midtnmale

It may be a high scoring game because the Hilltopper's defense is lacking.

The chipmunks in Lafayette are safe for the moment.

The problem is that everyone has a "what have you done lately" attitude, young people especially. Hillwood's "glory days" were before any of today's kids were even born. The internet makes it easier for aspiring athletes to know where the action is, and is not. Having a coach with pedigree of Kurt Page is probably as good at they will get at Hillwood. I'm thinking that he's doing as well as expected with the players he has. But to be fair, the Hilltoppers are also helped by that fact that they are in a six team region with Hunters Lane and Glencliff. Hillwood's problem this season is that they need a better defense. I'm not saying they would challenge for the region title if their defense was better. But, they might win a few more games outside of Hunters Lane and Glencliff. They may even get lucky and get out of fourth place in the region.

Hunters Lane sits between Davidson Academy and Goodpasture. And being zoned next to Maplewood isn't helping matters. Kids want to play for a winning program. Or, at least one that can get them into the post-season. As far back as I can recall (when I was in high school ), Glencliff has never been good. If they win more than two games a season they're having a good year. I think their long-term problem now is that there are too many first and second generations immigrants in their zone. You'd think they'd do better in soccer, though.

I would say John Overton's win over Stewart Creek may be close to impressive, in its proper context.

I'm with you on all but the last one. On the other hand, I wouldn't be surprised to see just the opposite result in every game. Based solely on last week's offensive output I'm picking Hillwood over Portland.

Again, fewer classes would help slow down this shuffling around by having more teams per region. Also, with few classes the cutoff marks for dropping down, or moving up, in class would be broader.

I'm thinking Maplewood at East Nashville would qualify as a top game. Pearl-Cohn at MBA would also qualify.

I disagree. They've ran out of ideas and are putting our more and more remakes and "reboots". I've been going the independent and foreign film route lately.

That was a great site. Father Ryan and MBA has been playing as far back as I can recall (I'm in my mid 50's).

It may not be a coincidence that Metro usually has only one school per classification that can be consider a contender.

Question: Are you okay with a student being talked in to going to another school because of the mathematics or science programs offered there? Or maybe they will switch to another school because it has a better theater group or band. Are you okay with that?

It seems that the response as to why the TSSAA won't reduce the classifications in football is always about money from playoff games. It must be more than that because boys basketball still only gives out half as many championships trophies in Division I, with more teams competing.

This is a reason why they need to go back to five classes in Division 1. Six classes are spread too thin. This is especially true after many of the remaining private schools in Division I left for Division II a couple of years ago. But what does the TSSAA do instead? It keeps six classes in Division I and adds a class in Division II.

Here what happen to Region 5 4A for the 2017 season. Macon County went to Region 3 and Maplewood went to Region 4 Montgomery Central and Creekwood came into Region 5 from Region 6. All four schools were 4A before and after the realignment. In regard to steelcityroller's questions, teams are being moved whether they want to or not. This provides a loophole for realignment every two years, rather than the stanard four.

They may be changing every four years going forward, but in 2015 Maplewood was in District 10 4A. In 2015 and 2016 they were in Region 5 4A. Then, they moved to Region 4 4A in 2017. As I said in my original post, maybe this may only apply to Maplewood. They seem to be the only 4A high school remaining in Davidson County.

Is there any GOOD reason why the regions are changing up every two years? I know alignments and classifications are based on school sizes. But why every two years? The changes are getting as common as student-athlete "transfers". Couldn't it be 4 to 6 years between reclassification? It would be nice to be able to follow the progress of regional rival for more than a year or two before having to research a new whole set of teams. For example, four seasons ago Maplewood was in a Nashville-center District 10; then they went to an upper Middle Tennessee Region 5; and last season they went to their current lower Middle Tennessee Region 4. To some extent I can see this being just a Maplewood thing because literally no other school from a prior district/region has went along with them. Still, there has been much change in the past five to six years. Maybe I'm old school, but I grew up knowing who my high school rivals would be when I was still in Jr high. And yes, the Jr. high reference is showing my age. As a slight digression, I think going back to five, or even four, classes in Division I might slow some of this down.

I haven't seen them at all this season, but based on their game against Columbia they have an offense that can score but the defense is lacking. In recent past seasons, Hillwood has struggled to score against even average teams. Since Columbia is usually no worse than average, Hillwood's offense may have improved greatly.

Glencliff is in the same boat as Overton. . Hunters Lane is to an extent, but not nearly as much as Overton and Glencliff. And Whites Creek is even less so. So what accounts for them being so bad? Is it possible that Maplewood is attracting some of the public school talent in that part of the county?

You must have missed last season's conversation where MJGOLDENBEARS talks up Mt. Juliet as being the best team in the state. This despite the fact that people were pointing out their schedule, and region, was weak. After #1 Mt. Juliet lost in the first round to the #4 Riverdale MJGOLDENBEARS has been MIA ever since.

I think it will tell a lot about both teams. And, both should come away as better teams because I see this as being a competitive game on both sides of the ball. Young people need to understand that strong competition is an opportunity to sharpen skills.

After Week 1 it looks as if there will be three team playing for first places, two teams playing for fourth place, and Lawrence County on the outside looking in. Not much has changed preseason prediction-wise, with the possible exception of Marshall County showing themselves to be better than expected after the loss of their quarterback.

Maplewood at East Nashville should be an interesting game.

The same thing was happening to McGavock in the second half. About every third play there was a delay on the field for a McGavock player who had cramped up.

I think Hillwood being able to score 41 points (yes, even in a loss) against any team not named Glencliff or Hunters lane is significant. Now, if they can shore up their defense...