tninsider

Been rainy here in Roane County most of the day. Hope y'all don't mind some wet bleachers.

Agree. Both sides going to have to put up some of those 7s to win Friday night. Going to be a good game between two solid teams. Two class coaches and some tough kids. Might be the best game around.

4 is good for Rockwood, but 7 is the one who makes things go.

rwood is feeling good rght bout now but i just gt the feeling that evryone is counting cg out i think cg wins 21-13 n rwood goes on the road. cg gtting a home playoff game wud be huge for them lots to ply for.

Rockwood is currently the 2 seed in theirs after beat Oneida earlier this season. Still could have changes after the Cumberland Gap-Rockwood game.

This is a coin toss game if I've ever seen one. Both really well coached teams who have similar strengths and weaknesses.

Who got tossed?

People like you are the worst. Congratulations. I don't know anything about the Cumberland County program or the players there, but this thread is a disaster already. You aren't asking for discussion, you're just coming on here to whine and complain and blast people.

Listen, I'm sympathetic to them, but you're asking TSSAA to manage a moving target. Who gets the "1A" status there. Is it a certain number of losses? A number of players on the team? I think school enrollment wouldn't be a good gauge because then the smaller "1A" schools would complain because they're in with the bigger schools. And in some cases, maybe it's best to hang up the cleats for a program. I don't have a perfect or even close to right answer. I just don't know how manageable it would be is all I'm saying.

Completely agree with this. It's cyclical, too. Sometimes the gene pool just isn't what it was during a school's hey-day, but that changes over time. A lot of these dynasty style teams that compete year in and year out just have a favorable set up right now. Eventually, they all stumble a little. Heck, Wartburg was 9-3 six years ago and went to the state quarterfinals. I just thing we have to accept that every team is going to have some down years, especially at the local level where schools can't draw as many from the community as other places. Putting them all together won't alleviate that. It will just let them beat up on each other and never really improve.

It's an admirable plan, but that's going to be a heck of a travel bill for some of those teams, and a lot of the local games, even if they get killed, are money makers for those programs. I do think you're asking to try and make something that has so many variables a constant. A lot of it has to do with the community, what kind of kids are there, whether people move, etc. It would be near impossible to legislate, and if you put them in their own separate class, I bet they would want a state championship, or at least the schools and parents would. Otherwise you would get a lot of "Why are we even playing" talk. I just don't see any physical way that this is possible, unfortunately. I think that the same teams would end up in that class year after year. Instead of competing against better talent, you're just in a pool of people that are as bad as you, and once you move up, you start losing again, then end up back down in the bottom.

Hope nobody called down the thunder.

Well, here's your answer as to why people don't want to play them. Attitudes like that. As far as I know, John Webb's always been a hospitable coach for Grace. I don't know why you would need to take personal shots at him on here, but I guess if it makes you feel better, fire away. I wish you all the best in the private ranks. Grace has some really great people over there who are doing their best to try and get rid of the reputation that they may have unfairly earned, but you're not helping your cause on here.

It's one of those rivalries that's probably best to just part ways on. Over the years it's been rough on both sides and I don't ever see it getting better. As for the crowd, you know how teams usually draw in down years. I don't think anyone's scared on either side, at least not on the field, but I think there's a sour taste in people's mouths and they just want to move on.

Haven't heard anything about Grace being in the hole or coaches leaving, but it's entirely possible as I'm not really close to anyone at either place.. As for the Rockwood-Grace rivalry, Friday night was essentially the final chapter of that book.