Sports
November 5, 2025 by Bill Howard, Correspondent
It was win or start planning for the ‘26 season last Thursday when Farragut High School’s football team went on the road to play Cleveland High School.
The Admirals made it plain they weren’t ready for the ’25 season to end.
After committing two early turnovers and spotting the Blue Raiders a 7-0 lead, FHS took control of the game and scored 31 unanswered points en route to a dominant 31-7 win.
The victory earned the Admirals fourth place in Region 2-6A, and a playoff game against 1-6A champ Dobyns-Bennett on the road Friday night in Kingsport.
FHS coach Geoff Courtney was pleased with his team’s resilience after the early mistakes.
“It was a good experience for our guys because we had a lot on the line as far as the playoffs were concerned,” Courtney said. “We had to overcome some adversity early in the game which we inflicted on ourselves with the two early turnovers.”
Down 7-0 after one, Admirals’ running back Charlie Noble tied the game with a 5-yard run early in the second. The drive covered 80 yards.
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November 5, 2025 by Ken Lay, Correspondent
Knoxville — Hardin Valley Academy’s girls cross country team ran its way to a Section 2-AAA Championship early last week.
The Lady Hawks posted a stellar team performance as they swept the top two individual spots and had three scorers finish inside the top five and four athletes crack the top-10.
Alexandra Vesser won the region title as she posted a time of 19 minutes, 3.00 seconds. Ana Berkheimer crossed the finish line in second place (19:06.96). Rachel Benson finished fifth (19:117.73). Ava Berkheimer was ninth (20:14.24). Ana Sophia Marquez rounded out the scoring for HVA, finishing 11th (20:36.65).
The Farragut Lady Admirals had four of their scoring runners place inside the top-10 at the region championships.
Christie George was Farragut’s top finisher as she crossed the line in third place and clocking in with a time of 19 minutes, 8.99 seconds. Zoi LeCours finished fourth as she had a time of 19:17.24.
Bailey Ann Smith finished eighth, posting a time of 20:09.74. Addison Haynes was 10th (20:33.24). Emmy Graber finished 16th (21:02.24).
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November 5, 2025 by Dan Harralson, Correspondent
Ten-year-old Yetzali Ortega from Farragut won a junior level state cross county championship. She is from a family of runners.
Ortega’s older siblings are also runners. Toniel Ortega runs cross country at Pellissippi Community College, while Marely Ortega was also a state champion in 2019.
Yetzali’s mom, Maria Ortega, discussed her being the latest runner in the family.
“She was already born within the nest of a runner family, so this came very natural to her,” she said. “She is very different from her siblings. Since she was very young, everyone saw her competitive nature. She is always running along and telling her siblings ‘I will be better then you, I can beat you, let’s race.’”
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November 5, 2025 by Ken Lay, Correspondent
Knoxville — Two area high school cross country teams have qualified for the upcoming TSSAA Class AAA State Championships.
Farragut High School and Hardin Valley Academy will compete in State Championships, which will be contested Friday in Memphis.
Farragut High School and Hardin Valley Academy will both compete on the Volunteer State’s grand stage at Shelby Farms Park.
The Admirals won the Section 2-AAA Team Championship early last week and two Farragut athletes swept first and second place at the region championships on Tuesday, Oct. 28, at Victor Ashe Park in Northwest Knoxville,
Sam Shagan won the individual sectional title as he completed the 5,000-meter course in 15 minutes, 56. His teammate, Chase Temples, came in second as he threw down a time of 16:09. 35.
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November 5, 2025 by Ken Lay, Correspondent
Ooltewah — Two consecutive season-ending victories weren’t quite enough to propel the Hardin Valley Academy football team into the TSSAA Class 6A playoffs.
Despite missing the postseason in 2025, the Hawks won five games and cracked the win column in Region 2-6A for the first time since 2020. They won two league games, posting victories against Bearden and Cleveland.
The Hawks (5-5) closed out the season on a winning note last week as they routed Ooltewah, 42-7, Friday night.
The season and wins over Cleveland and the Owls left Hardin Valley coach Tyler Wynn feeling upbeat about the program’s future.
“We’re heading in the right direction,” Wynn said. “We didn’t meet our end goal but I’m
very proud of these guys.
“We’re taking steps and we probably overshot what most people thought we would do. We had two region
wins and those were big for us. Resilience was a key for us this year and our kids bought in and they played for each other and our kids never quit.”
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November 5, 2025 by Alan Sloan
CHATTANOOGA — Bearden girls soccer got sweet revenge in Finley Stadium Friday, Oct. 31 – and it added up to the program’s fourth Division I-AAA state title in the past five years.
Kennedy Lucas’ goal in the second overtime, assisted by Tyler Roth, was the golden goal for the Lady Soccer Dawgs (final record of 20-2-1) in the state final to beat Houston — who beat BHS in last year’s state final in penalty kicks, which involved a controversial call denying Bearden a shot save.
The Lady Soccer Dawgs outshot Houston 15-11. The Lady Mustangs finished the season 16-6-2.
Bearden beat Science Hill in quarterfinals 5-0 before whipping Franklin 2-0 in the semifinals.
