I was able to go back and insert the result in the story for the Carroll News that included notes 📝 on all 12 teams but to make sure that our core readers that subscribe see it as well, Forrest Johnson and his Varsity team added a game at Martinsville last night.
Our Cavaliers took the momentum from the strong second half Monday night versus Radford and turned it into a road victory..
Goals by Landon Puckett, Giovanni Lopez, and Bradsel Martinez backed the efforts of Christian Hernandez and the defense.
Ches Helmick and Edward Jones has joined us to create an opportunity that would qualify as rare. Both of our Varsity programs are playing on the same Pitch on a night where Soccer ⚽️ is the only show in town with the Bonus being Free Gate.
Tell your friends, tell your neighbors, heck – tell your neighbors friends. Both teams will be playing their third straight match this week but their young, right ?
Maybe its the parents who might need to catch their breath.
We have hard working Soccer ⚽️ players and solid folks leading them, a Match sponsor and someone holding the 🎤 that will do his best to magnify the entire group ! First touch at 5:30 !!!
Later today, Dr Ben Tickle and I will climb into the Press Box at Tommy Thompson Field together for the final time. It feels like it will be the 312th time this Spring as the four Soccer teams have played at home 🏡 pretty much non-stop for the past 30 days. There’s no doubt that the two of us have spent more time together in the past 60 days than over the past five years.
One of my favorite things about Ben is the level of people that run in his circle 🔵 and last night was the latest example. First things first, thank you to both Tammy Quesenberry and Kevin DeHaven for sending me something to share with the crowd, it meant a great deal to both of us.
Getting to read the thoughts of Ashlyn Newman in regards to her level of respect and appreciation of Gentle Ben was a moment ❤ that I will remember for quite some time. Then the added bonus of seeing her smile later that evening just put a bow on it.
Ashlyn Newman
Ethan “Chops” Edwards stopped by and shared 30+ minutes with us. Edwards even joined in on a couple of ” Carroll County Corner ” chants as well as introducing a couple of substations for Carroll County. When the Harvard bound Senior took his turn with the 🎤🎙🎤 in regards to Ben he was elegant as one would figure and the Ben was able to share his appreciation in return in regards to Edwards.
The Harris family 👪 was well represented throughout the evening as Marion, Shelia, Marion’s Father and the young lady 👩 I like to call Half-Pint. Natalie is out of the Country right now and Adrienne had a plate full of emotions to deal with throughout the night as she went from Soccer Coach to Kindergarten Graduation 🎓 and then returned to stand in the pouring rain 🌧 in her dress 👗 to show her support for Brittany Kinney and the Junior Varsity squad.
Brett Petty had a turn to share his thoughts and later in the evening, Karmen Smith did the same. If you look closely 👀 at Smiths forehead today you might still see the remains of a soccer ball imprint as the Senior saved the match by stopping a point blank shot with her noggin.
Jon Delp stopped by, which is always a treat. We shared a few minutes with our recently retired Patrol 🚓man but still Father 👨 to a bushel full of daughters and our Assistant Track 👣 and Field Coach. Delp is a special Man and the time the three of us spent together created a memory.
That leaves us our new Friend, Mr Martin McKenzie. We still have our ceremony for his Girls Tennis team to look forward to on Thursday afternoon, as long as both of us are still standing at 4:00 pm.
McKenzie will have dual rolls on Thursday as he will be playing the part of proud Head Coach and even prouder Father when we celebrate his older daughter Erika and Miss Tiffany Cruise.
McKenzie is next level legit and its a short list of people here in Carroll County that actually grasp what I’ve been trying to accomplish here, he is certainly one of them. The few moments that it was Ben, Ethan, Martin and myself……..
Ben Tickle is a Man who doubles as a magnet 🧲 and last night 🌙 we had the opportunity to celebrate his time here at Carroll County High School 🏫. I can only hope that somewhere down the road, when he’s enjoying his new grandchild, he will be able to look back and remember the Love, Respect and Admiring that took place on the Oneofus.Care Ben Tickle Night 🌙 on The Hill. I know that I certainly will !
I want to do a message for Tickle ” I will miss you it won’t be the same without you”
Me ( Aliza) and Ithaca want this to be from both of us: ” our favorite memory is when we played Pulaski last year and you kept going out of the box and the ref told you to stay in it we said you needed a leash”
Ethan Richardson and Paul Marshall teamed up to score four points in leading Carroll County High School Boys Tennis team to a 7-2 victory of Galax. The Seniors are wrapping up their final week of their Cavalier careers.
Richardson sailed thru his two matches without dropping a single game. The Seniors will have one final regular season match at Patrick County on Thursday afternoon.
Sticking to the tennis courts. Martin McKenzie and his Girls team were not able to make their rescheduled trip to Alleghany due to players having other end of year commitments.
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Boys and Girls Track and Field teams had a great practice at Tommy Thompson Field ahead of the upcoming District meet Thursday at Floyd County. Head Coach Shawn Montgomery is still very hopeful that some of his Cavaliers can join Corrie Delp in Lynchburg on June 6th.
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Jeremy Puckett and his Boys Junior Varsity Soccer team has completed its season and Forrest Johnson made the trip over to Martinsville and bagged a 3-1 victory over Martinsville. Wednesday the team will host Pulaski County at Tommy Thompson Field.
Boys 👦 Soccer ⚽️
Goals by Landon Puckett, Giovanni Lopez, and Bradsel Martinez. The team will have one more opportunity to improve its Regional seeding when they host Pulaski County after the Girls Varsity game. Free admission for the doubleheader, thanks to Ches Helmick and Edward Jones.
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Varsity Baseball ⚾️
Adam Nester and his Nester Nine picked up a home victory over Radford without having to lace up their cleats as the Bobcats forfeited due to a lack of healthy players. The Cavaliers will close out their Three Rivers District Championship season Thursday night versus Patrick County.
Bill Gallimore Photo 📷
Casey Burcham and his district leading Cavaliers traveled up Highway 100 to face the Bobcats with the danger of it being a trap game ahead of their Thursday night showdown with Patrick County.
After a scoreless first inning the Cavaliers dented the scoreboard in all six of the remaining frames on their way to a 13-0 victory over the Bobcats.
Coach Burcham was quick to share his thoughts on was clicking for his once beaten ball club.
” Complete team effort tonight,” said Burcham. ” I thought we started sluggish on offense again, but seemed to adjust quicker than the other night.”
The Cavalier Express continues to excel on both sides of the diamond. The hits keep coming and the arms keep firing darts.
” Ben, Colby, and Wyatt all threw it really well to get the 2 hit shutout, ” added Burcham. “Very happy with all the guys.”
Britt Berrier led the offensive attack with three base knocks but as has been the case all season, Burcham received production up and down his lineup.
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Brittany Kinney and her Junior Varsity Girls Soccer team closed out their season in what one would have to call less than ideal playing conditions. The weather cooperated during the Varsity match but the skies opened right after the First Touch took place.
The welcome back season ended with a 2-0 setback but the effort Kinney received across the rain 🌧 soaked 60 minutes gives the future a bright look.
The Varsity Girls needed overtime to get past Patrick County 2-1 in the middle of three games in three nights. The match started at an odd 5:07 pm in hopes of getting new Coach Adrienne Harris from the Pitch to the Elementary School for Kindergarten Graduation 🎓.
The teams went back and forth across the opening 40 minutes with neither team finding the back of the net. Savannah Swecker found Callie Harris open inside of the final 2:00 to give the Lady Cavaliers a 1-0 lead.
The two minute mark was the start of a theme as Patrick County landed the match tying goal with 2:02 remained in the second half. Carroll County (9-5-2) was so close to setting a school record with its eighth shutout of the season.
Karmen Smith saved the match when PCHS had an open goal after keeper Alexis Sheffey made a play on the ball. Smith stopped the point blank shot with her forehead. Smith = Tough
Two five minute overtime periods followed and the duo of Harris and Swecker each had themselves a made for TV moment. Harris went first by scoring the go ahead goal but the celebration was a short one after it was ruled the Junior was offsides.
Swecker, the team Artist 🎨 painted herself the match winner, much to the delight of the home crowd at Tommy Thompson Field.
Carroll County closes out their regular season Wednesday night versus Martinsville at 5:30. The gate is covered by Ches Helmick and Edward Jones with the bonus being the Boys Varsity will play the nightcap.
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Alexis Dalton and Terry Warf closed out their regular season when the Junior Varsity Softball team traveled to Radford.
The team battled with the Bobcats until the final out, falling 9-8. While the team will not play again this season because Patrick County will not have a team on Thursday, the group and their coaches will be acknowledged ahead of the Varsity game versus the Cougars.
Last but not least, Head Coach Rick Nester and his Lady Cavaliers improved to 7-11 on the season with a 15-0 victory over Radford. Emma Harman pitched a gem 💎 and was backed by three sparkling defensive plays.
Natalie Burress erased a would be base stealer in the bottom of the first inning. Madison Coleman threw out a batter at first base after a hard hit ball to rightfield. Later in the game, short stop Addie Greene recorded an unassisted double play after fielding a hard ground ball and applying a tag on the runner leaving second base and then stepping on second base.
Strong pitching, check, solid defense, check and then there were the bats. Plenty of bats that sprayed the ball all over the park. The offensive attack was so strong that even the Radford coach took notice.
” After the game the Bobcats coach was talking about how impressive we were tonight,” said Nester. ” Our girls played a very solid game in all aspects. Emma allowed zero walks and we played great behind her.”
Greene and Burress both finished up with a 3 of 4 night as the Cavaliers collected 17 base hits. The bulk of the damage took place during back to back six run innings. Harman, Laiken Burnett, Laynie-Jo Leonard and Madison Coleman all finished up with two base hits.
” All 10 players reached base and all nine starters finished with at least one hit,” noted Nester.
The Lady Cavaliers close out the season with back to back home games on Thursday ( Patrick County) and Friday ( James River).
I promise you that this photo 📷 will end up in the Oneofus.Care Museum. It might people as Cool 😎 of a moment as I’ve experienced in my five years here in Carroll County.
I cannot take credit for the pairing though, as Ben Tickle is just that strong of a magnet.
Just got back out here in the woods and I have a lot of things to create but wanted to start with two of Carroll County’s Finest !
3:45 pm on a Tuesday afternoon in Carroll County, Virginia and the goal (Soccer ⚽️ term) is so love 💘 and appreciation for Dr. Ben Tickle, eight days before he joins his 👪 in their new home in Florida.
Just got through sharing with Marion Harris that our site has recorded more reads from Germany 🇩🇪 today than Carroll County. Pretty sure those people are making the commute over from Europe 🇪🇺.
Ben Tickle is a tremendous individual and I couldn’t do him justice 👏 by trying to touch on every manner that he has been a Blessing to the community on The Hill.
We have free Soccer ⚽️, a beautiful afternoon and two cakes 🎂 for our Guest of Honor 🎖. That Harris fella did have a plan though, if we don’t need the second Cake we just face plant Ben with it. Pretty quick thinking there.
As I await Ben, I will share his words on The Harris Girls. Marsha (Adrienne), Jan ( Natalie ) and Half – Pint (Callie)
A Beary Harris goodbye:
Last week, after being saved by Lady Cavs soccer coach Adrienne Harris when I locked myself “out”, I was invited over to the Harris house for food, fun, and games. While there, Marion informed me of the large bear that has been visiting their neighborhood.
When it was time for me to leave, I was sure to check the area before heading to my car. After leaving safe and sound, I was informed that the neighborhood bear did in fact show up about five minutes after I left. The Harris family was able to get some video showing a very large bear ripping into their trash. It was a close call for sure. However, the experience only reminded me of the fun I’ve had with the Harris family over the last seven years. Marion Harris was one of the first people I met in Carroll County, and he quickly welcomed me into the school and the life of his family.
Not long after meeting Marion, I met Adrienne, and we discovered a shared love for sports, so much that Adrienne invited me to watch one of her volleyball games. Honestly, that was the first time I had ever watched an entire volleyball game. Not only did I discover just how exciting the sport is, I witnessed one of the most competitive young athletes I have ever seen play a sport in Adrienne Harris. Little did I know that there were two sisters just as competitive, if not more (it’s a constant battle 🤣). Then, enter Natalie and Callie on the scene. Even though I was a little anxious at times, one of my greatest memories will always be seeing these three compete with each other.
I never in my life thought a game of nine square would become so physical and competitive. However, that was just the beginning. As it turns out, everything these three young ladies do is competitive, and it has given me great joy to watch them and coach them over the past seven years. Who would’ve thought the first time I met Adrienne that a Harris daughter would be part of my life for the next seven years. What a joy it has been watching these three young ladies grow, play, and compete at a high level in every sport they play. Also, what a blessing to have parents like Marion and Sheila that allowed me to play a role in the lives of these three young ladies that I think the world of now.
A family built on faith, togetherness, and competitiveness will forever be what I think of when reminiscing about the Harris family. Thanks, from Coach Tickle! P.S. – Callie, Im sorry I will not be physically present for your senior year, but I will always be keeping up with the Harris girls, and I will be there to support you in spirit!
A.S.P.N on The Hill 