etfan

Good point. Betsy matches up better with South than North. By the way, the much maligned Vikings are undefeated in the Conference. Do not count them out either.

Is Adams a senior? So much of it up here in NET involves the groundwork to get a good offer. He may be the best talent for possible D-I playing time in the Region this year. I just don't think he has a name.

You guys are not giving North enough credit. This will be like the Science Hill game in terms of suspense. The Hill offered athletes and a QB who was tough to stop; the Raiders will shorten the game and the Rebels' enemy will be time.

East should stay where they are. In fact, I think Sullivan County should take all measures (including political and legal ones) to move South and Central down. They are right on the line and Sullivan County would benefit by all their schools being in AA.

The Raiders play up a notch or two when they battle their county cousins. Don't forget that one of North's best defensive players was suspended for the THS game and the Vikings still got very few first downs after halftime. North's deal will be to shorten the game. South will win but I do think their starters will play 4 quarters. They need to.

Betsy was exposed a bit last Friday by North. A lack of toughness up front. The Betsy - THS game is crucial as there is a big difference in playing M-West or Boone and playing G'ville or M-East in round 1.

Very insightful information in the middle section of your post regarding the attributes of a successful spread attack running back. It is somewhat different from a traditional tailback.

This is really a totally inappropriate post for this board. A horrible job of parenting.

An outstanding post. While the Vikings are being much maligned, they are undefeated in RI-4A. I do think they will lose to Betsy and South and have a second round playoff exit. But with all the injuries not a bad year.

Absolutely the right decision was to take him off D with the 3 deep down to 1 deep. But more depth will give the South coaches more options. Another option would, of course, be to line him up at tailback with a fullback in front and give him 30 carries a game. That will not ever happen in the Carter spread - a QB centric offense Oh well. South is off to a great start and has a chance at a deep playoff run. Probably opening with Boone, Cherokee, or Mo-West. Then playing Mo-East, G'ville, and /or Betsy in the next two rounds. Barring unforeseen circumstances, back against Maryville at South. The Rebel flags in the stadium will create a firestorm with the oppressed Maryville Confederates. That will be a great story. First things first. Stay focused and beat East.

Sorry to disappoint but Sevier Co is not competitive with D-B this year. In fact, and I don't want to jinx the Indians, but I thing they are legitimate State Title contenders in 5A this year. It is a little early to tell with their injury situation, but if they can get everyone healthy, they have more offensive weapons than in recent years and the typical Watson led D. By the way, one of the best HS football games I ever saw was the turn of the century (Adonis Johnson era) game at SC - a 35 - 34 Indian win if I remember.

I love this game. It has developed into a good rivalry. I will never forget the "thunderstorm, oops we are behind so let's start over tomorrow game - a football mulligan" The Vikings are still the Vikings and are tied with South for first in the MLC. They will stay that way until the end of the season. In a season of the injury bug, the Vikings are battling hard. The Science Hill loss was overdue, given the Vikings' lucky win last year. Based on a talent shift and demographics, THS will have a hard time beating the Hill in the foreseeable future. They will battle South for third and fourth in the new conference next year. The loss of Prudhomme (sp ?) makes this game anticlimactic. With him, its a real game and I might even have picked JC. Without him, THS by 21. Also, abnormally for a JC team, they seem to really have had a mental and physical meltdown against South. Sometimes things go against you and can steamroll, but 42 points in a quarter? Do the Longhorns have a dropoff in mental toughness? I will let others more knowledgeable than me comment on that. .

It will be interesting to see how Coach Carter handles the plethora of riches he has at RB. Offensive performance so far this year has been outstanding. So does Carter risk upsetting the apple cart to insert Fletcher at LB. How much does he gain / lose - not in this game but in the Betsy - THS - playoff gauntlet? And yes, I do include THS in the gauntlet. Most other teams in NET would love to have this dilemma.

Congratulations to the Hurricanes for a breakthrough win! Don Woods got out when the gettin' was good. He knew the talent shift. That said, I have thought M-E underachieved last year in a serious way. While many people picked them to do great things over the past few years, they needed to get past West. They have finally done it! I think we will see a real power shift in the next few years. Watch out, G'ville and Sullivan South.

HS Football success on a continuing basis requires continuity in the coaching staff, a head coach who ruthlessly installs his program of doing things down to the smallest detail, community support, and athletes. In 2003, I seem to recall Central beat South fairly handily. How those programs have parted ways over the past 5 years. IMO, Central has made two bad decisions to hire coaches in the past several years (they had a chance to get Ralph Nelson and passed on him and they picked Scott Nelson instead of Chas Seeger). South has a great head coach and coaching staff who have put in their program and run it with a friendly face but a steely will. Athletic talent runs in cycles. South has had a great talent cycle. Central has not had such a talent run (no CP there) but their Holston group has certainly been very successful in MS. The difference is player retention and development. South does it much better that Central. A key to retention is if the sport is the "thing to do" in the community and school. HS sports takes discretionary effort from teenagers. This is one reason Graham Clark and D-B are so successful. South has become a football school; Central has become a basketball school.

Great post. Enjoy it while you can.

I think a big difference this year for the Hill is toughness - physical and mental. Gilligan learned his lesson last year and the Toppers have talked less and worked more over the past year. Add a multi threat like IK and the Hill is much improved. Toppers by ten.

Disturbing, but not unexpected. Roundball is the sport at CHS right now. How has Central been and continued to be so bad? Holston MS has been pretty strong over the past several years and BMS has a few players every year. Even I will have to admit that is funny.

The Stone Castle at Tennesse High in Bristol is a great venue. Cannot agree with D-B. True, they always have a big crowd (who else has a 500 person band), but general admission seating is very limited on the home side and the visitor stands are terrible.

C'mon. At this level of play the D-B QB has to have an audible package.

Upset Special! Stubbs' Vikings will put it all together on this night. Gilligan is better and tougher than last year. He is adjusting to the play, coaching, and effort of public schools in NET. But, it will not be enough. Vikings 20, Hill 17

Thanks for sharing. A great picture of one of the best HS football venues in the state.

Most interesting assessment of the Rebels. Time will tell. M'ville is down this year (according to all the nay sayers in Knoxville - but they have not missed a beat in regular season so far) One way to view South's recent success is to look who ended their season the past three years - IMO I would rank the Rebels this way: 2007: Beaten by a M'ville team who won the state title. Foolish play call at the end added a TD for M'ville. Basically this was a 2 TD win by M'ville. 2005: The first conference championship year. Beaten by a very good Mo'West team at South. Had a lead going into the 4th quarter but faded. A pick for six was a key play by the Trojans. 2006: Knocked out by Mo'East in the 'Canes first real year of resurgence. Basically got ran over early and often. Comeback came up short. Could the 2008 team top this list? Most certainly. IMO, the MLC is down overall from 2005, Science Hill is clearly better than in 2007, THS is much worse than in '05, North is much stronger than in '05 or '06, and G'ville is not as good as in '07 only because of the injury to Barner. Will the Blazers compete? Yes, but the Rebels will wear them down. South by 21.

Most interesting assessment of the Rebels. Time will tell. M'ville is down this year (according to all the nay sayers in Knoxville - but they have not missed a beat in regular season so far) One way to view South's recent success is to look who ended their season the past three years - IMO I would rank the Rebels this way: 2007: Beaten by a M'ville team who won the state title. Foolish play call at the end added a TD for M'ville. Basically this was a 2 TD win by M'ville. 2005: The first conference championship year. Beaten by a very good Mo'West team at South. Had a lead going into the 4th quarter but faded. A pick for six was a key play by the Trojans. 2006: Knocked out by Mo'East in the 'Canes first real year of resurgence. Basically got ran over early and often. Comeback came up short. Could the 2008 team top this list? Most certainly. IMO, the MLC is down overall from 2005, Science Hill is clearly better than in 2007, THS is much worse than in '05, North is much stronger than in '05 or '06, and G'ville is not as good as in '06 only because of the injury to Barner. Will the Blazers compete? Yes, but the Rebels will wear them down. South by 21.

Amen on that, brother. HS football coverage in this area is really pretty good with the TCS, newspapers, and Friday night highlight shows on Channels 11 and 5