The photo above is of the cover to the four page program that told the story about the final year (for some) of a decade long journey. A journey that started many a Moon 🌙 ago and has been very well documented.

   The celebration of the journey was well planned out and once again took place at the First United Methodist Church ⛪ on The Hill. Season five of the Anthony Barnes and Kris Richardson partnership ended in the same manner as the previous four years and we will now walk 🚶‍♂️everyone through the two hours.

Ten tables were filled with Family 👪 members and Coaches, with 11 of the 12 Varsity Basketball players sitting at the head table up front. The previous post included the Family pics taken afterwards.

Israel Easter had the honor of Blessing the Meal and did a tremendous job of giving praise for all involved. The folks at the Church one again did a terrific job preparing the meal in addition to the surroundings.

Our keynote Speaker this year was Mrs.Kristen Quesenberry and it would have been a tall task to invite someone who would have spoken more elegantly than our Assistant Principal did. The ability to connect all of the dots in regards to everything that the journey meant across the board was done with both grace and style. Adding in the fact that Mrs. Quesenberry has been around the team for the entire time enabled her to speak from her heart ❤.

The next 10 minutes centered around Coach Barnes listing off everyone who had been part of the journey, focusing on just how many people are needed for a program to flourish in the manner that the Boys Basketball group did this year.

The old saying that I believe belonged to Hillary Clinton, about it taking a village seems like a nice fit in describing the group of people who were acknowledged during this time. A group Hug if you will and it was a well thought out segment.

Kris Richardson had the honor 🎖 of presenting the first Award and it was for the Offensive Player of the Year.

Coach Richardson kept the 🎤, filling in for Coach Stockner who was away on a family matter, and presented the Award for Defensive Player of the Year honors:

  Next up, Coach Barnes presented his go-to Award, the Hustle Award

Coach Phillips followed with the Award for Most Improved

                          Cody Reece

Coach Largen took the 🎤 to present the yearly Cavalier Award

From there the focus shifted to the Post Season Awards presented to the two time District Champs 🏆.

Three Cavaliers made the 1st team All-District team !

The entire starting five made the list as Cody Reece (Second team) and Brayden Smoot ( Honarable Mention) were both named as well.

Ethan Richardson and Bryce Smoot both landed on the 1st Team All-Region with Isaiah Easter making it on the 2nd Team.

Coach Barnes took home the District Coach of the Year Award as well.

  The final individual acknowledging Moment is still not supposed to be officially released yet but I can give you some clues. A Cavalier player who has a twin brother on the team made it onto the Second Team All-State list that hasn’t been announced yet….

One thing that we can tell you is that while Carroll County High School doesn’t retire numbers, it can retire jerseys. The Blue version of the #3 will hang in the halls and the White version will hang at the Smoot household for years to come.

Coach Barnes believes that he has created a First of its Kind Award, given to the Player who recorded the highest number of DropKicked Basketballs in a season. I have to also believe that to be true and he presented it to……

The six Seniors had a moment where they stood side by side and were given an opportunity to share their future plans.

Bryce hopes to play College Basketball 🏀 and welding.

Brayden is still enjoying his Senior year

Cody is headed to New River CC to play Baseball ⚾️ and earn a degree in Education

Ethan lists Bluefield as an option with a focus on Religion and Music.

Landon looks to play College Soccer ⚽️

Jay is looking forward to enjoying his Summer.

Coach Barnes took home quite the keepsake as the event wrapped up.

  Coach Barnes will look through this later on today as I looked up and noticed that its now Monday morning 🌄. He will let me know if I need to add anything else.

The Sunday Basketball 🏀 Trifecta has been completed and now its about framing the Day. Let’s start with the Families of Boys 👦 Basketball…

The link above should take you back to the previous post 📫 with the Family 👪 Photos.

Couple of side notes 📝 – such as bonus to see Dr Oliver McBride again as our new Friend was part of the serving team from the Church ⛪.

  Big Bonus to share the table with both Paula Richardson and Kristen Quesenberry. Two very special young Ladies that brighten up any room that they are in. Kris & Lin were at the Table as well so we were in great company from start to finish.

In closing, kudos to Christy Shupe for being the latest person to step up and agree to keep one of our Tennis 🎾 teams moving forward ! Pretty sure that she is shopping 🛍 for a new 🏡🏠🏡 with her signing bonus and contract !

The Last Dance 💃 was quite the success and as the music 🎶 fades we can all reflect on what the journey meant to us all.

Twelve players earned a spot on the Varsity team this season with the breakdown being 6 Seniors and 6 Juniors. As is the case with any gathering of size, someone will be unable to attend.

We missed seeing Jason Stockner on the coaching side and Isaiah Leagans on the players side. A great deal of ground was covered in the two hours at the First United Methodist Church ⛪ on The Hill.

Part 1 will be the Family 👪 Photos 📷 taken afterwards and a complete breakdown of the ceremony, from start to finish will follow.

   This group has been together for a long, long time now and trying to write ✍ the final song 🎵 to the ” Last Dance 💃” will be quite the treat.

Coach Barnes touched all of the bases and the folks at the Church ⛪ crushed the meal. Please check ✔ back tomorrow to read the notes 📝.

Lenoir- Rhyne has a talented team so the Wasps will have their hands ✋ full today.

Wasps fall 22-4 but it was still a fun Family 👪 Day for the Harris party !

Photo 📷 Credit : Donna Nester. Tobler Family was well represented during our Celebration.

The Hill – Carroll County High School Softball team was facing some adversity on an already emotional night and the Lady Cavaliers regrouped to earn their third victory of the season over Bassett, 13-3 Friday night.

CCHS was leading 4-2 in the top of the fourth inning when Allie Moore sent a line shot to left centerfield. Both left fielder Brooke Webb and centerfielder Holly Miller got a great jump on the ball but sadly the two collided, creating a long and fearful delay in the game.

Bassett plated a third run on the play and Moore was standing on third base with the tying run and just one out. Both of our tough as nails 💅 competitors tried to convince Trainer Nathan Jones to let them stay in the game and Webb managed to do so.

Head Coach Rick Nester was forced to juggle his lineup after Miller was helped off the diamond. Webb slid over to play center, Laiken Burnett moved from third base and Senior Carlie Beamer entered the game to play third base.

Starting Pitcher, Emma Harman managed to strand Moore on third base by striking out the number eight hitter and closing out the rally by Burnett gloving a line shot to left field.

” I was really proud of how the girls responded to adversity,” said Nester. ” It would have been easy for them to drop their heads but everybody stepped up and did their job, even the ones playing in a new position.”

Carroll County (3-1) added one run in the bottom of the fourth inning after turning their attention to playing aggressive Small Ball. Harman helped her own cause by earning a leadoff walk and scoring with the benefit of a Cavalier base hit.

Now leading 5-3, Beamer contributed defensively by slapping a quick tag on a runner after she stepped off third base. The heads-up play turned the inning around as it went from runners on the corners with just one out into two down with a runner on first base.

” The play by Carlie Beamer was huge for us and we took care of business on the defensive end all night. It was our first game without any errors and Emma (Harman) did the rest in the circle.”

Harman scattered six base hits across six innings in earning the victory. The Bengals reached base nine times but only plated three runs, thanks to timely defensive plays.

Carroll County took advantage of the pitching change in the bottom of the fifth inning as the first seven Cavaliers reached base and then all seven came around to touch home plate, making the score 12-3.

Harman recorded her first three up, three down inning in the top of the sixth inning to set the table for the walkoff run in the bottom of the inning. Natalie Burress drew a walk with one out and came into score on a bases loaded fielders choice of the bat of Webb.

Harman and Burress both scored three times on the night with Burnett crossing the plate twice.

Bassett.              101 100 –  3

Carroll County 004 171 – 13

Two outs when close out run was scored.

Carroll County returns to Cavalier Park on Tuesday night, hosting Pulaski County. The Junior Varsity (2-2) opens the night with Varsity following after the first game.

Injury report – Faith Clontz did a great job wearing her sling as she recovers from her second surgery.

Madison Coleman is hoping 🙏 to return to action 🎬 Tuesday night versus Pulaski County. The outfielder is recovering from a sprained ankle.

Mrs Webb reports that her daughter Brooke is dinged up after the collision but we are hoping for the best.

Mr. Hix Miller reported to Coach Nester that Holly has suffered a broken collarbone and will be rehabbing for weeks to months. When you think about the fact that she wanted to stay in the game tells you just how tough our Center Fielder and leadoff hitter is. Thoughts and Prayers for her speedy recovery 🙏.

We celebrated the memories of Coach Tobes, as he was known to many, throughout the night 🌙 and then put a Bow on the evening with a post game ceremony that included visiting Bassett High School 🏫.

The photos 📷 above came from Mrs Donna Nester.

We had a Ceremonial First Pitch, Wild Socks that had been gifted by the Toblers to the girls 👧 and even snuck in some of the many nicknames that Tobes had given to the Lady Cavaliers.

Among the gifts 🎁 presented to the Tobler Family 👪 included a This is Your Life book 📖 put together by Mrs Kayla Nester, a hand stitched quilt that included the signatures of the current Lady Cavaliers by Miss Carlie Beamer and finally a plaque presented by Principal Chuck Thompson that will be mounted on the bricks of the Concession Stand.

  Each presenter took the time to pen 🖊 a brief statement about Coach Tobler and I did my best to tie the entire Ceremony together ❤ with some words of my own.

In between all of this we played a softball game that ended in the bottom of the 6th inning when Natalie Burress plated the 13th run 🏃‍♂️ in a 13-3 victory over the Bengals. More details will come in the game story later but for this story the folks from Bassett proved to be Top Shelf guests at our party, including a card they presented to the Tobler Family 👪.