Juneau-Douglas’ Koen Schultz (23) celebrates his touchdown reception with quarterback Max Wheat, left, against Thunder Mountain at TMHS on Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. TMHS won 10-7 in overtime.

Juneau-Douglas’ Koen Schultz (23) celebrates his touchdown reception with quarterback Max Wheat, left, against Thunder Mountain at TMHS on Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. TMHS won 10-7 in overtime.

Merged football team will get new name

The Thunder Mountain High School football players will be resting a little easier tonight.

They won’t be playing for their cross-town rival Juneau-Douglas High School next year, but a new team with a new name without the specific designation of either TMHS or JDHS.

Juneau School District Director of Student Services Bridget Weiss wrote in an email Thursday that a new policy from the Alaska School Activities Association that allows the move.

ASAA granted consolidated sports and activities to “operate as a district” instead of one of the two member schools that merged.

“This again is not the same information we had previously,” Weiss wrote in the email. “Thus our work in previous consolidations, when wrestling has been housed at TMHS, tennis at JDHS, and (Drama/Debate/Forensics) at TMHS required those students to compete under the member school name and colors.”

Weiss said both the JDHS and TMHS football program’s outstanding debt will still need to be paid off by the respective programs. 

The district will appoint a group of students, players, coaches and others to identify the new mascot, colors and team name for the football and any other future consolidated teams.

Weiss said membership and meeting dates will be decided in the coming weeks for the group.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the JDHS and TMHS football program’s outstanding debt will be pooled into one account. The JDHS and TMHS debt will remain in their established accounts. A new account, however, will be created for the consolidated team. The article has been updated to reflect the change.


 

• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nolin.ainsworth@juneauempire.com.

 


 

More in News

(Juneau Empire file photo)
Aurora forecast for the week of March 25

These forecasts are courtesy of the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute… Continue reading

An employee works on the deck of an Alaska Marine Highway System vessel in a photo used by AMHS on social media to advertise jobs openings during the summer of 2023. (Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities photo)
Crew shortages continue to limit AMHS operations, likely to keep Kennicott idle again this summer

Situation improved from a year ago, but wheelhouse employees and engineers still a crucial need.

The Captain Cook, one of two tour boats formerly operated by Adventure Bound Alaska, in Aurora Harbor prior to a scheduled sealed-bid auction for vessels that has been extended until April 10. (City and Borough of Juneau)
Auction of Adventure Bound boats gets delay, big minimum bid increase due to liens

Two vessels from troubled tour company now selling for several times the original listed bids.

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file photo)
Police calls for Tuesday, March 26, 2024

This report contains public information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

The aging Tustumena ferry, long designated for replacement, arrives in Homer after spending the day in Seldovia in this 2010 photo. (Homer News file photo)
Feds OK most of state’s revised transportation plan, but ferry and other projects again rejected

Governor’s use of ferry revenue instead of state funds to match federal grants a sticking point.

The Shopper’s Lot is among two of downtown Juneau’s three per-hour parking lots where the cash payments boxes are missing due to vandalism this winter. But as of Wednesday people can use the free ParkSmarter app to make payments by phone. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Pay-by-phone parking for downtown Juneau debuts with few reported complaints

App for hourly lots part of series of technology upgrades coming to city’s parking facilities.

A towering Lutz spruce, center, in the Chugach National Forest is about to be hoisted by a crane Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, for transport to the West Lawn of Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., to be the 2015 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Forest Service)
Tongass National Forest selected to provide 2024 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree

Eight to 10 candidate trees will be evaluated, with winner taking “whistlestop tour” to D.C.

Annauk Olin, holding her daugher Tulġuna T’aas Olin, and Rochelle Adams pose on March 20, 2024, after giving a presentation on language at the Alaska Just Transition Summit in Juneau. The two, who work together at the Alaska Public Interest Research Group’s Language Access program, hope to compile an Indigenous environmental glossary. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Project seeks to gather Alaska environmental knowledge embedded in Indigenous languages

In the language of the Gwich’in people of northeastern Alaska, the word… Continue reading

The room where the House Community and Regional Affairs Committee holds its meeting sits empty on Tuesday. A presentation about an increase in the number of inmate deaths in state custody was abruptly canceled here. (Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon)
Republican lawmakers shut down legislative hearing about deaths in Alaska prisons

Former commissioner: “All this will do, is it will continue to inflame passions of advocacy groups.”

Most Read