bennettm

Central Magnet requested to resume the match today or tomorrow, but Merrol Hyde was not interested. TSSAA states that the match counts if a half has been played. So, they had every right to take the win and move on. I hate that the match won't be completed, but fair play to Merrol Hyde on playing great at the time it matters most. I can only hope for good weather and the ability to complete matches for all teams this postseason. For our sake, I hope it serves as a wakeup call to take nothing for granted. We'll practice hard and travel down to Chattanooga on Tuesday. I always enjoy playing Coach Schemerhorn's teams.

Bill Vice- Blackman Dylan Kleparek - Dekalb Co. Ethan King- Livingston Academy Ray Bennett- Central Magnet Jeb Coe- Macon Co. Richard Northcutt- Signal Mtn.

From watching or playing most of the East last year, I'd say it will come down to Dekalb Co. and Smith Co. With Livingston possibly springing the surprise win. I think the West will be between Merrol Hyde and Murfreesboro Central. I'm eager to see how the Chattanooga side of Region 4 shapes up. CCS looks like their usual self, while Notre Dame might be down a little. They would still be a tough task for anyone from district 8 to beat. Signal Mtn. might very well upset either of those teams.

Great turf field inside an amazing stadium setting. Feels like your playing at a small college field. From what I recall fairly good width and the length of a football field. CCS spared no expenses on the renovations. Good luck to both of teams. I expect a good match.

I was previously coaching in Georgia and loved the system that they incorporated for high school soccer matches. In the first half if a team got to 7 goals when the other team had not scored, the half ended and you played a shortened second half (I believe it was 20 mins). At any point if either team had a ten goal advantage the game ended. This prevented drawing out matches that were clearly over. I also think it helped prevent injuries to players. I've seen far to many guy's matches that had an injury because a member of the losing team got frustrated and took out a player on the stronger team. Still hoping they incorporate something similar here in Tennessee.

For the boys tournament in the Spring. They had some stands (seating for around 100-150) arranged at the center of each field. It's certianly not enough for everyone that showed up for the later games. Games are right beside each other allowing you to watch two games at the same time. The fields are actually full size, but can also be altered to smaller fields for younger players. The fields as of last week were in great shape so you shouldn't have anything to worry about. Chances are they'll have relined them and the smaller field lines won't even be noticeable. I'm not sure if they plan on using the stadium, but it will easily accomodate a few thousand Irish fans. Hopefully for all the girl's they do the championship games on the stadium field.

I'd look at including Merrol Hyde over Smith Co. They are undefeated in their district and only have one loss overall. Their schedule isn't the most challenging one though, unlike a lot of the other teams listed in the top 10.

Personally I haven't seen Knox Catholic play this season, but I have previously coached in the Knoxville area and coached against them on numerous occasions. I have a hard time seeing anyone that I'm aware of in A-AA competing with Catholic. I went back and looked at numbers. Due to something having to do with football, they have much larger numbers then other schools in A-AA. Just doesn't make any sense to me why they would drop out of AAA, where they were a very competitive team.

I coached the last four years in Georgia and was a big fan of the playoff system there. Just as you said it weeded the weaker teams out early and typically avoided late round blowouts. But having said that I am assuming you are refering to the Whitfield county schools. Dalton absolutley blew out everyone aside from Johnson (Gainesville). If Notre Dame played Dalton I'd love to know how they became so dominant all of a sudden over those strong teams in Southeast and Northwest Whitfield. I'd love to see more teams move on from strong regions and get a chance to play teams from other regions. I hate to see strong teams get knocked out early due to matching up against a White House or CAK.

Livingston Academy is out. District 8 will be decided tonight between Dekalb Co. and Murfreesboro Central Magnet. Then we'll know who plays what Chattanooga school.