Newsletter - Pigeon Forge High School

The Tiger Times Summer 2013 Page 5SportsNFL DraftThis year’s NFL Draft was considered a bit peculiar due to the picks that were made andthe ones that were passed up. While most NFL fans and experts predicted Luke Joeckel ofTexas A&M to be the first draft pick, his name was not the first one that Commissioner RogerGoodell called out from the podium. The Kansas City Chiefs decided to take Eric Fisher, anOffensive Tackle from Central Michigan as the first overall pick of the 2013 NFL draft.If you’re a fan of football like I am, or if you just love sports and good, heartwarming stories,chances are you’ve seen The Blind Side. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the movie,it is about a homeless young man Michael Oher who is taken in by the Tuohy family. Oherends up becoming an All-American football player at Ole Miss and goes on to be drafted as anOffensive Tackle in the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft by the Baltimore Ravens.Most people would think that drafting big name Quarterbacks, Running Backs, WideReceivers, and Defensive Backs is the whole reason behind having an NFL Draft. Thisassumption has been proven wrong before, but the 2013 Draft Class really proved the cliché“star player” concept wrong.This year’s draft was all about young men who are a part of their teams’ “main structure,”if you will. These players are what teams are built upon. A majority of this year’s draft, especiallythe first round, belonged to the linemen. In the first round alone, 9 Offensive Line and9 Defensive Line players were drafted. This stat set the tone for the next six rounds.In this draft 40 OL players were picked, while the average number of OL players draftedfrom 2008-2012 was only 40.6. On the defensive side of the ball, 52 Defensive Line playerswere drafted, while the average of the past 5 NFL Drafts has been 42.This draft was definitely one for the record books. For the first time since 2001, only oneQB was drafted in the first round. In 2001, it was Michael Vick from Virginia Tech who wasdrafted by the Atlanta Falcons as the first overall pick. This year, it was EJ Manuel out ofFlorida State who was picked up by the Buffalo Bills. Manuel, the 16th overall pick, was alsothe latest QB to be drafted in the first round since Marshall’s Chad Pennington was draftedby the New York Jets as the 18th pick in the 2000 Draft. There were only 11 QBs drafted thisyear, and the majority of them were taken in the 4th and 7th rounds. This was also the firsttime since 1963 that a RB wasn’t drafted in the first round.As for conferences that stood out in this draft, the SEC was at the top once again. This year,63 SEC players were drafted. This means that 24.8% of the draft picks came from one of the14 Southeastern Conference schools. There were more players drafted from the SEC thaneach of the next two conferences combined: ACC-31, PAC 12- 28. A specific SEC school madea statement in this draft with their defensive players. 8 LSU defenders were selected in thedraft, 2nd most from a single school in the common draft era.Section written by: Danielle WhaleyPhysical Education and Administration/Supervision from Augusta College (now - AugustaState University) in Augusta, Georgia. Coach Kucela is currently finishing up his DoctoralDegree Dissertation in Educational Leadership from Nova Southeastern University. CoachKucela and his wife are the proud parents of their nine year old daughter, Kayla Nicole.Sunni McAllisterThe second tennis signing at Pigeon Forge High School means that Senior Sunni McAllisterwill be a part of the Maryville College tennis team next season. The four year Lady Tiger madeher college decision.Talking about her past four years on the team, McAllister said that her high school careerhas been an interesting one. "It was fun playing tennis and getting to participate in basketball,soccer, and golf, but overall I think tennis was probably the best experience for me," she said.PFHS Tennis Coach John Griffis praised Sunni for being a gifted player. "Sunni is one of thoseunusual players that we're very fortunate to have. She's been an All-District player all fouryears in high school and has won district championships in singles and doubles two times,""She has been a very consistent player who has been a big part of our girl's program," Griffissaid, "She has a natural ability when it comes to playing tennis."Reflecting on her career as a Lady Tiger, McAllister said that her coaches were especiallyimportant to her. "[John] Griffis is an awesome coach, and so are Mark [Rutledge] and David[Huskey]. I just thank them for everything that they've done for me."Looking ahead at what McAllister can accomplish in the next level, Coach Griffis thinksthat she is quite promising. "She can be a really hard worker, which is what it takes to succeedbeyond high school," Griffis said. "She knows what it takes to be a winner, and, with her workethic, she'll go on to do great things."District Tournament ResultsIntroducing Coach KucelaCoach John Kucela comes to Pigeon Forge HighSchool after retiring from the Georgia TeacherRetirement System with over thirty years of service asan educator. Coach Kucela finished his last few yearsat Lakeside High School in Columbia County as thevarsity boys’ head basketball coach.Coach Kucela has coached basketball for 30 yearswith 25 of those years as a varsity head coach. CoachKucela has posted over 300 wins as a head coach andover 400 wins as both head coach and assistant coachbefore accepting the job at Pigeon Forge High School asthe new Tiger basketball coach.Kucela is a graduate of Georgia Military Collegein Milledgeville, Georgia, with an Associate degree in General Studies and received theBachelor of Science degree in Health/Physical Education from the University of SouthCarolina at Aiken. He later received the Master’s and Specialist degrees in both Health/Senior Night for Boys SoccerThe PFHS Tennis team had an impressive turnout during the District Championship.The Girls finished as the runners-up for the third time in a row, while the Boys heldon to their title of District Champs for the third time. Alex Delozier, Garrett Byrd,Gabe Camacho, and Ben Vaughan were named to the All-District team for the boys.Sunni McAllister, Shelby Huskey, and Kassidy Huffaker were also named to the All-District team. Coach John Griffis was named one of the Coaches of the Year.The PFHS Soccer team had a great run this year. In the District Championship theyfaced Gibbs. Although it was a hard-fought match, the Eagles beat the Tigers, makingPFHS the district runners-up.