Email link

Respond to editor

Read comments (12)

Share link

Cascade ends Liberty's season

Tuesday, September 23, 2008
By Danny Parker

Cascade and Liberty were separated by only one goal at halftime.
(T-G Photo by Danny Parker)
[Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

Liberty Middle's girls matured by leaps and bounds on the soccer field in just 10 days. However, their efforts came up just short as they lost to second-seeded Cascade Middle 3-0 in the opening round of the Middle Tennessee Small Schools District tournament in Wartrace on Monday afternoon.

"Huge improvement," Lady Patriot coach Shannon Dearing said. "Two weeks ago we played the same team and lost 7-0 and this time only 3-0. So, the last two weeks our girls practiced hard, they worked hard and I think it shows."

This was only the second season of existence for the Liberty soccer program. Their final record is 0-6-2, but they only graduate four eighth graders and 10 sixth graders are set to return.

"Next year is going to be our year," Dearing said.

Lady Patriot Cassidy Carpenter (7) boots a ball just before Lady Champion Abby Jett arrives.
(T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge]
Cascade (6-1-1) still has some unfinished business as they vie for the tourney trophy. The victory advances them to the semifinals where they will host third-seeded Community Junior High on Friday at 5.

"We're going to have to step our game up, definitely," Lady Champion coach Monica Lewis said. "We're going to have to be more defensive. We're going to have to keep the field spread out a little more."

A pair of seventh graders hooked up to account for the first goal when Katie Vincent took an assist from Courtnie Carter. That was all Cascade could muster versus the gritty Liberty defense and goalkeeper Mary Beth Sudberry.

"We just were not playing up to speed," Lewis said. "Our passes were not complete. We were being aggressive, we just weren't finishing our plays. We were making passes to people who weren't there."

Cassidy Carpenter (7) clears a ball from harm's way before Cascade's Katelynn Edde can get a foot on the ball.
(T-G Photo by Danny Parker)
[Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]
Eighth grader Katelynn Edde doubled the advantage in the 36th minute. Shelbye Stacy tacked on the final tally thanks in part to an assist via Cari Brown with 11:05 to go.

"We stepped it up in the second half, obviously," Lewis said. "We were marking the people and not the ball. That made a difference. We kept it spread out a little more, and our passes traveled the field a little more. I moved some people around and that seemed to make a difference too."

Kaley Clanton manned the nets for the Orange and Black to help ensure the shutout.

Comments

Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. If you feel that a comment is offensive, please Login or Create an account first, and then you will be able to flag a comment as objectionable. Please also note that those who post comments on t-g.com may do so using a screen name, which may or may not reflect a website user's actual name. Readers should be careful not to assign comments to real people who may have names similar to screen names. Refrain from obscenity in your comments, and to keep discussions civil, don't say anything in a way your grandmother would be ashamed to read.

"Cascade ends Liberty's season"...Wow, what a catchy caption for a write-up that FINALLY gives information and photos regarding Liberty's soccer team. I thought you sports writers had forgotten that Liberty had a soccer team (or a football team) given all the space you give to Cascade in your sprots section.

Yeah, before all of you bloggers start complaining, I know Cascade has a good sport's program. Even so, the Lady Patriot's soccer team has worked hard this year. They practive hard just like all the other teams, and play games each week like the other teams. I guess the only thing missing is the link that connects Liberty to the T-G. Same old Bedford County politics!

-- Posted by ohwell on Tue, Sep 23, 2008, at 2:00 PM

At least someone else said it besides me. I've been yelling for equal coverage for all teams.

-- Posted by sameoldstory on Tue, Sep 23, 2008, at 8:01 PM

Equal coverage eh? Which middle schools and teams clearly have more coverage than the rest? After you answer that, tell us why you think that is. Explain the politics. Does the Times-Gazette have a schedule and roster for your particular team and is just ignoring covering them because of your politics? I know I've seen a feature story on Liberty football coach Jimmy Darden. The last two Liberty football games were in the newspaper, they didn't play last week and Darden told us they play out in Petersburg this week. I can assure you, if coach Darden or another school official calls 684-1200 ext. 219 and gives us the results of the game that night then there will be a story. It's the same for every school and every team regardless of town, school colors or last names. We simply need communication. Some teams have told us they flat out don't want stories on their performances in the paper out of embarrassment.

-- Posted by Parker on Tue, Sep 23, 2008, at 10:51 PM

So you are saying that you let the teams decide if you run a story on them? Wow! That's some great news work you do there. Aren't you expected to report the game no matter if they are winning and loosing.

And saying the coaches didn't call you is a cop out. You have the schedules, so it's up to you to make the arrangments. If you can't be there, then it's up to you to make sure you get the information on the games you missed. Since when does the sports department need to be spoon-fed their information?

-- Posted by sameoldstory on Wed, Sep 24, 2008, at 8:14 AM

As far as schedules go? Don't you guys do your homework and obtain the Junior High and High School scheduls before the season starts? It's not like they just call eachother up and decide to play on the spur of the moment.

-- Posted by sameoldstory on Wed, Sep 24, 2008, at 8:16 AM

Before you blast people for doing their job, I would think that you should get your facts straight.1. It is and always has been the job of the coach to call in scores and any other pertinent information to any newspaper. 2. It is the responsibility of the school and coach to inform the paper of the teams' schedule at the begining of their season 3.Some of the schools your are mentioning have high school and middle school teams and have more sports to be covered. If you see the school's name in the paper a little more, take a step back and analyze the situation. It just might be that they have participated in more games with more teams representing that same school.

One other thing that bothers me about the comments that you made today is the fact that you were so critical of the sports' staff in such a public forum. I think that you probably could have approached any member of the staff or emailed them and found out all of these answers yourself. I wonder how you would feel if someone walked into your place of business and let you have it. Or better still maybe they should consider visiting and then posting it on the website for everyone in the county to read...

-- Posted by AL on Wed, Sep 24, 2008, at 11:11 AM

My child played in a game a couple of years ago and his team's performance wasn't pretty. I seen the T-G sports person (can't remember if it was Mr. Parker or Mr. Jones) there taking pictures, so I knew that it would be in the paper. I didn't look forward to reading about it the next day thinking how embarrassing it was going to be. Much to my surprise the article wasn't embarrassing at all. It didn't put down any players or the team. It showed me just how professional the T-G staff is.

-- Posted by wahoo on Wed, Sep 24, 2008, at 1:18 PM

We're still waiting to hear where these "Bedford County politics" are coming from. The sports editor isn't even from here. The sports editor has also written articles ranging from Liberty soccer to Webb cross country to Shelbyville golf to Community volleyball to Cascade football in the last week alone.

As for some of the other negative comments...there simply isn't any way to please some people. They are going to see things their way regardless of logic. Whether a team wins or loses does not affect whether or not we write a story. We aren't able to get to all games in person. If the editor drives down to Petersburg on a Thursday night there could be three teams in Bedford County left without a reporter.

-- Posted by Parker on Wed, Sep 24, 2008, at 2:58 PM

I didn't bring up the politics, YOU did. I just pointed out that they aren't doing their homework when it comes to coverage. You keep saying that it's up to the coaches. I'm sorry, but if the coaches are to do the reporting, then why have sports writers.

The writers could do the same thing I did. I made phone calls, looked on the school web sites and even dropped by the schools to pick up sports schedules. About 3 hours of work tops and I had the schedules for all the games. Unlike the past, when the TG would post the schedules and then actually post the upcoming games that are being played by the county teams.

Maybe they can explain this.... SCHS had a JV football game on Tuesday night. A decent and rowdy crowd and a good game. NOT ONE WORD IN THE PAPER. Not even the score. No one thought of picking up a camera and making a quick visit to the field. And while they were there, I noticed an HMS soccer game against Tullahoma going on. Both were played at SCHS. Could have knocked out two quick stories or at lest a few pics. But no one from "our" paper was there.

I will stand by what I said.... coverage is lacking in MANY areas.

-- Posted by sameoldstory on Wed, Sep 24, 2008, at 6:34 PM

I was at the Central JV football game this week. It was Monday night not Tuesday night. Yes, it was a good game and Central won. I'm not sure why but it was more of a scrimmage than an actual game. They were supposed to play Eagleville that night and it got canceled, so they played this game with Cannon Co.

Maybe I am wrong but I can't remember the paper covering freshman or JV games even when I went to high school. I'm assuming Cascade and Community has freshman and JV teams and I don't remember seeing articles on them either. The freshman games are played on Thursday nights, the same night as many of the middle school games. It would be nice to have them covered, but I don't expect it. I know they can't be everywhere.

-- Posted by wahoo on Thu, Sep 25, 2008, at 7:36 AM

Parker....I am the one that mentioned the politics. I am not too sure if your last name coincides with the same Parkers at Cascade. If it does, then that in itself explains the comment on politics.

My comment was not an attempt to bash the T-G in any way. I am simply stating the facts. Yes, there was a nice article on Coach Darden and the Liberty football team in the paper a WHILE back. Since then, I haven't seen any photos of Liberty football. Oh yeah, there is an ARTICLE on Liberty's Homecoming win last night, but where are the photos? I guess some more important schools were playing sports last night. That's right, CASCADE was playing in Unionville. I think I just proved my point on the politics!

-- Posted by ohwell on Fri, Sep 26, 2008, at 10:21 PM

Actually, it doesn't explain anything. Your coach said you would be in Petersburg that night playing Unity School, not hosting your homecoming game. He said Unity canceled on him at the last minute. He came up to the paper with some results on Friday morning, and I wrote the story based on what he got me. Congrats on your first win! Hopefully, your boys will get on a roll and end the season on an upswing.

-- Posted by Parker on Tue, Oct 7, 2008, at 12:37 AM