Red Bank football player Tra Stamper will be playing football at Iowa Central Community College.Red Bank seniors Tra Stamper and Demarcus Rivers have signed junior college football scholarships.
Stamper is headed to Iowa Central Community College in Storm Lake, Iowa, and Rivers signed with the Minnesota State campus in Fergus Falls, Minn.
"Iowa Central was one of the better schools to offer him a scholarship," Lions coach Chad Grabowski said. "They've had winning seasons 15 of the last 17 years. They've had great success in placing kids (at four-year schools) and great academics. They've played right at 300 kids over the last 15 years."
A number of four-year schools, including Tennessee and Florida, had been following the 6-foot-2, 275-pounder. He had the necessary grade point average but never achieved the necessary ACT score, according to Grabowski.
Stamper can play a number of positions but is likely to wind up at either defensive tackle or offensive guard.
"You don't see many kids that size that can move like he does," Grabowksi said.
Rivers, a 5-9, 185-pound speedster, will have a chance to play both sides of the ball at Minnesota State.
"For us he played safety, cornerback, wide receiver and running back, and I think he'll help himself out," Grabowski said.
The coach said Rivers acquired the necessary test score but couldn't overcome poor academic records from his freshman and sophomore seasons.
Baseball tournaments
Two baseball tournaments are currently underway in the area.
Hixson is sponsoring the annual Wildcat Classic with tournament games being played at Hixson, Central, Red Bank and East Hamilton. The championship game is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday at Hixson.
McCallie and Baylor are hosting the Blue Tornado's Scenic City Classic. Both teams are playing doubleheaders starting at 4:30 this afternoon.
Saksa Nashville winner
Baylor School golfer Elina Saksa won the Nashville Junior Shootout last weekend, shooting a two-round total of 150 including a first-day 73 in the girls' 14-18 division.
Walker Valley's Kelsea Cassada tied for third with a two-day score of 160.
Coquerille resigns
The search will begin next week for a girls' basketball coach at Dalton after Lacie Coquerille informed the school she is resigning. The former two-sport star at the school was 29-46 in three seasons, the last two competing in Georgia's second-highest classification.
Dalton athletic director Jeff McKinney said Coquerille's plate will be very full in the next two years.
"She's started working on her teaching master's degree and she's not sure if she can be fully committed to be a head coach," McKinney said. "We're also moving up in classification, so our competition is going to be even tougher and Lacie realizes it's tough to coach, especially with our travel, and study."
McKinney said the job will be posted sometime next week.