CALEDONIA — The Caledonia High School Sports Boosters honored student-athletes in 12 sports at their annual all-sports banquet Friday evening in the school cafeteria.
Lindsey Burton, the girls soccer co-Offensive Player of the Year and a First-Team All-District slow-pitch softball selection, and Cole Carter, named the football team’s MVP and a Mississippi State University football signee, were the school’s top honorees. They both received the Screaming Eagle Award, which recognizes their respective athletic achievements and good citizenship.
Sarah Guess, Ashley Langford, Nick May, and Houston Greggs, all of who received medallions, also were nominated for the Screaming Eagle Award.
In addition to Carter, six other athletes were selected as their team’s Most Valuable Player, including First-Team All-District selection Tyler Lowe (basketball), May, an Itawamba Community College signee and First-Team All-District pick (soccer), Guess (basketball), Trent Humber (golf), Langford (volleyball), and Peyton Stanley (cheer).
Introduced by Caledonia High Athletic Director Josh Scott, East Mississippi Community College football coach Buddy Stephens was on hand as guest speaker. He encouraged the athletes in attendance to take what they learned in high school with them on whatever path in life they choose to follow.
“After you leave school, do the things you want to do and what you need to hear from me is to be yourself,” said Stephens, who led EMCC to a school record 12-0 season last season en route to its first National Junior College Athletic Association national championship. EMCC beat top-ranked and home standing Arizona Western College 55-47 in the El Toro Bowl.
“Set your own goals and your own priorities, but always remember that the biggest part of life will be your relationship with other people,” Stephens said.
Stephens, named the 2011 American Community College Football Coaches Association Coach of the Year and the Junior College Coach of the Year by American Football Monthly, then cautioned his audience to remember good relationships depend on the ability to listen.
“Always act, show, and speak who you are,” he said. “Believe what you say, live what you say, but always keep in mind that the biggest part of communication is the ability to listen to other people and in order to listen, you have to be silent.”
Stephens said that’s why athletics are so important.
“Athletics teach so much and two of the most important lessons athletes learn are to be silent when listening to their coaches and that perfection is never going to be attainable,” he said. “There has been only one perfect person in the history of the world, so don’t waste your time trying to be perfect. Instead, be committed to spending your time trying to get better and you’ll get better when you listen to your coaches.”
In addition to the national junior college championship and numerous coaching awards, Stephens is most proud of the fact EMCC also captured the Holbrook Award for the highest graduation rate in the state.
“We graduated 98 percent of our athletes,” Stephens said, “and a lot of that has to do with the fact all we have going for us in Scooba besides a beautiful campus and a new $4.7 million football facility is books and ball.”
Asked his feelings on the new junior college recruiting rules that did away with protected lists for districts, Stephens didn’t mince words.
“With the new setup where the entire state is open, we took a lot of the ‘community’ out of the community college system,” Stephens said.
“In the long run, I think it will eventually go back to the district setup, but it’s the way we have to recruit now, so we’ll recruit the best athletes from the 22 schools in our district first and then we’ll go after the best players from other districts in the state.”
Stephens said higher costs of recruiting statewide is going to be one unintended consequence of the new recruiting rule.
“We will have to spend an exorbitant amount of money to recruit throughout the state,” Stephens said. “That will lead to wide gaps between the haves and the have-nots and will hurt the smaller schools.”
Other athletes recognized included:
Basketball (Boys): Caleb Brown, Offensive Player of the Year; Tyre Mallard, Defensive Player of the Year and All-District.
Basketball (Girls): Symone Dickerson, Offensive Player of the Year; Courtney Fryer, Defensive Player of the Year; Kesler Malone, Most Improved Player.
Cheer: Jordan Wade, Most Spirit; Kaleigh Reynolds, Best Leader.
Cross Country (Boys): Chandler Lester, All-District; Houston Greggs, All-District.
Cross Country (Girls): Alex Holley, All-District; Avery Smith, All-District.
Dance: Alaina Ulmer, Best Performance; Breanna Temple, Best Technique; Abbie Blakeney, Leadership and Spirit; Charleshia Johnson, Most Improved.
Football: Ben Marchbanks, Offensive Player of the Year; Jon Jon Phinizee, Defensive Player of the Year.
Powerlifting: Zach Weathers, second place 114-pound Class State Championship; Jon Jon Phinizee, third place 132-pound Class State Championship.
Soccer (Boys): Josh Kugel, Offensive Player of the Year and First-Team All-District; Northwest Community College signee Dylan Mims, Defensive Player of the Year and First-Team All-District; Drew Hankins, Coaches Award; Nick Ferebee, Hustle Award and Second-Team All-District; Nathan Kendrick, Most Improved Player.
Soccer (Girls): Itawamba Community College signee Lindsey Burton, Co-Offensive Player of the Year and First-Team All-District; Peyton Stanley, Co-Offensive Player of the Year and First-Team All-District; Sarah Freeman, Defensive Player of the Year and First-Team All-District; Laura James, Coaches Award; Gwen Trahan, Honorable Mention All-District; Hinds Community College signee Zia Saraiva, Honorable Mention All-District.
Softball (Fast Pitch): Cara Hopper, Offensive Player of the Year and 300 Club; Taylor Renth, Defensive Player of the Year; Cate Sansing, Most Improved Player and 300 Club; Lindsey Burton, 300 Club; Ashley Langford, 300 Club.
Softball (Slow Pitch): Emily Hicks, Most Improved Player; Lindsey Burton, First-Team All-District; Cate Sansing, First-Team All-District; Sara Beth Kinard, Second-Team All-District; Hope Burton, Second-Team All-District.
Track (Boys): Nick May, Best Sprinter; Chandler Lester, Best Distance Runner; Tyler Lowe, Best Field Events.
Track (Girls): Symone Dickerson, first District high jump; Sarah Guess, first District shot put and discus; Taylor Renth, first district pole vault; Gabrielle Norton, first District 1,600 meters.
Volleyball: Sarah Freeman, Offensive Player of the Year; Stevie Carter, Serving Award.
Presenters of the various awards included: Scott (boys basketball), Andy Finch (girls basketball), Robbye Gilbreath (cheer), Brian White, standing in for James Reed who was sick with pneumonia (boys and girls cross country), Jaclyn Speights (dance), Ricky Kendrick (football), Bradley Tate (golf), Brian White (powerlifting), Marco Suarez and Kevin Kugel (boys soccer), Jason Forrester (girls soccer), Robyn Elmore (fast- and slow-pitch softball), Brian White (boys and girls track), and Samantha Brooks (volleyball).
Other awards presented included the Stick with Us Award by several football players to Kendrick and assistant coaches White and Forrester, and the Most Dependable Award presented by Tate to assistant coach Shirley Taylor, who will accompany the team to McComb on Tuesday through Thursday for the state golf tournament.
“She works for no pay, has driven over 1,000 miles, and is just unbelievable,” Tate said.
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