Snakes, Bears, Biscuits, Flag Tags …
... Pom Poms, Crime Scenes and Trojan Baseball make the Citizen dispatch for November 8, 2024.
By BILL RICE, JR.
November 8, 2024
Today, I surfed Facebook looking for news-worthy nuggets and found a few posts that grabbed my attention.
Aagghh!!!!
A couple of days ago, Brenda Meadows Peacock told her followers, “Ok. I just might’ve had a stroke. This was in my kitchen right at the back door. It is about 12 inches. I was sweeping so my broom was my weapon of choice.”
Brenda added a question to her post: “Who has room for me tonight? I hate snakes.”
Thorough reporter that I am I followed up with Brenda and asked her what type of snake this was.
Brenda said the consensus was that it was “a rat snake, … but any snake in my kitchen becomes a dead one.”
Brenda added that she also found this deceased snake’s “friend” on the porch and the friend was “was relocated to the pasture.”
IMO pictures of snakes in the kitchen always make good Internet newspaper copy.
I’m going to do a story on this …
On my “Stories to Write” list is an article about female flag tag football, which has rapidly become a popular sport and is now sanctioned by the AHSAA.
Anna Kelley Lowery, whose daughter Gracie was on CHHS’s first team, provided me this team photo and roster. (The team - which played its games at the CHMS football field - recently completed its inaugural season.)
I’ve been reading a fair amount about the push to make girls’ flag tag football a major sport and, clearly, this initiative has gone over well.
My daughter Maggie, who is a cheerleader at CHMS, recently told me she wants to play flag tag football when she gets in high school.
Coaches for the first team were Chase Smartt and Deandre Pitts
Team members were Ericka Young, Kayla Perry, Kyla Martin, Jada Jones, Aderian Greenwood, Recce Garrett, Ava Stone, Tasheiona Pennington, Gabrielle Jackson
Addison Key, Kamari Stroizer, Zakandria Scovil, Addison Armstrong, Eavie Kate Lindsey, Payton Ousley, Emma Sutherland, Gracie Lowery, Aneriya Siler, Ansley Watkins and Emma Neff.
By the way, Anna Lowery was once a cub reporter at the original Troy Citizen!
Congrats CHHS Varsity Cheerleaders
Trojan cheerleaders are (front row, L to R): Skylar Wright, Nisha Patel, Riley Rose Norris, Zayle Johnson, Gabby Gandy, Reagan Alberson, Abby Barron, Zoie Honeycutt and Navaeh Foster.
Back row (L to R): Isabella Register, Ella Bray, Anna Pham, Chloe Makau, Sarah Taylor, Addison Armstrong, Allie Lewis, Eavie Kate Lindsey and Lola Drinkwater. Ashlyn Mabray is the squad’s coach.
***
Michelle Porter Armstrong recently made a post congratulating the CHHS varsity cheerleaders who were named 5A runner-up at the AHSAA South Super Regional held in Mobile Wednesday.
Michelle and Neal’s daughter Addison is on the squad. I still remember when Michelle was a cheerleader for Jo Rape’s squads, which got the great Troy cheerleading tradition started.
Michelle was also the long-time coach of the CHHS cheer squad.
As I’ve learned since my daughter became a member of the CHMS cheer squad, cheerleading is now a competitive sport. Team members from middle school through high school compete all over the state and nation.
In just the last two weeks, both CHHS and CHMS cheer squads have competed at AHSAA, UCA and other events in Huntsville, Montgomery, Mobile and the Middle School cheerleaders will compete Saturday in Birmingham … That’s a tour of all of Alabama’s four largest cities.
And that doesn’t count basketball and football games and practice sessions.
The CHHS varsity team has already received a bid for UCA Nationals after recently finishing fourth at the UCA DII Space Center Regionals in Huntsville.
Note: Also to come: plenty of photos and stories on the excellent PLAS cheerleaders, who were recently named AHSAA South Super Regional 2A Champions in BOTH Traditional & Game Day Divisions.
They will compete for the AHSAA State Championship November 20. Congratulations ladies!
*** (Thank you for sharing Troy Citizen Substack content with your friends and family members!) ***
Good luck, Bear!
One of my favorite Troy University football players was linebacker Bear Woods, who finished his college career for Coach Larry Blakeney’s Trojans in 2009.
Woods always provided great quotes and was (and still is) over-flowing with charisma and personality.
At Troy, Bear went from being a walk-on to a star player. He later had a long and successful career in the Canadian football League, including being a key player on the 2017 Toronto Argonauts’ team that won the CFL’s Grey Cup championship.
Woods was named the head coach at Wetumpka High School in January 2022. The 7-3 Indians have a first-round playoff game tonight against McAdory.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Woods ends up as a college (or pro) coach one day. I’m not surprised to learn his Wetumpka teams are doing well.
The Scene of the Crime
Recently Mrs. Jordan’s forensics class at CHHS created “crime scenes in a box” to combine all of the skills they have learned in forensics so far. These boxes will be shared with the seventh grade classes at Charles Henderson Middle School in a collaboration effort with Mrs. Kerfoot’s class.
“Project-based learning” has been an education buzz term for a while now. This certainly seems like a project Columbo might have gotten a kick out of.
The Montgomery Biscuits turn 20 …
My old friend Rick Hendrick made a post, thanking the Montgomery Biscuits for giving him a watch, commemorating Hendrick’s 20 years as public address announcer for the team.
It’s hard to believe the Biscuits have been playing AA ball in The Gump for two decades.
I got to know Rick about 21 years ago when I moved to Montgomery to work as an advertising account representative for Cumulus Radio (the job I landed after I closed the original Troy Citizen).
Rick, of course, was the lead DJ for 95.1 The Fox, one of seven Cumulus-owned stations in Montgomery. He was hired as the PA announcer at Riverwalk Stadium and has probably missed few if any Biscuits’ games since.
The Biscuits coming to town gave a major boost to the revitalization efforts of downtown Montgomery, which went from a town almost nobody visited after 6 p.m. to a lively entertainment district.
I’ve always thought Troy University hasn't received enough credit for the role it played in restoring and beautifying key buildings and sections of downtown affiliated with Troy’s Montgomery campus. (This might make a good feature story for the re-booted Citizen.)
Rick was the PA announcer at the Troy-Toledo basketball game earlier this week.
“That sounds like Rick Hendrick,” I thought to myself. Rick, who subscribes to The Citizen, later told me, “Yes, that was me.”
Troy Baseball Announces 2025 Schedule
Troy head coach Skylar Meade announced the school’s 56-game, 2025 baseball schedule Thursday afternoon.
The Trojans host 29 games at the newly renovated Riddle-Pace Field and will play a competitive schedule highlighted by games at Auburn, Mississippi State and Virginia Tech and a home-and-home with Alabama.
In total, the Trojans face seven 2024 NCAA Regional Teams and 13 clubs that finished in the top 100 of the NCAA RPI rankings last season.
“This will be another challenging schedule ahead for the Trojans in 2025,” Meade said. “Our goal is to put ourselves in a position if you play well, win games and win on the road, then you are in the RPI hunt come the end of May.
“Playing four SEC games, our annual in-state foes, Virginia Tech and playing in a top five league nationally should put us in a great position if we play great baseball.”
Troy is coming off a 2024 campaign which saw it reach new heights with a No. 21 national ranking, its first top 25 ranking since 2013.
Meade's 109 wins over his first three seasons are the most-ever in the first three seasons by a Troy head coach while his
77 wins over the past two seasons is Troy’s best two-year span since 2006-07.
The Trojans begin the 2025 season Feb. 14-16, hosting Saint Louis and Bellarmine in a multi-team event at Riddle-Pace Field.
Troy hosts Coastal Carolina, a former Division I national champion, for its first home Sun Belt series (March 21-23).
The Sun Belt Conference Tournament returns to Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery May 20-25 as the league’s top ten teams look to crown a conference champion and earn an automatic bid in the NCAA Tournament.
Season Tickets are on sale now at TroyTrojans.com/Tickets. Fans can purchase season tickets in the RBI Club for $600, at field level for $300 or behind home plate for $250. General Admission season tickets come in at $150 or a Family 4-Pack for $400.
Editorial Comment …
I’ve always thought Troy baseball is the Trojan athletic program with the best chance to make a major splash in Division I sports. If Coastal Carolina can win a national championship, so could Troy.
All it takes is a couple of great pitchers, a little luck and a team that gets hot at the right time.
A couple of years ago, Troy was perhaps one out from making a Super Regional. Two wins in a Super Regional gets your team to Omaha where anything could happen. - Bill Rice, Jr.
*** (Subscribers will receive dispatches almost every day via email. All posts are archived and readers are encouraged to make comments beneath that day’s articles. Free and paid subscriptions are offered. Thank you for your support!) ***
Also …
UPDATE: The Citizen has just surpassed 10,000 "page views" in roughy two weeks. Not a bad start for a novel Substack newspaper. Thanks for all the early support. Please keep letting neighbors, family members and friends know this on-line newspaper now exists. My best stories have yet to be written!
Does Maggie know her grandmother was a Troy High School cheerleader?