There are some life mysteries which will forever go unanswered.
What happened to D.B. Cooper when he jumped from that airplane with $200,000? How did Egyptians build such massive pyramids in 2300 BC? And how are WCMS sports teams so eye-opening, while WCHS teams are so ordinary? It’s a question deep-thinking Pioneer fans have been contemplating since the invention of Pop Tarts.
Let me start by saying it’s not my intention to run down any high school teams or their players. I’m simply stating a matter of fact when I say WCMS teams, for the most part, waltz with greatness. Meanwhile, their WCHS counterparts tango with mediocrity.
Let’s start with the WCMS baseball team, a team which has reached its conference championship game four consecutive years, winning it once. That’s a pretty snazzy claim to slap on a T-shirt.
If we do the math, the players from that first WCMS baseball team to reach the championship are now seniors. They’re backed by juniors, sophomores, and freshmen who all reached the conference championship in middle school.
With that sort of talent, the WCHS baseball team should be picking off opponents like a well-trained sniper. And I only use that inappropriate gun reference to mock Tennessee lawmakers, who earlier this year voted the Barrett .50-caliber sniper rifle as the official state gun.
If we want to look at a team that plays like a steamroller, look no further than the WCMS soccer team. WCMS has won three straight soccer championships, including back-to-back seasons where the Pioneers didn’t lose a game. That should translate to a high school soccer team that mows down opponents like a fine-tuned John Deere. But it doesn’t.
In fact, if we look across the board, WCMS teams are much more competitive at softball, basketball and football than their high school counterparts. All this begs one question: What happens?
I’ve heard it said other counties have two middle schools which combine into one high school, which explains why their high school product is so much better. I don’t necessarily subscribe to this theory because we have players from Morrison, Dibrell and three other outlying schools who help bolster many of our high school programs.
It’s been said teens in Warren County are more interested in getting jobs and going on dates than they are in playing high school sports. This is just a wild guess, but I don’t think Warren County is the only community experiencing this phenomenon.
Truth be told, I don’t have an answer to why WCMS athletics are as powerful as a locomotive, while WCHS athletics often pack the excitement of a nap. Years from now, perhaps scientists will uncover the answer.