perception

There may be 5 or 6 schools in the state that can compare with the history and tradition of Oak Ridge, you have to respect it even if you are a rival fan. However to say that AC does not have tradition or relevant in high school football until the past 5 or 6 years is off base, I would say AC became relevant about the time Coach Kerr landed there and football became important at AC. You can say what you want about him but he built it, since he arrived I think in 94 the Mavs have a record of 130-68 68% winnning percentage and 13 playoff appearances, does not compare to Oak Ridge who during that time had 162-50 76% winning percentage and 14 playoff appearances but still relevant. I think with Coach Gillum and the coaching staff in place they will continue to be relevant. Also the one thing about history is people remember it how they want to, Oak Ridge leads the series 6-1,Oak Ridge won in 87,88, 89, 90, 09, 10, AC won in 02, Oak Ridge and AC didn't play from 1990-2001, then did not play from 2003-2008, not saying AC would have won any of those years but from the time Coach Kerr arrived I think it would have been fun to watch. At AC football has been important from about 94, at Oak Ridge it has always been, that's the difference, but watch out for the Mavs because the fireworks will continue

Herzog and Daniels both great coaches, both had success at Page and other places, they just get it done differently. Read in the 5A-6A post that Rathbone is leaving for Indy, he has been there through 3 coaches and has been a constant in the success, I believe he will be sorely missed

Does that mean you will be taking AE big over AC?

I don't know if Scott can win but I do know 2 things, 1. if they win they shouldn't have and B. they will not be outcoached, no disrespect to any other coaches but in watching Scott the past couple of years and especially this year (although I have only seen them once at Stone) it seems that they get the most out of their talent

Those poor public schools in East TN seem to like playing DL, however DL may have to deal with another private school coming out of knoxville.

They would probably 3rd or 4th in region 1

He is also pretty good at winning, considering he has almost 250 wins.

I was able to watch the Clinton-Cumberland Co. jamboree and although Cumberland Co. is not the caliber of teams Clinton will be facing, as fan or player you have to be excited about the style of offense Clinton is running, no huddle and with Stone I am sure they will throw it around a little more than they did at the jamboree, I think it is a good move by the OC to try to adjust the tempo of games and give defenses more to prepare for.

I don't know much about Scott, I only got to see them one time, but I agree they should probably attempt to run the ball more effectively, however balance is an different thing, you wouldn't ask Fulton to be more balanced or even less predictable in handing the ball off to Dennis Rogan, in fact I don't know if you can get more predictable than Fulton or Catholic and what I saw of Scott last year they put the ball in the hands of their best player whether he was running or throwing, so they were probably doing the same thing the Catholics and Fultons were doing but with less talent.

I guess neither team was too excited about their performance since nobody is talking about it, but the Sterling kid is a good football player, I expect some good things from both of these teams.

How did the AC-Farragut scrimmage turn out?

What non-region games do the Cougars have?

I agree with you I don't think either team could be as good as they have been losing the caliber of players of the likes of Smith, Rogan, Freeney, Hamilton, etc, and I really like the quote at the bottom of your page by Theo R

I got to see Catholic play under the powerlines twice, once in a down pour against Scott Co. in which Harrison didn't have to do much, the other was in the playoffs against Fulton. Smith is a great athlete, but to say that he is all Catholic had is ridiculous, in the Fulton game I could hardly tell he was on the field offensively and Fulton still had to come back to win the game, so I think he may have had some help on the field. Catholic has very capable players coming back, no they don't have a Harrison Smith type athlete but they will still be one of the better teams in the knoxville area

I grew up watching football in the Fort Meyers area watching the likes of Deion Sanders and Jevon Kearse but I was always more impressed with the coaches who got more out of less, I have only been in TN for the past 7 years, so what coaches do more with less talent?