Sullivan County | featured news

KINGSPORT — Daniel Boone started off the new football season on the right foot on Friday night at Carl Matherly Stadium by taking care of nonconference rival Sullivan South 30-6.
The Rebels committed four turnovers, including a bad snap that Boone recovered in the end zone for a touchdown in the third quarter.
Boone running back Charlie Cole piled up a game-high 131 yards on 21 attempts with two touchdowns. He also made an interception and did the punting duties.
South senior running back Julian Reed rushed 13 times for 86 yards and his team’s lone touchdown.

JONESBOROUGH — Just as David Crockett’s football game with Ooltewah was getting interesting, Mother Nature intervened.
With Crockett leading 19-16 late in the third quarter at Pioneer Field, lightning struck in the area, causing a lengthy delay.
The game was finally suspended after a wait of an hour and 40 minutes and won’t be resumed unless it affects either team’s playoff chances at the end of the season.
There was 1:17 remaining in the third quarter.

KINGSPORT — Dobyns-Bennett and quarterback Zane Whitson got off to a rousing start Friday night at J. Fred Johnson Stadium.
Whitson, a 6-foot-1 junior, completed 9 of 18 passes for 145 yards and rushed for another 38 yards to lead the Indians to a 33-13 victory over Tennessee High.
Aiding Whitson’s efforts was a two-headed rushing attack powered by Phillip Armitage and Tyler Tesnear, who combined for 95 yards in the first game between the teams since 2016.

NORTON — Wise Central used a balanced ground game and three touchdown passes to take a 27-7 win over Marion in a preseason benefit game at Tommy McAmis Field on Friday.
The tuneup for the start of the regular season next week was an impressive one for the Warriors. But coach Luke Owens said his team still has plenty to work on before its opener at Wise County rival Eastside on Aug. 30.
“I thought the effort was there, I just thought we were sloppy at times,” Owens said. “Things broke down and some untimely penalties killed some drives there in the first half.

KINGSPORT — The Kingsport Mets keep pushing for the Appalachian League postseason.
The K-Mets scored six runs over the first two innings and put away the Bluefield Blue Jays 8-5 on Friday at Hunter Wright Stadium.
Kingsport (31-32) is two games back of West Division-leading Johnson City (33-30) and just a half-game behind Bristol (31-31) for second place.
Anthony Dirocie led the way for Kingsport, going 3-for-5 — including a solo home run in the sixth inning and a double — and scored twice.

BLOUNTVILLE — Austin Hartsock engineered a jaw-dropping comeback Friday night, carrying Sullivan North’s football team from a 20-point halftime deficit to a 36-28 nonconference win over host Sullivan Central in the season opener for both teams.
Down 28-8 at intermission, North scored the game’s last four touchdowns.
Hartsock, a senior quarterback, had his fingerprints all over the stunning win, scoring four touchdowns to bring the Golden Raiders all the way back from a seemingly insurmountable deficit.

KINGSPORT – The Kingsport Police Department is still looking for a 47-year-old Kingsport man who has been missing since December of last year.
The missing man is Ronnie D. Herring, first reported as a missing person to the KPD in May by his sister.
According to the police, the sister said no one in her family had seen or heard from Herring since December 2018, noting that her brother is currently homeless, but typically frequents the downtown and Lynn Garden areas of the city.
The sister also said her brother may have traveled to Miami, Florida.

Here are your Sports Live Friday Night scoring updates from the opening week of high school football action in Northeast Tennessee and the preseason games in Southwest Virginia on Friday, Aug. 23: 
NORTHEAST TENNESSEE
Thursday, Aug. 22
Powell 19, Greeneville 17
Friday, Aug.

KINGSPORT — Old friends will be on opposite sidelines at J. Fred Johnson Stadium when Dobyns-Bennett and Tennessee High face off in the season opener for both schools.
Indians coach Joey Christian and Vikings coach Mike Mays were teammates at ETSU and later served as the offensive and defensive coordinators on Gene Venable’s staff at Volunteer High School.
Now, they will be matched up against each other in Friday night’s game at 7:30, the first renewal of the Indians-Vikings rivalry since 2016.

Editor’s note: Kingsport native Calvin Sneed’s 48-year broadcasting career began at WKPT AM-FM-TV, four months after WKPT-TV signed on the air in 1969. He was hired at the age of 15 to work part-time on-air shifts on the radio stations and to help out in the fledgling TV control room. Sneed is now retired from news anchoring at WTVC-TV, Chattanooga.
While getting ABC on the air in Kingsport had finally been accomplished, simultaneous work was continuing on converting the huge WKPT AM Studio A into a television studio.