CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – The #10 Tigers will begin their season Saturday, September 20th at the ACA Bass Pro Shops Big Bass Bash on Kentucky Lake.
"In terms of standout returners, really, I have two teams:
Evan Fields &
Noah Dabney and Keenan &
Coleman Stewart," Head Coach
Tony Miracle shared. "This will be the third year Fields and Dabney will have been partners and they're really starting to click, so they're going to be a big resource for our team to have a successful year. Also, we've got the brothers, a set of twins, Keenan and
Coleman Stewart, coming back for their sophomore season. They really stood out last year and were right on the edge of doing great things, so I also have high expectations for them."
Miracle is entering his fourth year coaching Campbellsville. Each year, the team has improved their national standing which has garnered attention from incredible high-school fishers across the country. "The team's big incomer is
RJ Sanger out of Florida. He has been killing it on the high-school trails and our expectations for him too are very high." Sanger was the first-ever Lakeland Christian School student-athlete to earn a collegiate scholarship for fishing.
The Tigers are coming off of a 2024-25 season that saw them reach their highest ACA Bass Pro Shops School of the Year ranking in program history, 5th, and collect four top-tens across four consecutive tournaments. "I've got a firm philosophy that if it's not broke, don't fix it. We finished 5th last year and most of my fishers are returning. Our goal is to break into the top three. Obviously, we want to be number one, but you have to crawl before you can walk." That fifth-ranked placement marked seven straight years Campbellsville finished a season ranked in the top 20. Furthermore, Campbellsville and Carson-Newman were the only two teams in the top five of final poll that were looking for their first-ever title as overall Bass Pro Shops School of the Year.
The team's slip from postseason top five to preseason top ten didn't go unseen by Campbellsville's fishers. "We feel like the ACA snubbed us this year, putting us 10th in the preseason," Miracle imparted. "That's already got us fired up. Our first tournament is coming up this weekend and we're out to prove them wrong."
When asked about the coming kick-off to their year, Coach Miracle was effusive in his praise and reiterated the team's expectations. "We are really looking forward to this season and how great we can become. Every year, we see the team get better and better; they're buying in to what we're 'selling' at Campbellsville Bass Fishing. Kudos to my team and all the hard work they've been doing and, again, I've got big expectations for our team this year."
