etfan

Not at all. D-B was outcoached and "out efforted". D-B would beat MC 9 of 10 times based on talent. But that is why they do play the games - this was their time. Congratulations, by the way, to MC. Great - never give up style effort. Most all of the school systems and communities up here have all that.

Good insights. Another thing I think is that no one fears D-B outside NET. Most RI teams (meaning the coaches and kids who make them up) are afraid of and intimidated by D-B. They play tight and don't expect to win. D-B expects to win these games. That intimidation, plus the press D by Coach Watson often results in a surge sometime in the game that spells the difference. D-B rarely has to play the whole game. RII teams don't give a snit about D-B, view the local media bromides regarding ancient tradition as irrelevant, are not intimidated by the press D, and play 48 minutes. Also, D-B seems to get more conservative on offense as the season progresses. Maybe that is just a coincidence or maybe I am off base on that one. Talent does matter but the first round exits recently have been inexcusable , really.

Yeah, tell it to D-B. I think after playoff round 1 the rankings are pretty well decided.

I am just wading through these posts after I returned from THS game and would like to offer a suggestion. No one cares about South's fans rubbing it in on this thread and it would be great if they would stay off. A much more interesting discussion is the root cause of the Indian's repeated failures to get past the first round against RII when they have superior teams. Is is coaching, playoff preparation, lack of depth, lack of focus by players, too big a band, not enough talent, Region II being the next best thing to the NFC East, or what? Tonight was an embarrassment for NET football. We all admire D-B, get beat by them, and look to their postseason success as a validation that we are not bad. Maybe we all are bad. What a bummer. Nobody cares about DB - South tonight.

What a stunner. I mean no disrespect, but this is the biggest choke job I have seen in a long time. It makes the disaster against W-B a couple of years ago seem like the NYG-PATs Super Bowl upset. I also thought RI-5A would be at least .500 tonight. Is RII that strong or are we that weak up here? I suspect that had to be a factor.

A stunning victpry by the Rebels. I really thought THS would finish the MLC era with a solid thumping of South. Then injuries really hurt the Vikings. And South was better than I thought they would be post CP. Hats off to South. I am not sure folks around this area appreciate what Sullivan County has had the good fortune to assemble at South. HS Football is about building and maintaining a program and the Rebels have it for the foreseeable future. There are some serious issues with Viking football - talent, Middle School development, coaching, and, most disappointingly, their support infrastructure. Too late tonight to get into it but really needs to be openly discussed in Viking Nation. Our stands were not packed last Friday night. Strange. A stunning victory by the Rebels. I really thought THS would finish the MLC era with a solid thumping of South. Then injuries really hurt the Vikings. And South was better than I thought they would be post CP. Hats off to South. I am not sure folks around this area appreciate what Sullivan County has had the good fortune to assemble at South. HS Football is about building and maintaining a program and the Rebels have it for the foreseeable future. There are some serious issues with Viking football - talent, Middle School development, coaching, and, most disappointingly, their support infrastructure. Too late tonight to get into it but really needs to be openly discussed in Viking Nation. Our stands were not packed last Friday night. Strange.

If SH won and Bearden won, I see how a three way tie might go to DB. But, if Bearden lost and SH won, it seems to me the seeding of two one loss teams (DB and SH) would be decided by head to head competition. Does this also mean the THS - South game is in a similar situation. This seems crazy to me.

It is very important for HS football in this end of the state for this game to be meaningful. Kudos to Gilligan to getting the Toppers this far. Amen, brother. Simply the best.

This is not 100% right and you know it. You are sandbagging to avoid disapointment by the Tribe. D-B is at least number 3 if not 1.

Great post. The last line in the post is one of the best I have seen on this Board. BTW, on a wet field does CC have a reasonable chance at the upset? I think not as CS is the one weapon the Indians rarely have - a bad weather DI / DI AA prospect tailback. But the Indians have had the injury bugaboo. Are they healing up? If so, and with a little luck, 03 may not be able to make that post next year.

Sorry for the second post but I hit submit too soon. The starting QB for the THS and Betsy games (the two most important wins of that championship season) was a senior named Hicks (?). The Rebels had a wealth of riches at QB that year and the senior might very well have been the starter if he had not gotten hurt in the summer. CP was hurt in the game before THS and the senior came in and gave a MVP performance - very few programs in NET have that kind of depth at QB. Very fortunate for the Rebels that year.

Betsy missed a FG at the end that would have won the game. I think they missed one the year before at South to also lose a close ball game. Betsy has skill people that can hurt South. I personally think the wet field will hurt Betsy more than South with the additional depth at RB the Rebels have and the Rebels line play.

Whoa! Both the Vikings and Rebels need to hold serve tomorrow and the hype can begin in earnest.

MM, W1, and Hey, you are right. As I reviewed the original post I really made a bad decision to judge so harshly parenting skills. I, as a parent, would not have aired that laundry in this forum but that is simply my approach to parenting - right or wrong. I would not have gone for the drama but I don't know the situation and was inappropriately applying my philosophy to someone else's situation. BTMom, I do apologize.

Central's colors are a long way from the TN orange they used to wear. They are primarily dark blue and clemson orange. Maybe that is where their problems started.

I have seen several points on this and other threads about the impending mismatch of Gate City and South. According to www.greatschools.net, GCHS has 510 students in grades 10 - 12. While certainly not the size of South, I suspect this number, corrected to include freshmen as is done in Tennessee would make them comparable to G'ville, Betsy, and some of the others in the current 4A classification. Also, the same website shows 712 students in grades 9 - 12 for Virginia High. I have always been a little confused on how VA assigns football classifications. Does anyone have a simplified explanation? Thanks.

C'mon, Waco, you would be furious at 2 - 0. I am sure you prefer 44 - 0.

After the East game, I had circled this week as a real trap game for the Rebels. I thought the Mason Dixon bowl would be emotional as North had their best team in recent memory. It shaped up as a classic battle of styles and I was surprised that South's D was able to dominate the Raiders as they did. It did shape up as great entertainment (just look how much energy has been spent on the game, the pregame, the running up the score, the need to play starters, #2 for North, the nonhandshake, etc). I also thought Betsy would look much more competitive than they did against North and THS. In fact, I was very surprised by the up front domination by the Raiders and Vikings. Betsy has skill people who are very dangerous but appears to have problems up front. Have their lines been hit by injuries? Is there some issue in the program that has cropped up? They really have not looked like the same team the last two weeks as in the first part of the season. The Cyclones were pretty competitive against SH and fairly competitive against DB; the last two games have With Betsy and North laying an egg last week, South and THS are the only possibilities for Conference Champions. Betsy, North, and JC are in the battle for the last two spots. North is in control of their own destiny. JC's hopes rest solely on Prudhomme's health; the final game of the season in Mountain City will be war with the Golden Raiders. Betsy must hope for a North win. The Cyclone win over JC earlier looms big. I predict a closer game than many - South by 21 (and yes, Coach Norris, the starters play well into the 4th quarter). South has had a lot of distractions this week (winning an emotional ballgame and all the post game hype, signing the deal with Gate City, new classifications coming out this week, the reality that the hype for the THS game has already started). Not as big a trap game as I thought a month ago. But, that is why we play the games.

Sounds like North and Norris made their bed and then had to lay in it. Not surprising from North, disappointing from Norris. He is on a rebuilding job and, I think, will do well in the lower classifications.

I am not kidding at all. W-B beat M'ville last year except for a bad call at the goal post. M'ville has a great program and will be competitive for Conference championships (whatever that means in the Knoxville area). But as a AAA - D1 playoff seed they will likely lose some regular season games and have to travel more in the earlier playoff rounds. There is no way that the Red Rebels could have gotten past some of the Riverdale teams that won 5A state titles a few years ago. Maryville and MBA are the top two name recognition HS teams in TN right now on a national level. Maryville's long term continued excellence (whether the streak ends this year or not) is good for HS football in the state.

My playoff comment is based on the Rebels potential progression losing G'ville and Maryville and picking up Knox Catholic. K-C is hard to figure out with a 700 student enrollment but private school resources. I have not seen them play but they seem to have built a good program. D-B has picked up Maryville in their potential progression. I do agree, though, that next year could be a great conference race between DB, SH, SS, and THS. I have mixed feelings about the reclassification and think South and THS are big losers in this part of the state. It is hard to argue, though, in the current and coming economy that schools like SH should be traveling to Bearden and Campbell Co.

Cap, you are letting this folks bait you. Stay off of these mighty Rebel threads. I am just hoping the Vikings will make a first down and keep the Rebels under 50 when they face the hapless THS team in a couple of weeks. Gosh, I may even dust off some preseason predictions that week. Until then, go Rebels go - run it up against Betsy.

Good to hear from you. I am impressed with your fashion design ideas. Things must really be quiet on the DB thread. But really, with the recent schedule it is hard to get excited. What is your injury situation? Can you guys beat Farragut, or more importantly, Ooltewah?

The balance between protecting the top players from injury and getting them ready for the second season is a difficult one. Carter must begin steeling his starters for 4 quarters of warfare they will face with upcoming conference title related games with Betsy and THS and upcoming possible playoff efforts against M-W, M-E, G'ville, and beyond. I was not at the game but Norris probably made a mistake.

Not to take away anything from this thread, but the recent series of posts regarding DB-South need to recognize the new reality of the TSSAA reclassification South is the top AAA - D2 program in the area. DB is the the top AAA - D1 program in the area. South's regular season schedule got much tougher and their series of conference titles will end. DB's ongoing (only occasionally interrupted by a freak event) series of conference titles will continue. South's playoff road got easier. DB's playoff road got harder.