NEW CAPTAINS SELECTED FOR THE 2010 SEASON!

The Lady Rebels have selected the following girls to be the 2010 team captains:

Katie Crow
Kelsey Crow
Anna Headen
Bailey Quiggle

Congratulations to each of these players for this well-deserved honor!

The Lady Rebels travelled to Birmingham, Alabama to compete in the Dan Anderson Lacrosse Classic and came away as champions following a 9-8 sudden death victory over the Greenville Red Raiders from Greenville, South Carolina.  The Lady Rebels advanced to the championship game by outscoring their first four opponents by a 59-4 margin, including two shutout victories along the way.  The final game was a tense thriller that saw both teams score miraculous goals to keep their hopes alive.  Greenville scored with seconds left in the first half to go into halftime with a 3-2 lead; they followed that with an early tally in the second half to go up by two goals.  After a great shot by Kelsey Cotton brought Franklin back within a goal, Greenville responded with another score to regain their two goal advantage.  The Lady Rebels fought back, and a goal by Morgan Parker with just over two minutes remaining gave the Lady Rebels their first lead of the game.  As the final seconds ticked away, Greenville was able to execute a long pass and scored on an incredible shot to tie the game with less than one second remaining to send the game into overtime.  The Red Raiders scored again to regain a one goal lead and as time ticked down things were looking bleak for the Lady Rebels.  With nine seconds remaining, Kelsey Crow fired a forty yard pass downfield over the heads of the Greenville defenders to Kelsey Braithwaite, who took the pass on one bounce, charged in on the goalie and scored with 2.9 seconds on the clock!  The game advanced to sudden death overtime; the Lady Rebels won the opening draw with Kelsey Braithwaite scooping up a loose ball and racing down toward the Greenville goal.  She made a strong move to the net, beat two defenders and ripped a shot past the Red Raiders goalie for the game winning goal.  Kelsey was awarded the MVP award for the tournament, tallying 21 goals in 5 games. Kelsey Cotton and Jordan Trotter had a great tournament, combining for 18 goals; Jordan led the team with 7 assists with Kelsey adding 5 assists as well.  The defense played strong all weekend, with Kelsey Crow leading the way with 28 ground ball wins.  Katie Crow pitched in with 16 ground balls and Kelsey Cotton chipped in with 13 ground ball wins to cap off her strong play all around.

Sincere thanks go out to all of the parents who made this weekend a success - without you it would have never gone off as smoothly as it did.  Special thanks go to Amanda Cantrell, Karmine Quiggle, Beth Braithwaite and Helen Babb for the tremendous job they did in planning for the trip - you guys are awesome!   

HISTORY

The Franklin High School Lady Rebels Lacrosse program became a member of the Tennessee Girls Lacrosse Association (TGLA) in 2002. Under the guidance of Coach Natalie Davis, The Lady Rebels fought hard the entire season; although they were unable to win any games that season, they were always competitive and formed the nucleus of the teams to come.

The 2003 season brought a new coach (Scott Schiltz) and saw the team register the first win in Lady Rebels Lacrosse history, a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Franklin Classical. The team went on to win four more games that season and ended with a record of 5-9, showing the rest of the league that the program was on it's way!

The 2004 season had many highlights, including an intense 5-4 win over Ravenwood on a goal by Hayley Schiltz with 50 seconds remaining and a heart-pounding victory over Hutchison when Jess Turner won a draw with seven seconds remaining and went the length of the field to score the winning goal as time expired. The Lady Rebels defeated Franklin Classical by a score of 6-4 in the State quarterfinals to qualify for the State Championships, where they went on to finish fourth in the State - quite an accomplishment for a third year team. Three Lady Rebels received All-State honors, with Jess Turner and Jen Colebeck receiving First Team honors and Leslie Lopez receiving Honorable Mention.

The 2005 season saw many personal and team accomplishments and became the greatest season yet for the program. Led by Senior Co-Captains Hayley Schiltz, Courtney Hime and Jess Turner, the Lady Rebels registered 16 wins and again qualified for the State Championships, where they lost an intense battle to then-undefeated Ravenwood in the semifinals by a score of 8-7 in sudden death overtime. The Lady Rebels rallied from an early three goal deficit to get back into the game and again rallied to tie the game with 17 seconds remaining in the second overtime on a goal by Jess Turner. The weekend ended with another hard-fought contest, this time a 3-2 loss to Hutchison. Four Lady Rebels were selected as All-State honorees, with Hayley Schiltz and Jess Turner receiving First Team honors while Whitney Osborne and Kathy Fleming garnered Honorable Mention spots.

The 2006 season was another highly successful campaign as the Lady Rebels completed a 9-5 season with their third consecutive trip to the State playoffs. They won a quarterfinal battle against Houston in overtime to qualify for the State Championships and again completed the season as fourth place in the State. A record seven Lady Rebels received All-State honors; Olivia Banner and Suzy Dickens led the contingent with First Team honors while Sarah Pence, Whitney Osborne, Kathy Fleming, Katie Milhouse and Erin Colebeck gathered Honorable Mention awards.

The 2007 season brought a first for Lady Rebels lacrosse - the team won the Central Region regular season title, the first divisional title in Lady Rebels history. The team finished with a record of 12-6, bowing to GPS in the state quarterfinals to end the season. The junior varsity squad completed their best season ever, finishing the season with a record of 6 wins, 1 loss and 2 ties! Four Lady Rebels received All-State recognition; Olivia Banner and Kathy Fleming achieved First Team honors while Katie Milhouse and Suzy Dickens were awarded Second Team honors.

The 2008 season saw the first ever group of players moving up from the inaugural Grassland Middle School lacrosse program.  It became evident that this group was going to make a positive impact, as evidenced by the fact that four freshmen players held starting positions in the state playoff game at the end of the season.  The team finished the regular season with a record of 9-5, falling to St. George's 9-7 in the playoffs.  The junior varsity completed another highly successful season, finishing with a record of 9-2, outscoring their opponents by a margin of 104-36.  Individually the Lady Rebels were led by senior Katie Milhouse, who finished the season with a school record 53 goals and was selected to the All-Region team.  She was joined on the All-Region team by Katie Shrader, a senior whose aggressive play and leadership anchored the defensive group.

The 2009 season was a record-setting year as several team records were broken!  The highlight of the season came when the Lady Rebels captured their first tournament championship, defeating Greenville, SC in sudden-death to win the Dan Anderson Lacrosse Classic held in Birmingham, Alabama.  Kelsey Braithwaite was named MVP of the tournament, scoring 21 goals and adding an assist.  The team finished second in the region with a record of 16-5 and qualified for the State playoffs for the sixth consecutive season.  Kelsey Braithwaite and Kelsey Cotton led the way as the Lady Rebels set a team record for goals scored in a season; both girls broke the previous record for individual goals and points scored in a season.  Madison Browder tallied 16 wins as she tied the individual record for most wins by a goalie in a season; that also tied the record for most wins in a season by the team.  The season was capped off with several players being selected for post-season awards; Kelsey Braithwaite, Elizabeth Baker, Madison Browder, Kelsey Cotton and Kelsey Crow were selected for the All-Region team while Kelsey Crow was also selected for the All-State team!