Sometimes a story will just present itself in a nice, neat box 📦 but with everything that the Carroll County Athletic Association has on their plate 🍽 it is like trying to hit a moving target. For this opportunity to shine a bright light on people committed to make sure that events run 🏃‍♂️ as smoothly as possible, we will try to frame a story in pieces versus covering it in one fell swoop.

Today is Wednesday September 25th and the CCAA will have their next meeting later today. That in itself had to be tweaked after the latest storm pushed around the Football schedule.

The reason for having the Homecoming screen shots up top is that its the next “Big Thing ” the Association is responsible for.

A group of people organized for a joint purpose is the definition of Association. We, as participants in events that the CCAA have put countless hours of time and energy into, quite possibly take things for granted.

This sounds a bit like the role of a High School Athletic Director or the person tasked with forecasting the weather. Nobody notices the almost flawless day to day efforts but on the rare day when there is a glitch, people will stand in line to point it out. Now that I have typed that out you could add Announcing a Ball Game to that list.

Let’s start at the Top of the CCAA and that would be President Dr. Samantha Reed. Sam, to those that know her well or Kevin’s Friend to me, is got a few balls to juggle 24/7.

Demanding job, being a Wife, Mother 👩 of two, Friend to many and in her “Spare Time”, runs the CCAA. Add in that both of the Reed boys are involved in Sports year around so we can get an accurate vision of just how driven this young Lady has to be.

The group is made up of folks in the Community that all share a desire to be part of a well oiled machine and nobody is going to become wealthy in the process. Just combining their efforts for the Greater Good which in this case is Carroll County High School 🏫 Athletics.

In my years of running around Carroll County in search of people doing things for the betterment of others, the efforts of this group of people has been on the radar for a long time.

The goal is the same as it is with any of the two dozen Coaches, offer up our platform as a way to get the word out on any or all of their efforts. Some folks want the help, some don’t and the trick for me is to try and identify which category is the one that a team or organization falls into. That is much harder to do than it sounds, I promise.

The Carroll County Athletic Association is always doing something for one of our Sports teams or like the case with Homecoming, for the betterment of the entire Student Body.

I will admit to lacking enough information on everything that they touch and I feel like I am not alone in this subject. But I know enough to say God Bless You 🙏 for everything that you take care of for us and if I can be of assistance, please let me know.

To summarize, Sam Reed is nothing short of Awesome and she has a dedicated group of Friends / Associates that do more than we can imagine ❤. For this we are grateful 🙏.

From Sam :

CCAA has a dedicated group of individuals that I am proud to have support me as president!

Rossie Gravley and Allyson Taylor are co-secretaries. Both have been a huge help in the concession remodel as well as the day-to-day operations of football concessions!

Michele Salyer is another amazing volunteer who helps keep us organized and stocked. Not to mention keeps volunteering even though her own children are Cavalier alumni!

Christina Petty heads up volleyball concessions for us, so you can thank her and the volleyball volunteers for your popcorn, drinks, and candy during volleyball games. The DeHavens do a lot of the daily things that I am not able to get to.

And I wouldn’t be part of CCAA if it weren’t for Elizabeth Motley and Kim Reitzel, both who have been dedicated members of CCAA for many years. There are so many more of my dedicated friends and Cavalier supporters who participate in our meetings, volunteer in concessions, are helping with the parade, and keep me sane!

The old saying, it takes a village, is 100% true. I am so thankful for my village, those who I named and the many more who I didn’t. Thanks Jerry!

Photo 📷 Credit : Patti Goins

Stuart- Laiken Burnett was living every setters dream Tuesday night and her framing of the Volleyball Carroll County High to a 3-1 (25- 23, 21-25, 25-21, 25-19) victory over host Patrick County.

The victory allows CCHS (7-5, 4-1 District) to maintain a share of the Three Rivers District lead with a match with Radford remaining in the first half of the season.

Burnett finished with a career high 41 assists and the junior added 18 Digs for good measure. Just as impressive as the total is, the way it was divided jumps off the stat sheet.

Senior Aza Petty finished the match with 16 Kills, 17 Digs and 2 Aces to collect another double – double but it was Junior Ali Wright that had the match of her life.

Wright has been nursing a sore knee as of late but she showed no signs of it against the Lady Cougars. The total number of Kills was 23 and her team needed everyone of them to fend of PCHS.

” Patrick County is a very scrappy team and they very well at home,” said Head Coach Cindy Edwards. ” We knew that we would have to play well to come in here and get a win.”

The biggest question after the match is what did Wright have for breakfast and can her Mother get more of it ?

Patrick County is the second team with substantial size that Carroll County has faced in the past four days. Last Saturday the Lady Cavaliers faced a super sized squad in Gate City but as big as the Blue Devils were, they didn’t hit the ball as hard as PCHS. The ability to dig out the slammed balls played as much of a role in the victory as the Kills.

Petty, Burnett and Callie Harris took turns laying out across the floor to keep the ball in play. Harris was unfortunate in that she was in the direct line of the hardest hit ball of the match but appeared to shake it off and remained in the match.

In the opening set PCHS gave the Lady Cavaliers everything and then some, leading as late as 17-16. Petty and Wright took turns scoring Kills until Burnett closed it out (25-23) with a 2-ball Kill.

The home teams opened the second set with a 6-0 run and managed to keep CCHS at bay the entire way. The match was tied after the 25-21 victory.

For the sixth consecutive match, Carroll County claimed the all-important third set. Brooke Webb added a big block early and then it turned into Burnett and Friends as Petty and Wright just took turns hammering 🔨 the ball away from the blockers. Webb had the honor of closing out the set at 25-21.

Patrick County did their best to force a winner take all fifth set but CCHS answered every punch. Maddie Hyatt followed two Wright kills with an Ace to give the Lady Cavaliers an early lead that they refused to give up.

Burnett called Match with a service winner, allowing the ride back to The Hill to be an enjoyable one !

The team has ten matches remaining in the regular season and will return to action 🎬 Monday night at Marion High School.

In the Junior Varsity Match Carroll County jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the opener but the Cougars tied it up at 13-13. The score was 19-18 before PCHS scored the final six points.

The Cougars closed out the match with a 25-14 victory in the second set.

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This closes out the Gamer for Allen Worrell but I want to add a personal Congratulations 👏 to Burnett on her night 🌙 and someone get back to me on that Breakfast thing…..