By CHRIS SIERS
csiers@bedfordcountypost.com
Last week, we highlighted the first part of the top local sports stories from 2024. Here is the conclusion to the top local sports stories from last year:
Jared Carkuff was announced as the new head coach at Cascade, his alma mater, earlier last spring. (Post Photo by Chris Siers)
3. Jared Carkuff hired at Cascade
Jared Carkuff took his last snap for Cascade High School as the starting quarterback in 2011 at Adamsville High School.
Thirteen years later, he returned to his alma mater after Jake Tyre hung up his whistle after helming the Champion program for the previous 10 years.
Carkuff made his stamp during his high school years with the Champions, guiding Cascade to the second-round of the Class 2A playoffs his senior season, and then leading the Champion baseball team to the Class A state baseball tournament.
From there, Carkuff continued his baseball career, pitching for Austin Peay, as well as working his way into the Toronto Blue Jays organization.
While he pursued a path in baseball, his heart always called him back to the sidelines on Friday nights.
“I’ve always been a football guy. We’re a football family. I’m the only one who really took football further than really middle school. Dad coached 42 years. I always knew if I got into coaching, it would be football. As soon as I retired from baseball, I wanted to go get a football job,” he said.
Following a rehab stint after a shoulder surgery, Carkuff decided to walk away from baseball and it wasn’t long after that his coaching career started at Hickman County.
“I had shoulder surgery in 2018. I got traded from the Blue Jays to the Padres. I had surgery and was recovering for about six months, then me and my wife sat down and said it’s probably time. That fall, I was in Hickman County,” Carkuff said.
Following the stop in Hickman County, Carkuff found himself on the staff at Collins Hill, Ga., and was a key factor in the success there.
“So I was in Georgia at Collins Hill for two years and we had a lot of success there. Our offensive line coach and one of my best friends got the head coaching job in South Carolina. He brought me in as the offensive coordinator,” he added.
He picked up his first win as head coach against in-county rival Community on September 13 this season.
Cascade went on to finish the season with a 1-9 overall record.
*Original reporting by Chris Siers
Post File Photos by Gary Johnson Robert Bailey was the key cog in the Eagles’ ground game during the 2024 season. (Post Photo by Gary Johnson)
2. SCHS football wins Region title and reaches 3rd round
What a turnaround Shelbyville Central has enjoyed under head coach Jud Dryden over the past three years.
In 2022, after Dryden took the reins, the Eagles went just 1-10 overall, but earned a trip to the postseason with a thriller of a win over Warren County.
Since then, the Eagles have went a combined 21-4 with back-to-back region titles to their credit over the past two seasons.
“I’m just so proud of our guys. I love the grit, the way they play with and for each other and the love they have for one another,” Shelbyville Central Coach Jud Dryden said after defeating Tullahoma to secure the Region 5-5A title. “I just can’t say enough about them and I can’t imagine being anywhere else.”
The Eagles were led by stellar running back Robert Bailey, who totaled 1,860 yards during his junior campaign, while scoring 23 touchdowns on the ground.
Shelbyville had to adjust when senior Rocky Chandler suffered a season-ending knee injury in the preseason, leaving the burden to fall on Bailey to tote the rock during the season.
Aside from a non-region loss to Marshall County, who went 13-1 on the year, Shelbyville rattled off 10-straight wins en route to winning their second-straight region title.
The run featured a mix of both close wins and blowout victories as the Eagles became known as one of the most dominant ground attacks in the mid-state during the 2024 season.
Shelbyville recorded two-straight shutout wins, five wins allowing nine or fewer points, and three more wins by one score.
Eventually, the Eagles’ run ran into a buzzsaw of a program against top-ranked Page
Until the quarterfinal matchup against the Eagles, Page had allowed just 18 points all season.
Eventually, Page fell in the state championship to Sevier County.
While Shelbyville loses a handful of key players from the 2024 campaign, the Eagles are primed for another strong run in 2025, despite moving up in classification to 6A.
*Original reporting by Gary Johnson
The Cascade Lady Champions pose with their first-ever state championship plaque after wining the Class 1A state title in October. (Submitted Photo)
1. Cascade golf wins state championship
The Cascade Lady Champions certainly have put their stamp on Class 1A golf in the mid-state.
For years, Cascade put forth a resume that would have 90% of teams in the state tournament, but as only region championship teams advance, the Summertown dynasty has stood in the Lady Champs’ way for years.
It’s only fitting the year Cascade beat Summertown in the region tournament, Cascade went on to win the first-ever team state championship.
“It’s just hard work. A lot of them ended up focusing on what they needed to do. We kind of hit a wall with Summertown at regionals. After their junior year, I told them what it’s going to take to get past them (Summertown) is a lot of hard work. They have the talent, we just have to put in the work. And they did. The way they performed was just consistent. That’s what we worked on all year was consistency. If we can hit our fairway off the the tee, hit our greens in regulation and one or two putt, instead of three putt, we’re going to be pretty hard to beat,” Lady Champion coach Jeremy Bankston said.
“We just kept running into a wall. They (Summertown) built a dynasty. Just getting past them was a relief. The goal was to get past Summertown as a team and we could just go to state and have fun. It didn’t put any pressure on us because this is the first time we’ve ever been. They worked on consistency and they stayed consistent. That’s what it takes to win a state championship,” Bankston said.
At the state tournament, consistency was the name of the game that landed Cascade in the driver’s seat of the team competition.
Tatyana Greene and Anna Clanton blazed a path through the state competition to both finish in the top five in the overall standings.
Greene finished third overall in the individual standings by shooting a 74 and 75 for a 149, while Clanton was just as consistent, finishing fourth overall with a 76 and 77 for a 153.
“It’s just incredible to see our growth and our accomplishments and succeed in one way to make the school and community proud of what we’ve done,” Greene said.
“It’s just pretty cool. I knew we could do it. I thought about, but it didn’t hit me until after,” Clanton said.
Cascade’s Sara Kate Hall also competed in the two-day tournament and finished with a 187.
“We’ve worked so hard. I think that’s more accomplishing than the title itself. It’s proof of what hard work can get you,” Hall added.
That prowess of being a consistently good team finally paid off and set a precedent for future Lady Champions who pick up a club for the program moving forward.
“They definitely have set a precedent. This is going to be tough to beat. They have four-straight district championships, three regional runners-up, a region championship and now a state championship,” Bankston said.
*Original reporting by Chris Siers
