Jr Waves win 2 Championships in 1 Day

For a week, the Midway Middle School 7th grade boys basketball players have been playing in 2 separate tournaments; in 2 separate counties. The team would travel to Madisonville for a game only to grab a quick lunch and then travel to Lenoir City for another game. With a lot of help, what follows is our attempt to summarize 2 tournaments in 1 week.

The week of Green Nation basketball started last Saturday in Madisonville. In the morning (2/13), The Jr Waves played Sweetwater. The Wild Cats had a big scorer in number 10. He scored eleven points in the first half. In the 2nd half, Griff Dishner was given the task of stopping him. He succeeded; holding him to only 5 points in the 2nd half. Once Griff put a stop to number 10’s scoring, the Waves slowly reeled them in and took the lead late in the 3rd and never looked back. The final score was 48 32 midway. Jacob Cawood led the team with 15 points and followed by Mason Woody with 13.

Fast forward a few hours and the team arrived in Lenoir City to play CAK. The Waves jumped out early and outscored them 14 to 1 in the first quarter. CAK made a run in the 2nd quarter but strong defense shut them out in the 3rd and the final was 32 to 21. Again we were lead in scoring by Cawood but Mason Woody, Zach Edwards, Colby Ross, and Griff Dishner made many baskets on the fast break to keep CAK(e) honest.

Due to bad weather Monday’s game at LC got postponed so the Waves didn’t play again till Wednesday against Oliver Springs. OS is a very talented, tall team. The game started slow; at the end of the 1st it was tied 7 to 7, then a big 2nd quarter by Cawood, Edwards, and Cameron Hashmi gave the Waves a 22-12 lead at the half. The final ended 35-26 with a great team defensive effort. Cameron Hashmi buried a 3 to seal the deal in the 4th.

Thursday night the Waves played Vonore at Madisonville. Vonore has 2 guards that could shoot the lights out from 3 point land. As a team they hit seven 3 pointers in the game. Cawood brought his A game and scored 27 on the night and Hasmi, Edwards, Hayden Hester, Griff Dishner, Mason Woody, and Jack Lowe all scored for the Green Team. The game was close for a while then Midway took a commanding lead right after half time. Vonore made a run in the 4th but Jack Lowe nailed a 15ft jump shot to bring home the win. Midway won 52 to 45 to clinch a spot in the Madisonville championship game.

Now things get complicated.
Friday night at 8:00 the Waves played at very athletic North Middle team. #22 for them had scored 29 points against Oliver Springs and 19 in another game so Coach O’Toole was prepping his team on defending the hot hand….so who does he turn to? Griff Dishner got the honor of guarding him for most of the night and #22 was held scoreless until the 4th quarter and he ended up with only 6 points. Both teams got off to a slow start with the score being 3 to 2 at the end of 1. Zach Edwards carried Midway in the 2nd quarter scoring 6 of our 10 points making it 13-8 at the half. Midway outscored North 10 to 4 in the 3rd with Cawood warming up and scoring 7 points in the 3rd and 9 in the 4th. Hester and Dishner also scored in the 4th. A big turning point was when North got called for 2 technical’s in the 4th quarter. Down 23 to 12 at the end of 3 North made a huge run in the fourth quarter hitting five 3's but it wasn’t enough as Midway won 36-27 to clinch a spot in the Lenoir City championship game.

Saturday at noon Midway played Madisonville at Madisonville for 1st place out there. These two teams played each other last year in the championship game and the Waves lost after a hard fought game. This year, for a while, it looked the same. Mason Woody hit a 3 early in the game and along with Hashmi and Cawood scoring kept the game close after one period with Midway trailing 9-11. The Waves closed and the score was tied 19-19 entering halftime. Woody and Cawood did the scoring in the 2nd. After half time the Waves looked winded. Passes were getting picked-off and there appeared to be no hustle. It looked like a case of too many games; not enough rest. Then Griff Dishner and Mason Woody hit some big shots and made some great steals to pull the game close once again; 27-29 Madisonville end of 3. This game looked like a battle between big men as Cawood and #23 from Madisonville was battling each other all night in what seemed like a game of “I did this can you do better?”….or for those 30+, it was a 1980’s dance off. But in the 4th, Cawood got some back up as Zach Edwards hit some big shots and Mason Woody hit a 3 late in the game to give Midway a 40 to 36 win.

5 hours later, the Waves would make their attempt of 2 Championships in 2 counties in a single day. The Waves tipped off at Lenoir City in the championship game vs Concord Christian. Defense lead this game as Midway won the 1st quarter 11-4 and 3rd quarter 11- 6. Six different players scored for Midway; they were Cawood, Edwards, Colby Ross, Hayden Hester, Sammy Hester, and Seth Colyer. Seth had a great week subbing in for Cawood and pulls down boards with a passion. Edwards hit 2 big 3's in the 2nd half to seal up this win and second championship of the day.

That’s 7 games in 7 days with 7 wins…….and 2 pieces of hardware.

Coach O'Toole added, “since I’ve been at Midway, this is the 4th year playing in the Madisonville tourney, 2nd time playing in the championship and first time winning it. This is the 5th time playing in the Lenoir City tourney, 2nd time in the championship game and 1st time winning it. The current 7th graders have been in 4 championship games, won 3 of them, and finished the regular season as the number one team in the district with a 14-1 record.”

Congratulations to the entire Midway Middle basketball program and we look forward to many more years of great Greenwave basketball.

See game photos here.

Regular Season Comes to An End

Tuesday night was the final regular season game for Midway. The seniors were honored on the night. The results of the District standings would come down to the final game of the season. A win over Rockwood would cap off a great second half of the season for the Lady Waves and would put them in 3rd place in the District. A loss and they would finish 4th, behind Rockwood. For the boys, a win would mean a 2nd place finish in the District…and loss would drop them one spot to 3rd place, behind Grace and Harriman.

Girls Game:
The game started out slow offensively for both teams. The two teams only managed 2 points in the first 6 and a half minutes of the opening stanza. The game would pick up in the second period and the visiting Lady Tigers would take a 19-15 lead into half time.

The Lady Waves have been hot as of late, but their legs showed some wear during the first 16 minutes of the game. Hayley Roberson was in foul trouble and the Lady Waves were looking for offense……that’s when freshman, Alisa Barger, stepped up. Alisa has shot well for the Lady Waves and more importantly, she doesn’t shy away from taking any open jumper. The freshman was money last night; knocking down jumper after jumper, to push the Lady Waves into a 26-23 lead to start the 4th period.

She continued with the hot hand into the final 8 minutes and senior Hayley Ladd made some big plays and knocked down several key free throws to ice the 41-28 win.

Seniors Hayley Parks, Chelsea Phillips and Haley Ladd were honored during their final regular season game. Parks has been nothing but an inspiration to all the last 12+ months. Hayley suffered a major knee injury last year; but through dedication, she rehabbed herself back to the court this year. But it wouldn’t come easy. She re-injured the knee forcing yet another surgery. But yet again, she battled back and returned to the action…do you think the girl loves the game of basketball? Chelsea Phillips has played a major key in the rebuilding of Lady Wave basketball. She dedicated herself to the team and no one could ask for anything more. To quote several Midway fans, ”that girl works her butt off!” Haley Ladd is a 5’7” forward who deserves a lot of credit for the team’s recent success. Ladd may not have those big scoring nights; however, she does those things required to win. Not turning the ball over, getting the loose ball, defense, rebounds, along with knocking down the shot, are what Haley Ladd brings to the floor. To make a long story short….when the season finally comes to an end, newly named Boyd Woody Gymnasium will miss these 3 young ladies.

Boys Game:
The Greenwaves and Tigers exchanged goals for the first 8 minutes of the game. One could tell from early on that this was going to be a close game till the final buzzer. Similar to recent games, the Waves struggled to score from the paint and the Tigers would take a narrow 28-23 lead into the half. The Waves continued to struggle to start the 3rd quarter and the Tigers lead would extend to double-digits. But the Waves rallied behind a freshman. Caleb Ruffner knocked down some shots, including a great drive into the heart of the Tiger defense for a layup and a foul, and the Waves started to chip away at the lead.

The Tigers led 40-32 to start the 4th. It appeared that Rockwood’s lead would extend but once again, the Waves made a surge after senior Paul Wiley connected a couple times from behind the arc. The Tiger lead was cut to 4, 48-44, with 60 seconds remaining in the game; however, the Waves would go scoreless during the final minute and the Tigers took the game, 50-44.

The names of the seniors you may have heard before……Wakon Roberson, Zach Hall and Paul Wiley. Wiley has been an anchor in the Waves backcourt for his entire basketball career. Over the last 2 years, this skinny white boy has knocked down big shots from waaaay down town. Many remember one of his best games when he almost single-handedly led the Waves to victory over Greenback last year. Zach Hall went from being a tall, clumsy, freshman to a dominate force as a junior and senior. Zach is one of the best shot blockers to have ever worn the green and white – think Dikembe Mutombo without the finger wave. And when he returned for his senior year, it was obvious that he’d worked on his offensive moves as well. Zach added strong post moves and became a scoring threat to accompany his defensive skills. As a freshman, Wakon got a lot of playing time. His height and leaping ability laid the foundation to what would become a solid scoring machine for the Waves. Wakon added some needed pounds to his tall frame over the last 2 years making him even harder to defend and keep away from the rim. When Wakon is on, he is almost impossible to stop and is a lot of fun to watch. Though we don’t have exact numbers, we do know that Wakon is nearing (or perhaps has already hit) the 1,000 points mark for his career.

So you ask, how do you replace these 3 players? You don’t. But the underclassmen will step up with their own strengths to fill the void and continue to put marks in the win column for Midway basketball.

The District tournament begins Thursday and the Lady Waves finish the regular season in 3rd place in the District and will host the 1st round playoff game against Greenback on Thursday at 7pm. The boys also finished 3rd and will host Greenback at home on Friday at 7pm.

Photos from Tuesdays game can be seen by clicking on the galleries link.

Midway Splits games with Grace

The Lady Waves jumped out early on Grace Christian, scoring 16 points in the opening period to lead 16-7. By the half, the Lady Waves had built out a 16 point lead, 35-19, thanks to the hot hand of Hayley Roberson. Roberson, who 2 weeks ago was voted PrepXtra’s Player of the Week, scored 18 of her teams 35 first half points. Roberson, known to all SOR as “Robbie”, was simply en fuego Thursday night. I could easily summarize this game in the words of Brownie Rose on the PA: “3 point basket by Roberson…..Roberson with the layup…..3 point basket by Roberson…..Roberson for two……Roberson with the jumper……3 point basket by Roberson.” Offensively, the night belonged to Hayley Roberson.

The Lady Waves would continue their domination in the 2nd half and would win easily, 63-38.

The trio of Hali Morris, Chelsea Phillips and Haley Ladd continue to play well on both ends of the court.

Returning to the court was Hayley Parks. Parks, coming off another knee surgery, played limited minutes but added 6 points. Her only miss was a 3-pointer which the ball is still trying to find the rim (sorry, Parks…couldn’t resist). Parks rejoins Borum and Klinker in the back court, giving Coach Woody needed experience and depth as the Lady Waves attempt for a play-off run.

The Lady Waves (9-14, 6-5) began the season 0-6 but since then have gone 9-8 and won 4 out of their last 5 games. They have a non-District game tonight and then a final District game against Rockwood to end the regular season. A win against Rockwood should put the Lady Waves in 3rd place in the District, behind Tellico Plains (20-3, 11-0) and Harriman (9-10, 8-2).

Boys Game
Last Month, the Midway Greenwaves (15-9, 10-3) traveled to Grace Christian for a big District show down with a chance to lay claim as the #1 seed in the District. A last second layup gave Grace the win. The long awaited rematch was last night. Would home court be the difference? Unfortunately for the Waves, home court possessed no advantage. The rims were as unfriendly to Midway as Yankees that move south of the river.

Midway took the opening lead on a 3-pointer from Wakon Roberson and the Waves would remain in the lead, at times by 10 points, until the halfway mark in the 2nd period. With 4:30 remaining in the first half, Grace took a 16-15 lead…..a lead they would not relinquish.

At times, Grace held a 15 point lead; however, Midway made a charge to start the 4th, cutting the lead to 6 but they would not get any closer.

Grace pressured the Waves all night long, forcing turnovers and frustration. Zach Hall had a good game defensively, but offensively was MIA. There were many offensive possessions by the Waves in which Hall did not touch the ball.
Missed shots and turnovers began to quickly add up, allowing Grace to take the district win on the home court of the Waves.

The Waves will need to regroup quickly. They host Monterey tonight and then Rockwood on Monday. If the Waves hope to win the District, they’ll need more points from Wakon and the guards will need to learn from last night’s game and get the ball inside to the Beast, Zach Hall.

Interview with Josh Manning

SORSN: After a heart-breaking, buzzer-beating loss at Grace, the team has picked up a pair of nice wins over Greenback and Coalfield. With 4 district games remaining, including a rematch with Grace, you have a shot to enter the tourney as a top seed. As we enter February, has the teams focus changed today vs what it was in December? What have practices been like in recent days?

Josh: The teams focus has greatly increased and practices have been more up-tempo.

SORSN: On December 26th, the team recorded one of the school’s biggest wins in recent years with a victory over Kingston. You hit some BIG shots down the stretch to win the game. Talk to us about that game. What were you thinking after you hit that first 3-pointer….then hit another?

Josh: During the game our offense ran in spurts but our defense played lights out throughout the entire game. Going into the game my shooting wasn't were I would have liked but after I hit those 3's I had a feeling the offense would pick it up.

SORSN: With every big play from Kingston, the team responded and appeared dedicated to playing their hearts out for Coach Ruffner. We saw the celebration on the floor, what was the locker room like after the game? What did that win do for the team?

Josh: The whole team was excited, jumping around, praising the victory. Since then the team has been close and believes we can play with best of them.

SORSN: We would love to continue to talk about the games with Kingston and the big win that night but we would prefer to focus our attention to several things that went unnoticed by many. Though just separated by about 10 miles, the schools could not be more different. For example, during warm-ups for the game at Kingston, they blared some Miley Cyrus…readers may think we’re making this up…we’re not, they actually played Hanna Montana. At Midway, the warm-up music of choice is Country Boy Can Survive. At Kingston, the student section attempted to mock the Green Waves by chanting “ya’ll drive tractors!” To which the Midway community responded by, as one would expect, driving tractors to the game.

With the rumors of the Midway Maniacs’ pre-game activity, all the hype of this rematch and the fact that it was being played SOR, what was the locker room and the teams attitude like before the game?

Josh: The attitude in the locker was real laid back with the exception of me, Jake, and Zack we were psyched out.

SORSN: Could this mockery be nothing more than jealousy? Let us not forget about the lack of originality that our friends to the north displayed. The SOR logo (superman logo with SOR in the middle) used for the last 6+ years is without question one of the coolest things around. Sneakered we did when we saw t-shirts with the superman logo with a ‘K’….not to mention NOR written on cars (and big bodies). “NOR”….doesn’t have quite the same ring to it does it? Has South of the River become the new fashion mecca?

Josh: "NOR" is nothing like SOR and I'll say this, never again will you see another schools fans drive their tractors to a game.

SORSN: Moving on…..answer these short questions:
Favorite pre-game snack - Philly Cheesesteak from Coastal
Best show on TV - Sports Center
Role Model - Carlos Zambram

SORSN: A new restaurant, the Wave Café, is scheduled to open the first of March. If they name a special after you, what should the meal consist of?

Josh: A Philly cheesesteak sandwich with ultimate fries

Thanks for your time Josh and good luck in the district tournament.

Lady Waves & Waves Defeat Greenback

The Lady Waves defeated Greenback Friday night 48-38. The Midway boys also won, 49-35.

Game photos have been uploaded - [Galleries]

Check back for full write-up.

Green Waves defeat Kingston

The Lady Jackets are good...real good...and have too much size and offensive power for the Lady Waves. Lady Jackets would cruise to a victory.

But it was a different story in the 8:00 tip-off with the boys. The Green Waves and Jackets battled for 4 periods and in the end, it would be the good guys (those in green) that would put heart and pride on the line and defeat those evil neighbors to the north 40-33.

Check back soon for full game write-up and photos.

Midway Jr Waves remain perfect

The Midway Middle School boys basketball team continues their hot streak and remain undefeated on the season with a 44-35 win over visiting Lenoir City Panthers.

Full game write-up to come later; however, game photos have been uploaded to the galleries section. http://www.sorsn-photography.com/

Midway Basketball 1948

Thanks to Lewis Galyon, we have pictures of the first basketball teams (1948) at Midway High School.

Click on the image to view the Archive gallery.

Midway Basketball ’09-10 Season Tip-Off

Lady Waves – Strength, Speed, Scoring?
The Lady Waves Basketball program has been working in the off-season on getting faster and stronger. Coach A C Woody begins her 4th year as head coach of the Lady Waves. Joining her on the sidelines is Lacey Davidson and helping out in practice is Steven “Ryan” Blasko.

Under the direction of C Mo, they have been spending time in the new and improved weight training facility. The team is quoted as saying they have a set goal to have everyone bench pressing one of 5 Halie’s on the team - Halie Wiley.

As for speed, Coach Woody hopes to see her team faster than teams past. Haley Parks has returned after a knee injury at the end of last season. Klinker, D, Wiley will share the hard wood this season playing the point guard spot; all of which have improved their speed from last season. Phillips returns to the roster this season and shows more speed than she has in the past 3 years, she is determined to be a vital part this season. Ladd will use her speed on Defense. She’s a defensively smart player and her quick reads have been a real asset in camps and scrimmages this summer. Bauer, even after a broke-leg last season, has healed nicely and shows that she can move on and off the court - now she is focusing on moving in the right direction. What you will not see this season is Robbie (aka Haley Roberson) trying to imitate Tigger.

Audrey is the lone Junior on the team. She has improved her foot speed and carries a hard academic load in the first semester; you will see a spring in her step after Christmas. When asked, Coach Woody had this to say about Audrey – “We know she is strong because she is the only Jr tough enough to be a LWB Player.”

Coach Woody had this to say about the rest of the team.

Morey we refer to as the pick up! She has picked up scoring and continues to be a force on the boards. She picks up when press breaks down. She picks up when someone misses a shot.

Kay-ro – where ever we need her she will go! Post or slide out to the wing if we need her there.

Vicky G has been feeling much better over the summer and early fall when she gets the call she will go without hesitation.

We are experiencing a lot more interest in girl’s basketball this season other names & faces you will be seeing: Barger, Thomason, Stansbury, T, Darian, Katie and Shayla. These young ladies are getting better every day.

Our weakness at this time seems to be the same as years past, SCORING! We are all working hard to step up and use our strength to not let this be a factor this season.

Although we are very young and facing one tough schedule, under the leadership of our Co-Captains Parks and Ladd we are determined to make this a great season!! Our Moto is No Fear!

The Lady Waves have strength and speed…they are now looking for that final ‘S’, scoring. The Lady Waves have opened up the season with some tough opponents in Scott County & York and currently sit at 0-2.

Greenwaves to put points on the board this season
Similar to the Lady Waves, the Waves have had 2 out of the 3 S’s. Size & speed have been a pro for the Waves in recent years but scoring has been hard to come by…especially to close out games. This season, the Waves look for size to contribute to more scoring. Wakon Roberson returns to the hardwood for his final season. The 6’5 senior looks to have a break-out season and will be the key to a long awaited post-season run for the Green & White. Thomas Viar and Zach Hall give the Waves 3 players standing at least 6’2. Hall had some big games last season; look for him to be a bigger scoring threat this season.

Matt Jarvis earned the starting point guard position last year as a freshman. The team will need him to continue to play with the poise and control that he showcased last year.

The Waves welcome in a large freshman class. Caleb Ruffner, Josh Brummit and Clay Clower make up half of the freshman class and all three stand at 6’0. Caleb injured his foot before the season opener and hopes to return in a few more weeks.

The Waves are currently 1-1. They dropped a hard fought game against Scott County but then blew out York on Saturday night.

Excitement builds for a big Tuesday night game across the bridge. Midway will pay a visit to the neighbors to the north – Kingston – for a classic ‘battle of the bridge’ showdown.

Jr Waves double up Kingston

Congratulation's to the Jr Waves on their 48-24 win over Kingston.

Click on the SORSN Photo Galleries link on the right to see photos from the game.

Kat Beard to Play at next level

Congratulations to Kathryn Beard who signed a scholarship to play basketball at Hiwassee College.

Click here to read article in Roane County News.