Sports
April 15, 2026 by Jake Nichols
Bradley Culbreth knows all too well the depth of talent within the boys soccer teams in District 4-3A.
But if he needed any reminder, the Admirals’ match against West certainly gave a fitting one.
The Rebels won 4-3 in an intense penalty kick shootout, as West keeper Ben Laing deflected a shot from Farragut High School junior Brody Dickerson to send the visitors into a euphoric sprint toward their goalie.
Technically the match was filed as a tie. But in the case of any potential postseason tiebreakers, the nod would go to West.
“They’ve got quality and we do, too,” Culbreth said. “You don’t get to 10 wins with their schedule without that.”
The sequence capped a primetime bout, as the teams traded blows through a scoreless 100 minutes before two 10-minute overtime periods gave way to penalty kicks.
Neither team wavered through two halves, as Farragut proved unable to find the net despite close attempts from Eric Bukovitz on a header, Charlie Sorochan in the second half and another attempt by Nathan Henderson, whose shot was stopped by a diving Laing.
Matthew Burney made a similar effort for Farragut by fending off multiple West attempts — one on a leaping grab in overtime — with help from the Ads’ back line.
“He really wasn’t tested that much, but he has been in other games,” Culbreth said of Burney. “We’re solid in the back, and this will be good for us from a mental standpoint in having to fight through it.“
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April 15, 2026 by Jake Nichols
In an illustrious 28-year career as Farragut’s head football coach, Eddie Courtney built quite a résumé.
He racked up 204 career wins, led the Admirals to a 2016 Class 5A state championship and beat cancer not once, but twice.
Monday, April 13, Courtney added yet another accolade when he was inducted in the TSSAA Hall of Fame as part of the 2026 class.
It is the latest honor in a list that includes a
PrepXtra Coach of the Year nod in 2016; a Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame Pat Summitt Ignite Award in 2017; an induction into the Tennessee Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame Class of 2020; and, earlier this year, an induction into the Farragut High School Sports Hall of Fame as a part of the 2026 class.
“Tremendous honor to be honored by the TSSAA,” Courtney said. “When you look at the all the coaches who have been inducted before, it’s really humbling, given all the people who have been recognized. I tried to do it the right way and run a program that had a lot of respect, tradition and pride.”
Courtney credited his family members for their roles in his success, noting he spent a lot of time away from home to run the Admiral program.
Over time, though, the Farragut football stadium, which now bears Courtney’s name, became like a second home.
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April 15, 2026 by Jake Nichols
At long last, the first taste of football has arrived.
The Farragut Admirals will kick off their 2026 spring practice Wednesday, April 22.
When they do, a couple of new assistant coaches will be roaming the practice field.
Head coach Geoff Courtney announced Daniel Bruton as the Ads’ new offensive coordinator while Matt Bates will oversee Farragut’s offensive line.
For Bruton, his addition to the staff marks a return to football after a year away from the game.
He brings 18 years
of varsity football coaching experience, having worked in North Carolina and Virginia as
an assistant coach and head coach.
Bruton worked as an offensive coordinator at multiple stops, gleaning lessons about offenses ranging from the Air Raid to the triple option. He became a head coach for a decade with three of those years at Briarwood (Virginia), the school that produced former Penn State quarterback Trace McSorley and built a brand-new program at Gainesville (Virginia) High School with an 8-2 in his final season in 2024.
Upon their move to Farragut, Bruton said he wanted to “just be a dad” to his daughter Bella, now a standout on the FHS girls flag football team.
But as he watched film of his old team in Virginia and enjoyed Farragut games as a spectator, Bruton felt a pull back to the game he loves.
“I feel like God gave me a gift to help people through sports, and I was wasting it,” he said. “So I started looking at how I could help. My wife even put a bet on it and said she thought I’d be back at it in less than two years, so she was right.”
As the Farragut OC, Bruton will call plays, thus taking a load off Courtney’s plate.
He is no stranger to running multiple looks, so fans can expect a bit of diversity with the Admirals’ attack.
“It won’t look so wide open as UT, but it won’t be pure pro stuff either,” Bruton said.
“Just depends on our personnel so we will design around them. I tell everybody I’m a can coach not a can’t coach, so I’ll figure out what you can do and we’ll highlight that.”
“We’re very similar in the way we think, how we diagnose and strategize against defenses,” Courtney added.
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Ads, Dawgs, Hawks all see success as season winds down
April 15, 2026 by Jake Nichols
In most situations, Garrett Copeland’s message remains the same: keep at it.
That approach has worked for the Farragut Admirals all season, and their Senior Night win over McMinn County was no different.
On Monday, April 13, the Ads overcame a sluggish start to plate 11 runs through the fourth, fifth and sixth innings en route to an 11-2 district victory over the Cherokees.
Mason Shelton led the Ads with a 3-for-3 effort at the plate, as he and Braxton Tye brought home three runs apiece.
“It was good to have Mason back in the lineup,” Copeland said. “Kingsley (Lorusso) did a good job in his absence, too; then Braxton had a key at-bat for us with a two-strike hit.”
“I feel like we had pressure on them, guys in scoring position,” Copeland continued. “They just made the defensive plays, then it broke open for us.”
In the meantime, FHS got production from a clean defensive effort led by pitchers Travis Brummitt Jr. and Joey Ray. Brummitt scattered four hits and two runs with five walks and as many strikeouts, then Ray tossed 3.1 scoreless innings in relief with six strikeouts.
“They both had multiple pitches working for strikes, competing in the zone,” Copeland said. “They took some pressure off our defense and we did not make an error, which is good.”
The McMinn County match-up marked the Admirals’ fourth win in the last five games, as FHS appears to
be hitting its stride with less than 10 days left in the regular season.
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April 15, 2026 by Ken Lay, Correspondent
Bearden High School’s boys soccer team picked up a measure of revenge Friday night, April 10, when it defeated Hardin Valley Academy in a key District 4-AAA match.
The Bulldogs ran past the Hawks, 4-1, before a packed and spirited house at BHS’s Turner-Allender Field.
The victory avenged Bearden’s loss to Hardin Valley in the Class AAA state quarterfinals in Murfreesboro in 2025.
But Bulldogs’ coach Ryan Radcliffe knows
his side still has plenty work to do in 2026 to reach its ultimate destination.
“Unfortunately, I don’t know how much this means in our district when you’ve still got West, Farragut and Maryville coming up on our schedule,” Radcliffe said. “It’s a good first step. But in all honesty, I think that’s all it is right now.
“It’s kind of one step forward and you’ve still got to win those three other rivalry games.”
The Bulldogs (9-1 overall, 2-0 in the district) lost last year’s state quarterfinal match when the Hawks scored three goals in the final 23 minutes, erasing a 2-0 deficit.
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April 15, 2026 by Jake Nichols
Farragut’s girls flag football team lost to Bearden 27-0 on Friday, April 10.
Seventy-two hours later, with three starters back and a renewed vigor on the sideline, the Lady Admirals looked like a different team.
They pushed undefeated Bearden to the brink on Monday, April 13, coming within 12 yards of a game-tying score with less than a minute left. But five Bulldog interceptions proved the difference, as BHS defensive back Amileigh Crippen raced in for a pick-six before Lily Watson made a game-clinching interception to preserve a 13-7 Bearden win.
“We’ve been doing that all year,” Bearden coach Zach Scott said of his team’s turnovers. “We get great pressure from Alaya Johnson — she’s third in the state in sacks — and she’s relentless and plays with a great motor. So quarterbacks will throw off their back foot.
“Then Amileigh, I just kind of had a feeling, kind of like a closer in baseball. She was one of three players to play that spot during the game. Her job there is to rob the middle of the field, and we thought they’d go to it again and they did.”
Even with the loss, Farragut coach GW Curtin noted his pride in a Lady Admiral team that took the field on Friday without starting quarterback Aydan Skelton, starting running back Brooklyn Morris and starting defender Bella Bruton.
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April 15, 2026 by Ken Lay, Correspondent
Two area high school track and field programs has teams competing at the Farragut Invitational Saturday, April 11, at Farragut High School.
The host Admirals and Lady Admirals posted some top marks while Bearden’s boys and girls also had some solid performances.
In the girls 00-meter dash, Bearden’s Landon Rudolph finished second as she crossed the finish line in 13.16 seconds. Farragut’s Emma Pearl Riffer was third (13.280) and Bearden’s Antonia Magnuson was fifth (13.36).
Rudolph finished third in the 200-meter dash (26.78) and Caroline Hilliard, of the Lady Bulldogs, was fifth with a time of 28.49).
Bearden’s Lily Johnson took third in the 400-meter dash as she posted a time of 1:02.41. Lady Admirals’ athletes had a pair of top-5 finishers as Anabelle Wray took fourth and Courtney George took fifth. Farragut’s Christie George was third in the 800-meter run (2:19.78).
FHS’s Ryleigh Horne won the 300-meter hurdles, Katherine Cabaniss was fourth and Harper McAvoy was fifth.
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