Region 1 officials hand out yearly awards

By Matt Hill
STAR STAFF

   JOHNSON CITY -- Little kids get lollipops for being good. Big kids win trophies for it.
   The Region 1 football officials rewarded nice young men at the Holiday Inn Monday night by giving out awards for good sportsmanship.
   Five Ralph Stout Awards were given out to the teams that exemplified the best sportsmanship in the local conferences, while the Bobby Dodd Award was given out to the team that had the highest score of the five conference winners.
   The headlining event of the awards banquet was supposed to be a speech by former NFL great Carroll Dale, but a scheduling conflict prevented him from coming.
   The Ralph Stout Awards went to Dobyns-Bennett (Big East), Tennessee High (Big Eight), Cocke County (Inter-Mountain), West Greene (Watauga), and North Greene (Region 1-A). Tennessee High took home the Bobby Dodd Trophy.
   It's already been a special season for the Vikings. They are currently 10-0 heading into the playoffs. But to Tennessee High head coach Greg Stubbs, this ranks right up there with this season's top accomplishments
   "I think the two awards that were presented to our team tonight exemplifies our football team and how we've played throughout the year," Stubbs said.
   It's been a great last few days for Stubbs. Thursday night his team wrapped up an undefeated regular season. Then he watched his son, Brad Stubbs, and his East Tennessee State University teammates defeat Georgia Southern Saturday, the No. 1 team in Division 1-AA college football.
   "Being a defensive coach, it was great for me to watch because the ETSU defense played an outstanding game," Stubbs said. "They were able to take away what Georgia Southern makes a living on, and that's running the option. They had a great scheme and a great plan. The kids ran to the ball well.
   They had a lot of Bucs around the ball everytime it was snapped.
   "And you got to have great pursuit, especially when there is an offense like Georgia Southern with the speed that they've got running that thing downhill at you every play. You have got to have great defensive pursuit, and ETSU had a great scheme."
   The officials were also honored at the banquet. Several officials from the Elizabethton area were in attendance, including David Birkner, Danny Birkner, Larry Bowling and Ronnie Hodge. Officials supervisor Ralph Stout from Mountain City was also at the festivities.