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The TSSAA has released the semifinalists for the Tennessee Titans Mr. Football and Kicker of the Year awards, with the winners being announced on Dec. 7 at Nissan Stadium.

The finalists for each of the 10 awards will be announced by Tennessee Titans play-by-play announcer Mike Keith and coach Mike Vrabel at 7 p.m. CT on Nov. 22. That announcement will be streamed on https://www.tennesseetitans.com/community/mr-football-awards/.

The award is for regular-season accomplishments. Postseason achievements are not considered in determining the winner. Coaches and high school sports writers vote for the nominees and a statewide panel of sports writers choose the semifinalists and the winners.

Here is the full list of Mr. Football semifinalists:

DIVISION I

CLASS 1A

Kumaro Brown, MASE

Jackson Cassidy, McKenzie

Sam Driggers, Peabody

Isaiah Thomison, Fayetteville

Kamden Wellington, South Pittsburg

CLASS 2A

Mason Bowman, Monterey

Jacquan Davis, Fairley

Quincy Hamilton, Westview

Joshua Jackson, Tyner

Zech Prince, East Robertson

CLASS 3A

Jamarion Dowell, Covington

Easton Elliott, Waverly

Jordan Harris, Alcoa

Mark Joseph, Sheffield

Lance Williams, Alcoa

CLASS 4A

Gabe Borders, Macon County

Juandrick Bullard, East Hamilton

Marcellus Jackson, Fulton

Walker Martinez, Anderson County

Jamari Person, Haywood

CLASS 5A

De’Sean Bishop, Karns

Malaki Dowell, White County

Brayden Latham, Knoxville West

Jordyn Potts, Powell

Braxton Sharp, Munford

CLASS 6A

Justin Brown, Blackman

Arion Carter, Smyrna

Kade Hewitt, Oakland

Jack Risner, Blackman

Noah Vaughn, Maryville

DIVISION II

CLASS A

Jared Curtis, Nashville Christian

Kevin Finch, USJ

Ashton Jones, DCA

D.J. Merriweather, Clarksville Academy

Garrett Weekly, Friendship Christian

CLASS AA

Kaleb Beasley, Lipscomb Academy

Orlando “Boo” Carter, Chattanooga Christian

Brock Glenn, Lausanne

Charlie Robinson, Knoxville Webb

Maureice "Junior" Sherrill, Lipscomb Academy

CLASS AAA

Max Carroll, Briarcrest

Gabe Fisher, MBA

Carson Gentle, McCallie

Caleb Hampton, Baylor

Marcel Reed, MBA

KICKER OF THE YEAR

Max Gilbert, Lausanne

Oziel Hernandez, Germantown

Reese Keeney, Farragut

Ben Shrewsbury, Daniel Boone

Jacob Taylor, Oakland

Her home once sat on a large plot three concrete steps up from street level in the small town of Monterey, Tennessee. It looked as if it belonged in the country instead of near downtown. The old house with its weathered brown boards and sagging front porch would appear to some as an eyesore, even in a tiny town.

The front porch held an assortment of worn wooden chairs where she and her daughters sat to shell beans, shuck corn, and escape the summer heat swelling inside. They watched as folks passed by and exchanged a wave or shouted a “howdy-do.” Once the neighbors saw those smiling faces, the house wasn’t in as bad shape as they initially thought.

Funny how our eyes are fooled by acts of kindness.

Inside the tidy house was a parlor that opened to a large kitchen equipped with a wood-burning stove, stacks of iron skillets, and a cabinet that held everything from baking soda to castor oil. On the large table, anchored in the room’s center, sat a wooden dough bowl where fresh biscuits were kneaded every morning, and folks enjoyed hot coffee poured from an old, dented, enamel pot.

Outside the kitchen door was a small rear porch near the well that supplied fresh water. Hoes, rakes, and buckets surrounded a small wobbly chair that could hold a weary soul after a long day. In its summer splendor, the garden rested on the back edge of the property just beyond the cherry tree and the outhouse with its half-moon carved door.

I loved to play between the outhouse and the cherry tree behind my great grandmother’s house in the summer. The old tree teemed with ripe red tempting fruit. I would climb to pick as many cherries as possible before I got caught by the mighty hands of my tiny, fierce Great Grandmother, Mollie Sparks.

“How many times have I told you, young’un, to not eat too many cherries because you gonna’ spend the rest of your day in that outhouse!” she would yell.

I knew I was immune to the side effects of too many cherries, and when she turned to walk back into the house, I continued climbing the tree to retrieve more delicious red goodies.

One day, however, I got sick, and she swore it was those cherries. I knew it was just a bug because, on that day, I had not climbed the tree. But the castor oil came out of the cabinet, and even though my mother was present, she knew she could not stand up against her grandmother’s will. I took the dreaded castor oil, and to my surprise, it wasn’t as bad as I feared it would be. Plus, it sure made the bug fly away.

The funny thing about facing fear: once you do, it usually flies away.

When my great Uncle Casto moved into the old house with his mother, Mollie, in their later years, he and the rest of the family, insisted she install indoor plumbing.

“What do I need plumbing for?” she asked her son and son-in-law. “I have been doin’ just fine all these years. That’s just a waste of a dollar!”

They built an indoor bathroom anyway, and of course, she stubbornly refused to use the new facilities until one night it became so icy in the mountains, she gave in. Afterward, she gathered the boys, and humbly said, “I know I sometimes can be right willful, but I do thank you.”

The funny thing about misplaced stubbornness: humility will usually stop it.

Well into her 80’s, Great Grandmother Sparks and Casto got into an argument over who grew the best garden. So, they built two to see which one would reap the best produce. Casto noticed his mother’s hoed rows were crooked, but he also knew cataracts blurred her vision. Many nights, when his mother was fast asleep, he took his hoe and, with a flashlight in hand, straightened her rows and cleared the weeds she missed.

Both gardens bloomed beautifully that summer with Grandmother Sparks laughing with glee, “See, mine is the best! I won because I have fewer weeds!” She never knew just why her garden was ripe with beauty.

The funny thing about unselfish love: it does make our spiritual gardens grow.

I went by the old property the last time I visited the Tennessee town where I was born. Mollie’s home is long gone, and now there are brick steps that lead up to a fine brick house with no front porch. It is pleasing to the eye but not as beautiful as the old run-down house, once filled with smiling faces and joyful giving hearts.

The funny thing about my life: I learned an awful lot from those fantastic folks who once walked between the outhouse and the cherry tree.

_______

Read more from Lynn Walker Gendusa in Now Habersham’s Faith section

MONTEREY, Tenn. — This town has never fully recovered since the last coal mine shut down in 1983.

The population has stagnated. Even large swaths of commercial real estate — prime for restaurants and truck stops — sit empty by Interstate 40 exits.

But it was not only the loss of a major industry that crippled the local economy. For more than 15 years, Monterey city leaders haven’t been able to perform the most basic of government functions: lay the sewer pipe they need.

Because of threats to public health, Monterey, like dozens of other small towns across Tennessee, has been hamstrung by a state moratorium on new sewer connections, blocking business development. The conflict comes as Tennessee is seeing more potent storms, possibly fueled by climate change.

"(Sewer) overflows are ... a continuous battle,” said Bill Wiggins, the mayor.

Across the state, roughly one in five municipal systems are under some form of moratorium because of excess overflows, state officials said.

Heavy rains inundate aging wastewater systems, causing them to spill bacterial-laden raw sewage into streets and streams. Nutrients can run into rivers, leading to low oxygen levels that starve fish. And toxic algae can flourish in waters flooded by excess nitrogen and phosphorus.

For those and other reasons, state environmental regulators limit new taps when sewers in communities can’t handle their loads.

Monterey made some progress on stemming overflows, and in March the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation lifted a complete moratorium. But key parts of the city are still off-limits because of repeat overflows.

“We are continuing to work with our municipalities and utilities to help them understand the environmental, human health and economic impact of overflows,” said Jennifer Dodd, deputy director of TDEC.

Increasing demand on community sewer systems

Pressures are now mounting on these towns, including Pulaski, Ashland City and Signal Mountain. Tennessee has seen more heavy rainstorms in the past seven years compared with the previous seven; the average number of extreme rain events annually increased fivefold.

Many of the systems have exceeded their useful life, which experts say is roughly 50 years. Some cities also are booming, adding residents and hardened surfaces that boost stormwater runoff, further taxing old sewer pipes. Experts warn that these overflows may be worsening as the climate continues to change.

“The systems weren’t designed to handle some of the extreme precipitation events we are having,” said Janey Camp, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Vanderbilt University.

To stem overflows, municipalities can replace old corroded sewer lines, seal manholes and expand or build new sewer treatment plants. A 2016 scorecard by the American Society of Civil Engineers gave Tennessee’s wastewater infrastructure a D-plus and identified a total of $2.6 billion in projects needed to rehabilitate aging sewer systems.

“The real challenge is funding and investment,” Camp said. “The small towns have limited resources.”

Funding the improvements

Monterey, population 2,900, needs $10.5 million to build a new sewer treatment plant — more than double the city’s annual budget. For now, officials are repairing lines built in the 1960s and have cobbled together loans and grants from the federal government. But the new plant is still uncertain as officials negotiate a contract with the town’s largest industrial customer.

Meanwhile, TDEC in September awarded $98.5 million to Franklin, one of Tennessee’s wealthiest and fastest-growing cities, for a new sewer treatment plant. That was more than half of the total clean water fund awarded statewide during the fiscal year. Some environmentalists questioned the fairness of that loan, considering Franklin could access the public bond market and use other funding sources.

“Franklin, you’re rich,” said Scott Banbury, conservation coordinator for the Tennessee chapter of the Sierra Club. “Go sell your own bonds and go build your own treatment plant. Let the poor communities have that.”

FRANKLIN:City will start $132 million upgrades to sewer plant

State officials said they offer especially low-interest loans to small communities, and sometimes forgive their loan principal.

“We are looking at additional ways to help more small communities take part in the program,” TDEC spokesman Eric Ward said.

The problem is not unique to Tennessee. Towns across the country are struggling to fund upgrades to sewer systems. Leaders of cities in Minnesota, for instance, call it a crisis and banded together to push the legislature for more funding. The city council president of Jeffersonville, Indiana, said her town doesn't have the $44 million needed to stem overflows, according to news reports. At the University of Iowa, engineers were testing new wastewater treatment technologies, hoping to defray costs for aging small-town sewer systems.

Heavy rain infiltrates old pipes

One of the main causes of overflows is groundwater infiltration. Old pipes crack over time. When heavy rains saturate the ground and the water table rises, the pressure forces clean water through the cracks into the sewer lines.

“As those storms increase in quantity and volume, then that’s going to very likely influence the frequency and volume of overflows,” said George Kurz, an engineer who consults for municipal wastewater systems.

The added water rushes through the network and overloads pumps, backing up sewage through manhole covers and other openings. Wastewater treatment plants also open bypass valves, sending untreated sewage into creeks and streams. Without the releases and overflows, sewage could back up into residents’ basements.

In the tiny town of Pulaski, about an hour south of Nashville, heavy rains in February caused more than 30 million gallons of sewage to overflow, according to a federal lawsuit filed by Tennessee Riverkeeper, an Alabama-based environmental group.

The Pulaski wastewater treatment plant discharges to Richland Creek, a tributary of the Elk River, which is popular with kayakers and canoers. State regulators were pursuing formal enforcement this summer, according to a TDEC letter.

Pulaski officials did not return calls seeking comment.

“Sewage pollution is one of the biggest threats to the Cumberland and the Tennessee rivers,” said David Whiteside, executive director of Tennessee Riverkeeper. "And it doesn't matter how far left or right on the political spectrum people are. They're all uniformly disgusted by raw sewage.”

Scientists weigh link between climate change and large storms

While many people may associate heat waves and drought with climate change, scientists also suspect that human activity could be producing heavier downpours. That's because warmer air can contain more water vapor than cooler air, giving storm systems an added punch.

Studies show there is “high confidence that extreme rainfall has become more common over North America and the United States," said Jonathan Gilligan, professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Vanderbilt. Scientists have "medium confidence that the change is because of human influence on climate,” he added.

Indeed, Tennessee has seen an increase in heavy rainfall events over the past 15 years, according to National Weather Service records. Throughout most of the 2000s, the state saw fewer than five heavy rain events a year. From 2010 to 2017, however, the state averaged 16 such storms annually. 2018 has been a relatively inactive year, with just three.

When it pours in Ashland City, a growing town northwest of Nashville, sewage overflows onto streets, said Clint Biggers, director of the Public Works Department. The city inspected its sewer lines with video cameras and is working on some repairs, but the problem is daunting, Biggers said.

At more than 5,000 residents, Ashland City’s population has grown by 15 percent since 2010, and the sewer system is now at capacity, Biggers said. He expects a new treatment plant, double in size, would cost about $15 million.

“We’re trying to get ahead,” Biggers said. “You don’t want to have to shut down building because you don’t have capacity. But it’s hard on small towns, when they don’t have the money.”

Reach Mike Reicher at mreicher@tennessean.com or 615-259-8228 and on Twitter @mreicher.

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MONTEREY, Tenn. (WTVF) — After our hardest days, we need as much support as we can get. A family in Monterey understands that after what they've just lived through. This is one grateful family. They see just how differently this could have played out.

"We've worked really hard to be here," said Terry Kennedy, standing next to husband Mark.

The couple loved the home they shared with eight kids on West Hoyt Avenue in Monterey.

"I was actually born and raised here," Mark said. "This house has been in the family a very long time."

In the earliest hours of Tuesday morning, 14-year-old daughter Maddie felt something was wrong.

"I smelled burning wood," she said. "I thought something was burning."

She told 19-year-old brother Izzy.

"I get up and start walking around the house," Izzy continued.

"He was screaming for us to get out of bed," Terry remembered. "We got the kids out."

"Smoke was just pouring out," Izzy said. "It was just insane."

"We watched for four hours as our house burned down," Terry said.

Fire crews are still investigating what caused this. There's a lot that's difficult about this day. Terry's wedding dress is damaged. Then there's 8-year-old son Jaxon who'd raised more than $300 for Jump Rope for Heart. It's now gone.

Despite everything Tuesday, the kids are still playing and smiling. Because of what Maddie noticed and Izzy jumping into action, everyone in that house is okay.

"I think we had a couple angels watching over us," said Terry.

"We've gotta kinda look into each other and find the good you can take out of it," said Izzy. "Yeah, we're alive. That's the best thing we can ask for today."

There is a GoFundMe to help out this family.

Watch the live stream below, and download our apps on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and more. Click here to learn more.

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Monterrey and Nashville SC will go head-to-head in the 2023 Leagues Cup semifinal in GEODIS Park on Aug. 15th at 9:30 p.m. ET.

Here in the 2023 Leagues Cup semifinal will be the first time that Monterrey and Nashville SC will meet each other on the pitch.

Monterrey is the only Liga MX team remaining and has been having an outstanding tournament beating four American and two Mexican teams. Monterrey is now looking to slow down the red-hot Nashville SC team.

Nashville has been called one of the top favorites for the Leagues Cup following the dominating match they had in the quarterfinals.

How have Monterrey and Nashville SC got to this point of the Leagues Cup?

Nashville SC had an easy run in their quarterfinal match against Minnesota when they beat them 5-0. Nashville was able to show their power and strength coming into that match and just not let Minnesota have any chance of being able to come back or even have a fight in the match.

Monterrey had a little more challenging task to get to the semifinal. The first task was meeting LAFC in the quarterfinals, and the second was trying to come comeback against LAFC. The first task was completed when they LAFC with all of their power. After LAFC was up 2-0 against Monterrey, everyone thought it would be over. Monterrey had different plans and started to go into attack mode. Monterrey got a penalty kick and even an own goal to help them build to the point where they would strike for the match-winner.

Monterrey and Nashville SC head-to-head and prediction

Monterrey is the only surviving Mexican team left in the tournament. If they want to be in the finals, they must find a way to disrupt Nashville’s defense. Nashville could be better regarding discipline; they have five red cards in the three matches. Monterrey can play off this and get Nashville to slip up.

Nashville could have been better in playing Mexican teams, losing 4-3 to Toluca and drawing with Club America 2-2. Nashville has four wins and one loss in their last five matches, whereas Monterrey has five wins and zero losses.

Both Monterrey and Nashville have been able to score goals, but Nashville has given up more goals. Monterrey has scored 11 goals and given up four during the Leagues Cup; in comparison, Nashville has scored 13 goals and given up eight.

GEODIS Park will be loud and rocking when this match occurs, but Monterrey could push past Nashville. It will be challenging for Monterrey with their top scorer, German Berterame, out of the tournament with an injury, but Monterrey has many more key pieces they can put in place.

Prediction: Monterrey: 3 and Nashville SC: 2