monroecountyfan9

TRADITION. You know I've heard this constantly since Madisonville and Vonore combined to make Sequoyah-"Sequoyah has 1000 students they should be better..." or "Sequoyah has twice the number students as Sweetwater and Sweetwater is still better..." or "..why isn't Seuoyah better?" I'd like to give my opinion on that. Its tradition. It all starts with TRADITION. Bad Teams Kids don't want to play for bad teams and go a whole season and not win a game or only one or two. The talent is there, I promise you that. its a matter of getting them to play football year in and year out and its always been a problem at Madisonville-can't really speak for Vonore but since they combined its still a problem. I've not been in school in quite some time but when I went to Madisonville High school we were pathetic. But it was easy to see why. Our best football players-prolly our top say 7 or 8 "talented" guys all played basketball and nothing else. They all grew up playing football and winning championships too. Beating everybody year in and year out and taking trips to Florida,etc to play against teams from all over. That was Youth football. When they got to HS they quit playing football. And then our overall numbers were very low too. I'm not 100% positive of this in any given year but from year to year its true. Even though Sweetwater is a smaller school, year in and year out (not counting this year cause i think we are actually starting to create something but heck might even be this year too) Sweetwater and I know for a fact other "smaller" schools have more kids go out for football than Sequoyah does. Even though we have had a lot of talented guys come through any coach i think would tell you its about your overall numbers and raising the depth and the ability of your others players and even 2nd string etc. Once, while in high school(late 80s-early 90s), I was hanging around the gym after lunch with my friends(about 6-7 guys all of which shoulda played football-though not extremely talentd they were all very strong, decent sized guys all 6 foot 210-230 types) the head football coach came up to this group of kids and tried to encourage them to come out for football-which none of them did. After he left people made jokes about if they played they would get their butt kicked and not even win a game. This was the way it was for a long time in Madisonville. Same Team We've seen what happens when we get all the kids to buy in and come out for football-special things! But it takes very special people-both coaches and students-to change an environment that was as bad as it was here at one point. I will say it has been better since Sequoyah was formed but then you have a whole new set of problems. Anytime you take two rivals and force them to be together its gonna take time for people to forget their now "one heartbeat" and not two. Generations may even have to pass before that happens. As one who is involved in youth sports I've seen countless times in the last ten years the amount of resentment on both sides. They forget we (Vonore and Madisonville) are both feeder systems for Sequoyah and even refuse at times to work together for the children-as usual-adults getting in the way of kids for its a rare occasion that i've seen a kid cause these problems. Other Problems Sequoyah has had other things come up of course that have held us down a bit-usually again having to do with adults. And I beleive the kids on the team now really should be applauded for coming through what they have in the past few years. Also, of course they have been a great many of players that have gone to Sweetwaer over the years that were "Madisonville" kids. Kids that played here in youth(parents didnt move)but in high school went to Sweetwater. I can't say I blame their parents. I used to. But everyone wants whats best for their kids and over the years well...Madisonville has just had its problems. However,they were years these kids would've made a differnce. Even this year there is still players(very good players)that had the option to go to Sequoyah. But hey its their decision.( I am in no way accusing anyone of cheating here-There are situations where kids DO have options of where they attend.) I think in the end it just comes down to the tradition though and I don't think Sweetwater folk will ever be able to comprehend that til the walk in those shoes. And I don't mean a few bad or off years. I mean an extended amount of years,which hopefully for them will never happen. But,there is a bright side for us Chief fans. I beleive we have many great people now in place that are willing to work hard and get us going in the right direction. Also,the booster club is a great thing well. I really hope we can get this program right because I beleive we all deserve it. The towns,the people,former players and coaches,all the volunteers thru the years, and of course the kids. I'm sorry this turned out to be much longer than I intended when I started. Again, this is my opinion. I in no way meant to hurt anyone's feelings and admire all the players and coaches that Sequoyah(Madisonville and Vonore) have had through the years that have had the gumption to go out there and compete. Good luck to us this week and to both in the future. Sequoyah 33 Sweetwater 18

Seen the younger Al play while at Alcoa. He was a special athlete and really dominated a football game. And this was really before the current dynasty run they are on. Mid 90s? i think.

Ive not seen Tellico or Sweetwater play but i just came back from watching Sequoyah and Loudon play and Sequoyah is definately better than they were last year which is kinda surprising to me. Mostly because 6'4 senoir Joe Fritts transferred to McMinn Central after having an argument with Coach Hull. And plus they lost big man Ferguson and super quick back up point Carson to graduation. However, Justin Phillips is a super talent that didn't play school ball last year(just rec league and some aau i think). That kid can jump outta the gym....unreal. They rotated 10 tonight which i thought was too many (more like 8 imho.) But if Coach Hull lets them keep runnin and gunnin i think thsi team could surprise alot of teams. They are definately suited to it but Coach Hull has never really shown much interest in that style til tonight. I would say Sequoyah will be best in county unless one of the other two have had some real drastic changes since last year.

Sequoyah will play a very inspired game and the score will be less than a field goal no matter who wins. Sequoyah with the upset 20-18!!! /hungry.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":hungry:" border="0" alt="hungry.gif" />

I don't know much about GP this year but i do know that their field is one of the best places in East Tennessee to watch a high school football game-can't wait til Thursday. Hope to see another good performance from our offense and i beleive our defense will improve. Go Chiefs!!

If Tyler Richesin shows up like he did last week the Bears are in trouble. Sweetwater by 28. The boy can play and he showed his toughness last week as well. If that was for real and he can keep taking the punishment (which i'm not sure he can...yet) then Sweetwater has one of the best QBs they have had in quite awhile. IMHO /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />