Going to have some fun and shine some more light on our Girls 👧 Soccer ⚽️ team at the same time this morning 🌄.

What the pictures above show are the rosters from the two Soccer ⚽️ teams scheduled to meet on the pitch at 5: 30 pm.

If Mother Nature allows the match to be played, announcing this game will become the single largest challenge in my 40+ years of PA work.

What in the World 🌎 makes this one so different ? Could it really be harder than calling an Appalachian State University Field Hockey 🏑?

The App State games are full of European names that sometimes have five or six syllables in them, both teams are that way for those games.

But in those games we only announce the starters from both teams and the Coaches, roughly 25 in all. I’m not European but I am of perfectionist decent. I truly feel its just as important to be spot on with the visitors names as our own.

Announcing for Coach Tickle the other night put the total number of Carroll County High School teams at 11. Always happy to help out our programs when I am in town but this one is going to be different because of two things..

First, the shear volume of names that will be read out loud in the opening ceremony. The number, once you include coaches will land right at 50. Even if you are familiar with all fifty names, its a challenge to add energy to that many names in a row.

Second, I count 13 names that could be pronounced one way or another. That’s 25% of the group. So even if you ask all 13 exactly how to say their name before the match, which I will do, you then have to store all of those answers to your brain 🧠.

So why would one agree to attempt something that requires so much Brain 🧠 space and has such a wide margin for errors ?

Because that’s how much I believe in the efforts of Ben Tickle and Shana Parnell. Their efforts for our 21 Student Athletes is appreciated 🙏 by us out here in the Village.

Now we just need it to be warm enough to play !

#LadyCavsSoccer

All three of our Soccer ⚽️ teams and both of our Tennis teams are hoping to face Galax tonight. They all just need to weather to not get worse then its already predicted to be.

On The Hill will be the Girls Soccer ⚽️ (1-0) and Boys 👦 Tennis 🎾 (0-0) while the other three teams will head out Highway 58 for their matches.

Boys Varsity (1-0) and Junior Varsity (1-0) Soccer ⚽️ will play at Galax while the Girls 👧 Tennis 🎾 program looks to finally get to play ▶️ their first match.

Each of the Spring Sports differ from one another which means they all have different minimal weather requirements for a match/ meet to take place.

We will keep an eye 👁 on the announcements today but as of now all five are set to take place.

Our three hour gala on Saturday evening is designed to showcase our efforts from the past year and salute a handful of people that go above and beyond.

Each one of the 13 tables has someone sitting at it with the name Table Master. Each one of them earned that honor 🎖 and then they were given the gift 🎁 of inviting seven other people to share in their moment.

We have a little something planned for all 13 people and it is designed to be both sincere and humorous at the same time.

I want to spend a few minutes tonight to expand on our partnership with Allen and his newspaper 📰. I attached the photo 📷 above as a sign of just how far our agreement has come over the years.

Every story that presents itself to me leads to an immediate question. Does this story belong to me or does it belong to Allen ?

To avoid any confusion between our efforts, we do not write the same story. If a story is big enough to be in The Carroll News as a lead story I immediately reach out to Allen and let him know what’s going on so he can hit the ground 🏃‍♂️ running.

I stumbled across the news that Marc Motley was stepping down from his position as Varsity Girls Basketball Coach it was an absolute no-brainer to reach out to Allen and get him up to speed.

Coach Motley deserves center stage and that’s exactly what happened with the story that Allen penned. What does Allen do in return when he posts the story on his Facebook page ? He attached our name to it so we would share in the moment, a sign of what we are working on together.

The best analogy would be that Allen Worrell is the Seattle Mariners and we are the Tacoma Rainiers, the Triple AAA ball club. We are the feeder system to his “Show”.

46 years have passed since I delivered my first newspaper and 44 years have passed since I wrote my first story for a Community newspaper. Both of those numbers are in the 20’s as far as totals now because everytime I start a new job in a new area I seek out the keeper of the local paper.

Sadly, for both Allen and David, they can’t self report on the changes that are taking place in our industry. My current contract is with the Washington Post, one of the largest newspapers 📰 in the World. Even at the size of the Post, the industry is squeezing every nickle out of every situation.

Where there was once a full staff at the Newspaper on Main Street, now there are just two remaining. Allen Worrell and Plucky continue to do their absolute best in their efforts to provide coverage for a fast moving County.

I have been amazed as to just how many different groups / organizations are out there that warrent attention. While I have no official connection to The Carroll News, I feel fortunate to get to work these two guys on a regular basis.

We trade stories about the Good Old Days of our industry everytime they let me in the office 🏢 and the visit never ends without one comic pose from those two lovable journalists.

They live here, have children that go to our schools 🏫. I can’t say we, because once again, no official capacity, so they face an uphill battle each and every time they show up for work.

Yes, we have a gift 🎁 for David and two humorous tidbits for Allen, one of which involves a gigantic prop, but the biggest thing we have for them is undying support !

Know that everytime you see one of our stories in the Carroll News its because Allen and I are a TEAM. The level of excitement we felt when Marion Harris had his first byline on a story or we got Carlie Beamer her very first published photo 📷 is through the roof.

Allen Worrell and Plucky Sidekick David are OneofUs.Care kinda folks and we will stand beside them until the leave the building. Hopefully that won’t happen anytime soon but in this industry there are no guarantees…

If the weather cooperates tomorrow night 🌙, Ashlyn Newman will have an opportunity to reach the mark of 50 career goals scored by a Carroll County Cavalier. Newman netted both #48 & #49 last week in Ben Tickle’s Soccer Coaching debut.

For good measure the Senior assisted Callie Harris on the teams remaining goal in the Lady Cavaliers 👩 3-0 victory over visiting Pulaski County.

While Newman and Harris are quite a pair, they are surrounded by a large number of energetic teammates.

21 total players, including 8 Freshman are out there trying their best for their School, their teammates and both Ben Tickle and Assistant Coach Shana Parnell.

Tomorrow evening, if you are looking for something to due after supper 🍽, consider heading over to Tommy Thompson Field to purchase a ticket 🎟 for the game.

Adrienne Harris holds the scoring record and the night 🌙 she broke 50 was against Galax. We can’t guarantee that you will witness history but I feel comfortable in saying that you will be impressed with the efforts of Ben’s Battling 21 !