mhalionboy03

According to what has been coming out of Harding's locker room, Harding's coach sent Catholic's coach Harding's game film last Wednesday, with the understanding that he would get Catholic's before Friday. Harding sent the film to the coach's office at the school. Saturday rolls around and Harding has not recieved Catholic's game film. So the coach calls Catholic's coach. Catholic says that the film was sent via a courier in Nashville to Memphis and was sent to the coach's house about 11:00 Thursday, but someone had to be there to sign for it. Catholic didn't bother to tell Harding about this detail and because the Harding coach and his wife teach during the day, the film was not delivered, and carried back to Nashville to be put on hold, but the company called and told Catholic. So Harding has to call to find this information out, and then send an assistant coach from Memphis to Nashville Saturday night to pick up the film, supposedly using directions supplied by Catholic. Harding's head coach gets a call from the assistant at 1:30 Sunday morning saying that the directions were wrong, and they were. That is why Harding's coach is mad at Catholic's coach. And by the way, Harding did not play poorly against Catholic last year. The Lions stomped them on their own Homecoming. It was never even close. And a side note, why do teams in middle and east TN not have visitor side bleachers; Brentwood Academy didn't, Webb didn't, and Knox. Catholic didn't.

There is an unconfirmed rumor flying wildly through Division II teams in Memphis. I can neither confirm this or deny it, and I'm hoping someone else out there can. Supposedly, Jada Mincy quit Briarcrest Basketball this year, leaving Head Coach Hugh Freeze somewhat out in the freezing cold. If you can support this rumor, please explain it to me. I just can't believe it until I see her in the stands during a Briarcrest game.

Harding will absolutely demolish Catholic this Friday. The Catholic coach already made Harding's coach mad, and Harding is out to hang 50 points on Catholic. Senior QB Justin Reeves is becoming much more accurate in his passing as the season progresses. Senior WR Trey Williams is awesome. Sophomore stand-out RB Todd Cox knows how to make plays happen. Harding has always been known for a tough defense and can stuff the runner, rush the passer, and shut down recievers. The Lions are ready for the Irish and will be out to make a statement in DIIAA

I believe that one of the key characteristics of a good football team is getting motivated for even the minor games. I'll be the first to admit that BA is more talented than Harding, but they were not ready to play. UT didn't get up for Florida and look what happened to them. MUS was much better than Briarcrest, but they went into an "easy game" and they lost 24-21. I really don't care about BA anymore. Win the DII-AAA championship, great. But don't play "easy" games. "Easy" games are where good teams lose. So be careful.

Harding Academy will have their Homecoming this Friday, September 27 against the Memphis Westside Wildcats. Our website has more info. <www.hardingacademymemphis.org>.

Harding wanted to finish the game. Harding's coach wanted to finish the game. And Harding's fans wanted to finish the game. We were so excited when the rumor started that the they were calling Brentwood HS to see if we could finish the game down there after their own game finished. BHS refused, however. It was just not possible for Harding to stay all night in Brentwood to finish the game on Saturday. First, what hotel would have enough vacancies to rent out 20 hotel rooms for the night with notice at 10:00 that wasn't a flea-bag motel. Also, Harding had a good number of parents and fans that drove up to Nashville. Would BA pay to put them up for the night as well? I think not. Many of the players were staying with their parents in Nashville after the game to go to the UT game. Those are expensive tickets that would be thrown out the window. Many of the players were going on a Church retreat out of Memphis the following day and had already paid a nonrefundable deposit. It is useless to speculate on scores or what would have happenned if the game would have continued. But from the first quarter, BA should be ashamed. I believe Harding had more first downs. A player that broke his hand on the play returned a fumble for a TD. Brentwood's TD run ended on the 2 yard line. Even the announcer announced it. Then the refs spot it inside the 1 yard line. Then, he moved to the endzone and called it a TD. The runner slid from the 2 yard line all the way out of the endzone. Sure, BA would probably have scored, but with the rain and all the turnovers, who knows? And hitting. Harding was literally pushing over BA linemen and defenders. Treadwell was hitting harder than BA was. Memphis Catholic even. BA did not at all play like a nationally ranked team. Granted, it was only one quarter of play and BA might have gotten back on track to win the game. Despite the 7-7 score, BA was outplayed Friday night. Good job Lions!!