Check Out the Stats Feature

Thanks to our friend Bart Moss, we will now be able to post game stats each week. Click on the Football button in the navigation bar at the top, and click on the link for the game you want to view! There is also a season totals page which will be updated weekly. Thanks Bart for the info! Go Wildcats!

Lawrence County school consolidation could change sports landscape for local teams

Published: Tuesday, March 31, 2009 3:14 PM CDT

Scot Beard

sbeard@franklincountytimes.com

The 2009-10 school year could see record numbers of teams from Franklin County earning playoff berths as the proposed consolidation of Lawrence County High Schools will shrink the number of schools in Class 1A. Suffering from budget issues, the Lawrence County Board of Education is proposing to combine Hazlewood with R.A. Hubbard, Mount Hope with Hatton and Speake with Lawrence County. The result would be a loss of three teams from Class 1A, Region 8 for the upcoming football season and a loss of two teams in Class 1A, Area 15 for basketball, baseball and softball. “In the past if a school closed in the middle of a classification period, they would be removed from other schedules and the region would retain the new number of schools,” said Ron Ingram, director of communications for the Alabama High School Athletic Association. He said when two schools combine the school that becomes the new campus retains its schedule. This means R.A. Hubbard, Hatton and Lawrence County will keep their schedules. Consolidation has not been made official, and opposition to the plan is strong, so there is still a chance Hazlewood, Mount Hope and Speake will still be competing next season. “Teams in Region 8 will lose (three) games and have to make them up somehow,” Ingram said. Darit Riddle, Tharptown’s principal, said the region’s coaches have gotten together and decided to make up the lost games by playing region opponents twice. “The first game is for the region standings,” Riddle said. “The second game will be for the gate.” In the solution, Tharptown will play Vina, Phillips and Shoals Christian twice. Attempts to find out which other schools Vina would play twice were unsuccessful. The consolidation, from an athletic standpoint, has its advantages and disadvantages for the upcoming season. The biggest advantage would be less competition for playoff spots. The biggest disadvantage would be schools growing in size competing against schools with smaller enrollment. In the latest reclassification, the AHSAA released the following numbers as the enrollments for the schools. Lawrence County has 395.1 students; Hatton has 180.55 students; Speake has 117.65 students; Hazlewood has 105.2 students; Mount Hope has 69.25 students and R.A. Hubbard has 62 students. The new enrollments, according to these numbers would be Lawrence County with 512.75 students, Hatton with 249.8 and R.A. Hubbard with 167.2 students. This would move all three schools to a higher class, but since it is in the middle of a classification period, the schools will retain their current classes. In Class 1A, the class R.A. Hubbard will remain in, Belgreen is listed as having 113.65 students, Vina is listed with 76.6 students and Tharptown is listed as having 70.55. In Class 2A, the class Hatton will be in, Phil Campbell is listed with 205.05 students and Red Bay is listed with 191.15 students. Russellville, in Class 5A, is listed with 479.4 students. Ingram concedes there will be an advantage in numbers, but that might not translate to success on the field. “There is a disadvantage in the kids that have not played together before,” Ingram said. Ingram did say after the 2009-10 school year the state would reclassify schools to take make the regions and areas more competitive. For now, however, the new Class 1A, Region 8 in football will have R.A. Hubbard, Phillips, Shoals Christian, Tharptown, Vina and Waterloo while Class 1A, Area 15 for basketball, baseball and softball will consist of Belgreen, Phillips, Tharptown and Vina. Area 15 will guarantee Franklin County will have one team reach the playoffs in baseball and softball while one team will make the sub-regional round of the basketball playoffs. Copyright © 2009 – Franklin County Times

THS Has First Ever Junior / Senior Prom

Tharptown – The Tharptown Junior Class hosted the first ever Junior-Senior prom on Friday night. This was but one more step in the evoloution of the school as it becomes a High School. Mrs. Linsday and her crew did a wonderful job of decorating, and from what I saw, it was a first class evening. I’ve included a group of photos for you to enjoy, and congratulations to all involved for a job well done!

Click here to view the photos

Tharptown school could get Mt. Hope students

Published: Friday, March 20, 2009 7:51 PM CDT

Melissa Cason

mcason@franklincountytimes.com

THARPTOWN – The consolidation in the Lawrence County school system could have a position affect on the Franklin County school system as some Mt. Hope students plan to transfer next fall.

Tharptown High School Principal Darrit Riddle said his has received numerous calls from parents from Mt. Hope students inquiring about transferring to Tharptown once the Lawrence County consolidation is completed and Mt. Hope is not longer a K through 12 school.

“We’ve received a lot of phone calls asking us question about our policy about Mt. Hope students coming here,” Riddle said. “Of course, we can accept students from Mt. Hope.”

Riddle said there are two draw backs for the Mt. Hope students.

“We don’t have bus routes that go to Mt. Hope so the parents would have to get their children to the county line where our bus can pick them up or they will have to drive them to school,” Riddle said. “The other concern is that those students who play sports will have to sit out for one year.”

Riddle said Tharptown is already a full school, and more students will require more resources.

“Even if we get 20 to 30 students, we’ll be busting at the seams,” Riddle said. “We are already considering adding more classrooms.”

Riddle said the extra students would be beneficial to the county system.

“The state allows us so much money per enrolled student,” Riddle said. “We’d actually end up with more teaching units, which means more teachers.”

Riddle said there is no way to know how many students Tharptown could gain until the consolidation is complete and the students begin to move.

Agatha Garcia is one Mt. Hope parent who is preparing to transfer her son to Tharptown once the consolidation is complete.

“This is home,” Garcia said. “But, I will send my son to Tharptown instead of Hatton. My two younger daughters will stay at Mt. Hope through the eighth grade.”

Garcia’s son, Chase Robledo, will be a ninth grader next year. He will likely begin his freshman year at Tharptown.

“I feel like he will get a better quality education at Tharptown because of the class size,” Garcia said.

While his mother is predominately worried about being accepted wherever he attends next year.

“I’ve always went to school here, and I want to continue to go to school here, but if they consolidate our school with Hatton, I will go to Tharptown instead,” Robledo said. “I feel like we’ll be accepted better at Tharptown than Hatton.”

Robledo said everybody in his class is saying the same thing: They will attend Tharptown instead of Hatton. If the parents follow through with what is being said, Tharptown will grow tremendously over the next year or so.

Copyright © 2009 – Franklin County Times

Scholarship

We need all members of the Tharptown Athletic Booster Club to be at the monthly meeting Sunday March 8, 2009 at 2:30. We have several items to discuss and make decisions on. If you are not a member you can still join the fee is $10 for individual and $20 for family a year. We will be deciding the final details on the scholarship to be given away to a Senior female and male athlete. You must be a paid member to be able to vote on this scholarship. If you have any questions or would like to join feel free to contact any of our officers. Thanks for all the support. Go Wildcats!!

Cheerleaders? We Got Em!

Belgreen - During the Area Tournament game on Saturday night, the Wildcat crowd had no regular Cheerleaders due to the fact that most of them were dressed out as Basketball players. (Pretty + Tough + Multi Talented = Tharptown Girl) But not to fear, Christy Dill and the Youth League All-Star Cheerleaders in to save the day! These little girls dispensed a SUPER SIZED dose of good ‘ole Wildcat Spirit, leading the crowd in cheering the Varsity girls on in their battle against Belgreen. I vote we dress them out in their Youth League outfits and send them to the next round!

Varsity Girls to Meet Speake in the Area 15 Tournament

Belgreen – The THS Varsity girls will meet the Speake Varsity girls in the first round of the Area 15 Tournaments on Thursday night at 7:30 in Belgreen High School gym. The girls are 1-1 against the Bobcats, and are looking for a chance to advance to Hanceville. Come out and support them, and be prepared for an exciting game!

Site Notes

All,

I am currently working to move all of the photo galleries to the Wildcat Web domain. I had intended to run them from the Flickr website this year, but since all of our viewers at Franklin County Schools are now blocked from viewing Flickr content, the photo galleries don’t work for them anymore. I’ll try to have all of the galleries moved in the next couple of weeks, but bear with me.

Also I’d like to welcome Sander Tverberg on board as a contributor to the website. Sander is currently serving as the President of the THS Booster Club, and is a valued asset to the community.

Remembering Shelby Grissom

As some of you may know, the Odom family suffered a loss this week with the passing of Shelby Grissom, cousin of Coach Jonathan Odom and reigning Phil Campbell Homecoming Queen. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and to the students of Phil Campbell High School in this difficult time.

Here is the original story from the Francklin County Times.

PCHS homecoming queen ‘loved by everyone at school’

Published: Tuesday, November 11, 2008 6:16 PM CST Jonathan Willis

jwillis@franklincountytimes.com

Kelsey Pruitt will always remember the bright smile that always seemed to be on the face of her friend, Shelby Grissom.

That smile is the one that many people around Phil Campbell are remembering this week.

Grissom, a 17 year-old senior at Phil Campbell High School, died Sunday afternoon, after several months of battling an undiagnosed illness.

“She had a smile on her face every time I saw her,” said Pruitt, who had been friends with Grissom since the first grade.

Despite suffering from an illness that doctors haven’t quite been able to diagnose, Grissom tried her best to attend school as long as she was able.

She was crowned Phil Campbell’s Homecoming queen last month.

“She loved that,” said Grace Berlin, a fellow classmate and longtime friend.

Grissom became ill last December with what doctors’ first thought was mononucleosis, said Phil Campbell principal William Smith.

“She was the most loved child in the school and there was nothing (negative) about her,” Smith said. “She never said an unkind word and she was nice to everybody.

“She was loved by everyone at school. She was really quiet and a kind young lady.”

Smith said counselors were called to the school late last week after Grissom’s condition worsened and she was transported to a Birmingham hospital.

“This has been hard on the students and all of us,” he said.

A web page, www.caringbridge.com/visit/shelbygrissom, was established to keep friends and family up to speed on Grissom’s condition throughout her illness.

This week, that page has turned into a memorial with hundreds of messages as an outpouring of love and support for her parents, Keith and Deb Grissom, and her sister, Addie.

Like her older sister, Grissom was a cheerleader at Phil Campbell and active in the school. She was Student Council President and voted Class Favorite by her peers.

But what set her apart, friends said, was her loving nature and spirit.

“She was so thoughtful and strong,” Berlin said. “She was positive and fought this to the end.”

It was an end that came much too soon for this family and community, but it was not an ending without a lasting impact.

“She always said that she was ready for God to make her better,” Pruitt said.

“She would just say, ‘I have had a good 17 years.”

Mackinley Flannagin Nominated for Channel 19 Student Athlete of the Month

MacKinley Flannagin
Senior, Tharptown High School

GPA: 3.5

Sports: Football, Basketball, Baseball, Track

Athletic Accomplishments:

• Highest GPA Football and Basketball 07-08
• Punter Award
• Highest Free Throw Average
• 3rd Place 400k in Track
• Team Player Award
• Most Improved
• 3 Year Player
• 6th Man Award, 7th Grade
• Youth Basketball (K-7)
• Member of the first-ever football team for Tharptown High School

Academic Accomplishments:

• Good Citizenship Award, 9th Grade
• “Class Favorite” – Elementary, Middle and High School
• Voted “Most Likely to Succeed” in 9th Grade
• FBLA; 4-H Club; History Club; SADD; Beautification Club
• 1st Junior at Tharptown to go to Alabama Boys State
• Member of the 1st Graduating Class of Tharptown High School
• Senior Class President
• Annual Staff Member
• 4-H Club Local 1st Place; Regional 1st Place Winner

Community/Civic Involvement:

• Volunteer for the THS Booster Club
• Tutor for Students in lower classes in Algebra
• Helped with coaching THS Youth

See original story at Channel 19 website.