THS Academic Championship
March 17-18, 2000

Lions Roar to Ninth Place Finish
Senefeld becomes all-time leading scorer, Lions tally three records
At first glance, a 6-7 record at a tournament would appear to be nothing to write home about but in the case of the CHS A-Team’s performance at the Tennessee High School Academic Championship held March 17th and 18th on the campus of Tennessee Tech University looks can indeed be deceiving.  On their way to a ninth place finish at the tournament the A-Team thrice broke the school record for points in a round, saw All-State junior Emily Senefeld become the all-time leading scorer and came within three toss-ups of finishing third in what proved to be the most competitive state tournament in recent years (and that’s not even mentioning the fact the C-Towners held eventual champion Murfreesboro Riverdale to their lowest point total of the entire tournament).

The two-day event began with Central going up against the gritty squad from York Institute.  Despite balanced scoring in the first half, Central could only manage a 160-100 lead at the half.  In the second half paced by Emily Senefeld's three toss-ups however the Lions pulled away to a 445-220 win and in the process eclipsed the mark for most points in a round which had stood for six years.  The second match saw Central take on state power Cookeville.  Central jumped out to an 80-0 lead early but Cookeville slowly whittled away at the advantage and took a 295-255 lead into the second half.  There the team from Cookeville methodically extended their lead and came out a 495-335 victor.

With their record now even at 1-1 Central faced Morristown-East against whom they have had little success in recent years.  The game see-sawed back and forth in the first half but the Lions were never headed in the second half which was highlighted by Emily answering toss-up 14 and moving past Paul Pruett into first place on the all-time career scoring list.  Jeremy Wear’s 40 points led the Lions to a 375-330 win.  Now at 2-1 CHS took on Knoxville West.  Going into the second half, Central owned a 230-220 lead but they could only manage two toss-ups in the half and watched as West came out with a 380-270 win evening the C-Towners record at 2-2.

Next up were back-to-back matches against Middle Tennessee teams from Hendersonville and Hillsboro.  The Hendersonville game was close throughout and the outcome was still in doubt until the very end with Hendersonville escaping with a 280-265 win.  The Hillsboro game was over early as they did a number on the tiring Lions like they had done two weeks before in the semi-final match at TSU.  Central could only tally five toss-ups (their lowest of the tournament) and fell 425-265.  With their record at 2-4, the Lions faced the biggest challenge of the tournament in the night’s final match- a showdown with defending state champion Murfreesboro Riverdale. Senior Tony Grappin carried the team in the first half nailing four toss-ups and keeping the game close and when Jeremy Wear answered toss-up 15 and captain Lindsay Crowell came through with the 30-point bonus effort, the match stood at Riverdale 285, Central 265.  From there Riverdale showed why they will once again be a force to be reckoned with at the national tournament in May by outscoring CHS 105-35 down the stretch and finishing the match with a 390-300 win.  Still the C-Towners could take great pride in holding the Warriors to what ended up being their lowest point total of the tournament.

The second day of the tournament began with a bang as the Lions eclipsed the record for most points in a match for the second time in two days.  This time it was juniors Jeremy Wear and Emily Senefeld coming through with six and four toss-ups respectively as the Lions cruised to a 450-165 win over Portland.  Emily continued her hot buzzing in the next game against Halls but it was senior captain Lindsay Crowell who nailed toss-up 19 to provide the winning margin in the most exciting match of the tournament for the Lions. Halls had a chance to win on the last bonus question of the match but couldn’t come up with “Il Duce” allowing the Lions to escape with a hard-fought 355-340 win.  The next match saw Central even its overall record at 5-5 as paced by three toss-ups each from the seniors Lindsay Crowell and Tony Grappin they handled Cumberland County 390-175.

After the lunch break, Central headed into the final three matches of the tournament at .500 and still harboring hopes of a top four finish.  To make it that far they’d need to win out and hope for a little help.  It appeared the Lions might keep up their end of the bargain as they carried a 30-point lead into the last two-toss-ups against Bartlett but 80 unanswered points sealed their fate as CHS fell 335-285.  Any thought that CHS might have a let-down after that match were erased by a blistering second half against Morristown-West which saw the Lions outscore MW 215-30 and end up with a 465-260 win.  The team had fifteen toss-ups in the match and the 465 points once again set a new record for points scored in one round.

With their overall record once again at .500, the Lions faced off against Ezell-Harding in their final match of the tournament.  Last year Ezell defeated CHS by over 300 points at state but this year would prove to be a different story.  The game was nip and tuck with the score being tied as late as toss-up 15 and the Lions trailing by just ten with two toss-ups to go.  Ezell-Harding however calmly scored sixty of the game’s final seventy points and came out with a 420-360 win.

The Lions ended the tournament at 6-7 but were within striking distance in four of the six losses.  Individually, the Lions were paced by Tony Grappin’s 360 points followed by the junior combination of Jeremy Wear (330) and Emily Senefeld (320).  Senior captain Lindsay Crowell tallied 150 points with many of her toss-ups coming at crucial junctures.  The 6-7 record was a huge improvement over last year’s combined 5-10 record at state.  The future looks bright as the Lions will return both Emily Senefeld and Jeremy Wear along with sophomore sensation Sam Wantland but before getting started on preparing for next year, the Lions still have one more contest remaining next weekend at Vanderbilt.