For years The King's Academy's football claim to fame has not been its win/loss record, but its record for most languages spoken across its roster.

With a number of foreign exchange students dotting the team's small list of players, the variety of dialects bandied about the sideline was usually the most interesting thing about the Lions.

Not anymore.

The Gatlinburg-Pittman Lady Highlanders did it again.

For the second time this season, the Lady Blue and Gold (15-4) overcame a double-digit deficit against a quality opponent in the new Highlander gym — this time a 57-56 triumph over Alcoa (9-6) on Saturday night.

Close, but no cigar ... yet.

The Gatlinburg-Pittman Highlanders (11-9) were in a nip-and-tuck battle until the visiting Alcoa Tornadoes (8-7) took over down the stretch en route to a 58-47 victory Saturday night.

The Sevier County High basketball teams had a big contingent of fans travel to Seymour Friday night for the school’s matchups with the rival Eagles. Neither the Bears or Bearettes disappointed their sizable crowd, as the Purple and White swept the homestanding Seymour squads in a pair of District 2-AAA thrillers.

The Pigeon Forge basketball squads traveled to District 3-AA rival Knoxville Fulton and dropped a pair of contests on Friday night, one a heartbreaker and one a blowout.

The Pigeon Forge girls were on cruise control Tuesday night, with a dominating 70-29 win over Carter, but you wouldn't know it by the Lady Tigers' effort.

Despite holding a sizable lead throughout, the ladies in Orange and White girls (10-3, 4-1 in 3-AA) played their patented pressure defense with gusto all night, with everyone on the team contributing — and scoring — in the one-sided win.

Monday night at Maryville High, many spectators of high school basketball were watching the time tick by in anticipation of the night’s college football national championship game.

They were unaware they were already seeing the best game the evening had to offer.

As high school basketball reaches what’s typically viewed as the midway point, several teams in Sevier County appear ready for a post-season push.

Despite a slightly sloppy start, the Seymour Eagles hoop squad easily handled the Silverdale Baptist Academy Seahawks 76-41 in a Seymour Christmas Classic contest Friday night.

A hot-shooting Maryville team meeting up with an ice cold Smoky Bears squad meant one thing for Sevier County — bad news for the Bears.

Every Christmas The Mountain Press lists our All-Sevier County foot- ball team, and every year it seems to get a little tougher.

Choosing the players for the first- and second-teams (see related images of our pages of the teams) isn’t the most difficult part of the process though. After all, we watch the games and have coach’s nominations to fall back on.

One holiday tournament down, one more to go.

The Sevier County Smoky Bears posted a 56-43 win over the Oakland (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) Patriots in the finals of the Sevierville Winterfest Shootout Saturday night at SCHS.

With their starting point guard still awaiting her fate from an injury suffered earlier in the tournament, the Sevier County Bearettes (6-6 overall) overcame the adversity and knocked off Campbell County 54-40 Saturday night to earn third place in the second annual Sevierville Winterfest Shootout.

The Sevier County Smoky Bears played their best basketball for the second night in a row Friday evening in the semifinals of the Winterfest Shootout.

The Bears (11-0), led by Devin Schmidt's 34 points, beat Douglas County (Ga.) 90-82 in a high-flying, high-octane contest that lived up to the tournament's name.

Gatlinburg-Pittman High School’s basketball programs are hosting their annual Smoky Mountain Classic basketball tournaments in Gatlinburg and Pittman Center beginning this Thursday.

For the second year in a row, Sevierville and Sevier County High School will welcome teams from around the region and surrounding states for the Winterfest Shootout.

The Gatlinburg-Pittman hoops squads hosted District 3-AA rival Fulton on Friday night and split a pair with the visiting birds.

The Lady Highlanders made a dramatic 17-point fourth-quarter comeback for a 65-62 win, while the G-P boys fell into a big early hole en route to a big 76-56 loss to the Falcons.

In a battle of two of the class teams of the Inter-Mountain Athletic Conference (IMAC) Friday night, the Sevier County Bears (8-0, 4-0 in District 2-AAA) staged a huge second half comeback to defeat the Jefferson County Patriots (7-5, 3-1) and remain undefeated on the season.

Pigeon Forge High School administrators won’t waste any time in naming a new head football coach, it appears.

The Sevier County basketball clubs split with IMAC foe Morristown West Tuesday night, while Pigeon Forge divided contests at 3-AA rival Gibbs.

Just four days after sweeping the Morristown West Trojan squads, the Seymour Eagles completed the vexing of Hamblin County’s IMAC teams with a twin-killing of East Hurricanes Tuesday night.

Coach Matt Evans has left The King’s Academy’s football program.

Just weeks after completing his second season at the helm of the Lions squad Evans informed TKA Athletic Director Marc Weekly of his decision

Six weeks after his Tigers ended the 2012 season with a 29-20 loss to the Gatlinburg-Pittman Highlanders, six-year coach Lee Hammonds has stepped down as the team’s coach on Monday.