I would like to thank each and every one of you for your support this season. Your time, money, and prayers were very much appreciated by the team. The success they had on a field is partly due to your generosity. So Thank You!

While the season ended sooner than we all would have liked, it was still a great season. Going 9-2 and winning the first district championship in the history of the school (110 years) are great accomplishments.

I thought you might want to be aware of some exciting stuff that is happening with the team since the season has ended.

1. This Saturday the Liberty Bowl High School Football All Star game will be taking place at MUS. Game time is 2:00. The Manassas Tigers will be well represented at the game with 4 of the seniors playing. They are O.C. Brown, Terrance (T.O.) Oliver, Dexter Alexander, and Joaquin Collins. This is the first time that Manassas has placed 4 players on the all star team. Please come out and support the guys and enjoy a great game featuring the best seniors in Memphis and Shelby County.

2. 20/20 is in town this week to do film a feature on O.C Brown, the Manassas Tigers, and the ManRise Foundation. It is a very exciting opportunity to share the good news surrounding the program. As a result of the movie “The Blindside”, this feature will probably gain a lot of attention when it airs. This segment is currently slated to be televised on Wednesday, December 23. So please mark your calendars and enjoy the story.

3. This week the Best of Preps football awards were announced. Once again the Manassas Tigers are well represented with 6 players getting recognized. The list includes the four guys playing in the all star game as well as two super sophomores, quarterback Will Redmond and tailback Omar Williams.

4. O.C. Brown was  finalist for Tennessee Mr. Football Lineman of the Year. He was one of 3 lineman chosen as finalists. While he did not win the award, it was additional positive recognition for O.C. and the program.

5. During the season, we started a new program to recognize players for the acheivements both on the field and off the field. We patterned it after the book “Uncommon” by coach Tony Dungy. Each week we recognized one or more players as the Uncommon Man of the Week. At the end of the season, we selected an Uncommon Man of the Year from those winners. This years winner is Senior Dexter Alexander. Dexter also had the opportunity to actually meet Coach Dungy at a lucheon recently hosted by the Liberty Bowl. Again, we were able to share with Coach some of the good things going on at Manassas due to Hope Church and the ManRise Foundation.

6. Dexter Alexander was recently selected as one of 5 finalists for the FCA award given each year, the John Bull Bramlett award. This award will be issued on December 29 as a part of the Liberty Bowl festivities. The award is to recognize “the high school football player in Shelby County who best exemplifies excellence on the field, as well as hight character, integrity and godliness off the field.”

So plenty of good things going on with Manassas, ManRise and Hope Church. Again, we couldn’t do it without your support and participation. I hope to see all of you at the ManRise football camp at Hope Church July 29 - Aug 1.

Tim Whalen