The Silverdale Baptist Academy team of Daniel Kennedy and Braden Marshall brought five bass to the scale Saturday weighing 21 pounds, 13 ounces, to win the 2015 Tennessee State High School Fishing Championship on Lake Chickamauga. The win earned the team the title of state champions, a $10,000 scholarship to Bryan College, and qualified the team to compete in the High School Fishing Southeastern Conference Championship on Lake Lanier in September.
The top 12 teams from this weekend’s tournament on Lake Chickamauga advanced to the Southeastern Conference Championship.
“I can’t believe that we won,” said Kennedy, a junior at Silverdale Baptist. “We just went out there and stuck to our game plan and it ended up working well for us.”
“We used a brown shaky-head worm and fished primarily in shallow water,” added Marshall, a fellow junior at Silverdale Baptist. “It was a great day and we’re excited to continue fishing this season.”
The top 12 teams on Lake Chickamauga that advanced to the Southeastern Conference Championship were:
1st: Silverdale Baptist Academy – Daniel Kennedy and Braden Marshall, five bass, 21-13
2nd: Rhea County High School – Brandsford Dean and Dustin Osborne, five bass, 20-14
3rd: Bradley Central High School – Colton Morton and Chris Wilson, five bass, 19-11
4th: Central High School – A.J. Barnes and Gavin Ainslie, five bass, 18-3
5th: Polk County High School – Charles Woody and Tristan Lowe, five bass, 17-13
6th: Soddy Daisy High School – Alyssa Coleman and Erica Abigail Smith, five bass, 17-11
7th: Sequoya High School – Landry Cooper and Cameron Kirkland, five bass, 16-13
8th: Creek Wood High School – Peyton Gibbs and Condry Hyndman, five bass, 15-11
9th: Rhea County High School – Austin Goins and Bryar Goins, five bass, 15-1
10th: Soddy Daisy High School – Elijah Cartwright and Jacob Thomas, five bass, 14-1
11th: Creek Wood High School – Daniel Cheshire and Christopher Richey, five bass, 13-13
12th: Dickson County High School – Dylan Dunnagan and Shader Brown, five bass, 13-6
The 2015 Tennessee State High School Fishing Championship was a two-person (team) event for students in grades 7-12. The top 10 percent from each TBF/FLW state championship field will advance to a High School Fishing conference championship along with the top three teams from each of the seven TBF/FLW High School Fishing Opens held this season. The top 10 percent of each conference championship field will then advance to the High School Fishing National Championship, coinciding with the TBF National Championship and an FLW Tour stop in the spring of 2016. The High School Fishing national champions will each receive a $5,000 college scholarship to the school of their choice.
In addition to the High School Fishing National Championship, all High School Fishing anglers nationwide automatically qualify for the world’s largest high school bass tournament, the 2015 High School Fishing World Finals, held on Pickwick Lake in Florence, Alabama, on July 8-11. At the 2014 World Finals more than $40,000 in scholarships and prizes were awarded.
ABOUT FLW
FLW is the industry’s premier tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money nationwide in 2015 over the course of 240 tournaments across five tournament circuits, four of which provide an avenue to the sport’s richest payday and most coveted championship trophy – the Forrest Wood Cup. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show and is broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoors-sports television show in the world.
ABOUT THE BASS FEDERATION
The Bass Federation Inc., (TBF) is a member of the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame. TBF is owned by those we serve and dedicated to the sport of fishing. The Federation is the largest and oldest, organized grassroots fishing, youth and conservation organization there is. TBF, our affiliated state federations and their member clubs conduct more than 20,000 events each year and have provided a foundation for the entire bass fishing industry for more than 45 years. TBF founded the Student Angler Federation and the National High School Fishing program in 2008 to promote clean family fun and education through fishing.
By: Brian Johnson, FLW
