tonight for Internet viewing, including Knoxville Catholic at Cleveland, Ooltewah at East Hamilton and Central at Polk County. They will be on the TSSAA Network and on the just-announced www.youtube.com/PlayOnNetwork channel.