By: Zach Tallent
MMS Athletic Director
Athletics throughout the 2022-2023 school year have been nothing short of dominant for Macon Middle School. Across all seasons, the Panthers had one collective goal: to collect hardware. I would say their goal was met, if not far surpassed. The dedication to preparedness, committal to work, and expectation of excellence out of our student athletes was something to behold. I struggle to find a time at any level of competition in which seemingly every single program operated at such a high level. To say that I am proud of our student athletes, coaches and support personnel would be an understatement. Kudos to you, MMS Panthers. You have earned it.
Below is an overall breakdown of the year in sports at Macon Middle School, as well as a brief synopsis for each team and their season. For the purposes of overall record, I will be excluding “Olympic sports” (cross country, swim, tennis, cheer, wrestling, track & field, and golf). However, I will list the accolades of those teams in overall championships won, and team synopses.
Overall Record: 113-7 (94%)
BRAC Record: 102-4 (96%)
BRAC Tournament Championships: 7
BRAC Tournament Runners-Up: 1
Total Conference Championships: 8
Total Conference Runners-Up: 2
Fall Sports
Volleyball Led by first-year coach, Brooke Watson, the Lady Panthers finished their season with a record of 16-1- with their only loss coming from out-of-conference opponent Cherokee. During conference play, the Lady Panthers lost only one set throughout the entire season, cruising to the BRAC title game and winning decisively.
Boys’ Soccer After falling in heartbreaking fashion during the 2022 BRAC title game, Coach Samuel Vargas and the MMS boys’ soccer team had one goal in mind: redemption. Dominating each game from whistle to whistle, these boys were on a mission. Nothing could stop them on their way to a perfect 16-0 overall record and BRAC championship.
Football The Panthers football team accomplished something that had only been done once before in school history, and made history while doing it. Head Coach Nathan Raby led the Panthers to the second BRAC title in school history (previous 2010) and the first undefeated season in school history. Season highlights included defeating the always competitive Waynesville Mountaineers twice, as well as the eventual French Broad River Conference Asheville Cougars (outscored FBRC opponents 196-6 during conference play).
Swimming Longtime coaches Dina and Dwain Picou have set a standard of excellence in the sport of swimming at both MMS and FHS. This season was no different. Led by four first-place finishers, the Lady Panthers swim team brought home yet another conference title and undefeated season.
Tennis Continuing the trend of making history, the Lady Panthers tennis team carried their regular season success over into the Southern Mountain League’s championship tournament. Their second-place finish marks the highest finish ever for MMS in the SML tennis championship.
Cross Country On the backs of multiple top 15 finishers, both the boys’ and girls’ cross-country teams left the championship meet with a Top 5 team score. Improvement each week throughout the season was paramount in securing the impressive team results.
Cheer Commitment and enthusiasm are two words that adequately describe first-year coach Kelsy Houston’s MMS cheer team. Rain or shine, these girls were out there willing our teams to victory, both at home and on the road.
Winter Sports
Boys’ Basketball Coach Brandon Williams has created an expectation of great results. This was no more evident than in his team’s back-to-back perfect seasons (17-0), and third consecutive BRAC tournament title. A fast-paced, exciting brand of basketball made their games a must-see.
Girls’ Basketball Being technically sound and extremely physical in the paint were pivotal attributes to Coach Emily Pressley’s Lady Panthers. Facing adversity early on against the Lady Braves of Cherokee allowed our girls to navigate conference play unscathed, en-route to the BRAC title.
Wrestling Improvement was the name of the game for MMS and long-time head coach Jimmy Barnett. Key injuries hampered the Panthers all season long, who fought through the adversity and finished the conference tournament with three podium finishes.
Spring Sports
Track & Field This season was one of growth for the Panthers and first-year head Coach Coleman Tallent. Riding the momentum of regular season success, the Panthers were able to convert that into a conference championship in the girl’s long-jump and boy’s 4x400m relay, as well as multiple other podium finishes.
Golf What a season it was for the MMS golf team. Coach Craig Kurimay guided the Panthers through a regular season that saw them improve their match scores each and every week. Battling through a ton of adversity, the Panthers overcame a 13-stroke deficit after day one of the BRAC tournament to finish just two strokes behind Rugby Middle School as the conference tournament runners-up.
Girls’ Soccer Under the leadership of Coach Katie Crawford and a core group of experienced eighth graders, the Lady Panthers soccer team was able to make history by beating Waynesville two times in a season for the first time ever. While they ultimately lost a heartbreaker in the conference tournament, the Lady Panthers have set a new standard for girls’ soccer at Macon Middle School.
Softball Coming off of last year’s undefeated season and conference championship, first-year Coach Sarah Carpenter and the Lady Panthers had a lot of production to replace. They did just that. The Lady Panthers were able to avenge their early season loss to Rugby in the BRAC title game in convincing fashion, earning back-to-back titles with an 11-1 victory over the Raiders.
Baseball If this group of boys know how to do one thing, it is win. That has been the constant theme throughout all seasons, and baseball was no different. A deep bullpen and tons of power at the plate meant that the Panthers went virtually untested throughout much of the regular season. First-year Head Coach Randy Phillips was able to rally his players to overcome some early struggles and beat the Rugby Raiders in dominating fashion to claim the final BRAC tournament title for MMS during the 2022-2023 school year.
With so much success, it is easy to overlook the amount of hard work and consistency it takes to reach it. If you see any of these student-athletes or their coaches, please take some time to congratulate them on a job well done. The future of athletics is extremely bright at both Macon Middle school and Franklin High School. Thank you to all that have made it possible, and here is to an even better year in 2023-2024.