Ironman80

- How did the signing day go?? Any official news yet ??

I know a few: 103 - Halls - 1st Karns - 2nd 112 - Greenback - 1st Sey. - 2nd Halls - 3rd 119 - Greenback - 1st 145 - Greenback - 1st ?? Sey. - 2nd Farr. - 3rd 152 - Maryville - 1st Halls - 2nd Gibbs - 3rd Union Co. - 4th 160 - Pigion Forge - 1st 171 - Sey. - 1st Catholic - 2nd 189 - G. Back - 1st - S. Doyle - 2nd 215 - Gibbs - 1st Maryville - 2nd (Cantwell) Sey. - 3rd W. Blount - 4th 285 - Halls - 1st Sey. - 2nd G. Back - 3rd Catholic - 4th Maybe this will get the ball rolling.

A few questions/comments: - Does anyone know how Brandon Johnson is doing?? Will he be back in time for spring practice?? - Likewise, how about Michah Bolden?? (same questions) - Any chance of the following "athletes"playing football next year - Zach Zabowski, Jay Cannon or JD Wallace? - Steven Hill looks like he is getting alot thicker!! Expect a good year from him. Anyone else getting alot stronger?

Daniel Shurina of Catholic at 171. Didn't he win the region last year??

Sorry Rigger, only know the top 4 : - 1st - Independence (blew everyone else away by 100 points) - 2nd - Maryville - 3rd - Davey Crocket - 4th - Halls Side note - young Farinella may have gotten second at 119 (not sure, I was in and out all day)

Not sure of all, but here are some: -103 - Halls (A. Larue) over Karns (Maxwell) -112 - Halls (T. Larue) over Independence -119 - ?? Independence maybe -125 - ?? Karns (Harless) maybe - 140 - Maryville (Ridenour) over Independence - 145 -Farragut (Farinnela) over Sullivan East - 152 - Maryville (Hendricks) over Independence (FFT) - 160 - Pigion Forge (Shields) over ?? Independence - 171 - ?? Webb (Campbell) maybe - 189 - Union County (Keck) over William Blount - 215 - Gibbs (Stuff) over Independence - Heavy - Halls (Leonard) over Independence Pretty sure these are right. Maybe someone else can fill in the blanks.

- Congratulations to Coach Julian for being named Region Coach of the Year !! Also cogratulations to the following players: Seniors - Wes Kitts, Daniel Dayton, Aaron Blair, and Brent Hughes Juniors - Kevin Waggoner and Caleb Leonard (co-lineman of the year/Aaron Douglas of Mville) Soph. - Jared Khan

- All region team was printed in the Knoxville News Sentinel on 12/22/07. - centralfan90 - Douglas shared lineman of the year award with Leonard of Halls, and Courtney shared specialist award with Duchame of Powell. - Coach of the year went to Kevin Julian of Halls

- Are these still the teams coming to Pigeon Forge this weekend? I heard that Greenback and Seymore may be there. Does anyone know the final info.?

- Exciting match to watch. Came down to last match at 171 with Gunter (Halls) needing a pin. Halls would have won the tie-breaker, so a pin wins. It was unusual at the end watching Gunter trying to not get the 15 point tech decision, as Halls needed a pin. - I have a question for someone in the know - Can a person stall into a tech? For example, last night the Mville wrestler was behind by 13 and got hit for a 1 point stall call early in the third round. The Halls wrestler quickly gave up a takedown to decrease the spread. If the Mville wrestler got hit with another stall, would the match have been over?? 5 points Halls, Maryville wins?? - Congratulations to Maryville. You fell behind early, and fought back hard to earn the win.

HallsDE#72 - - It's admirable to like your teammates. However, this year's heavy division is a one horse race - Cody Sliger from Ooltewah!!! Everyone else is a distant second (even the big boy from Kenwood). - How is your leg HallsDE#72?? Will you get to wrestle this year??

Patrick Flynn of ND looked really good at the Knoxville Catholic!!! Looks like he has worked hard in the off-season. Expect to see him make a run this year.

After seeing both teams up close I expect this to be a barn burner. Common foes (Halls, Powell, Rhea Co.) show Maryville +59, Red Bank +48. Difference of 11 for the home team. Subtract a few points for the injury factor, and it may come down to the team with the ball last. Burnette will be the difference, as he has been for the past three years. My humble opinion is that he is the BEST high school football player in the state.

Ok fairplay - I misunderstood what you said about Hodge. My bad! I still say he was the best defensive player we had this year (100+ tackles). Look for a big year from he and the other returning linebackers. - Also, the eight returning starters I mentioned were just that, returning starters. I don't believe that Pixley or Bright started (although I'm glad they got playing time). Others to add to list of significant playing time would be Bolden, McFalls, Cottrell, Fitzpatrick and Hillard. - Number one priority - we need to get bigger and stronger on defense. Our lack of size really hurt in the big games - Red Bank, Maryville, and Bearden. I know we can't control how tall our players are, but the good teams were A LOT bigger than our defense. Small and fast worked against the weaker teams, but we MUST get bigger and stronger for next year if we hope to go any further than round two. McFalls and Hillard both have a good frame and look atheltic, let's hope these guys gain some weight and get serious in the weight room. - Finally, we only had two players bench over 300 pounds this year. Look for this number to go up next year to at least six and maybe ten. Someone told me that the state championship team in 86 had all eleven starters on defense benching 300+. Maybe a big reason for our lack of production on defense was due to lack of strength. Again, getting bigger and stronger is priority number one!!

My two cents: - Fairplay - Are you serious?? I normally agree with you, but to call out Hodge at MLB?? Who do you think was our best defensive player this year?? My pick was Hodge, hands down. You said his tackles were "six yards down the field" (I disagree), but if so where was everyone else?? We had a two MLB two OLB system, so where were the other LB's(and no, Hodge is not my son!) - I felt our LB's were the strength of the defense. Our Dline was weak (don't remember many big plays against good teams) and so was our DB's. Linebakers saved this team in big games all year. Did you see our 2006 team. Good teams ran it down our throats and MLB's didn't slow them down. - Next year's group of LBs will be the best this school has had in a LONG time! Here is what I see coming back on defense: DBs - Three (Johnson, Turner, Gresham) LBs - Three (Hodge, McGill, Waggoner) Line - Two (Leonard, Laddish) Eight returning starters off an 8-4 team. Look for this group to improve with a years experience.

Hey Rigger- - Will we see you at Knox. Cath. next week? If so, who should we look out for from the Hville lineup? - Look for Halls to be improved overall this year. We should be one of the top 2-3 in region duals this year. Lost our returning state qualifier at 125, and lost our returning 160 to an ACL. However, young team should grow up this year if all the weights come together. Still thin with numbers, so injuries could hurt. Still look for this to be our breakout year. - I don't expect us to be great at Cath. - most guys are just coming out from football and only two wrestlers are at their weight (215 and 285)

I don't sense the "mean" factor we once had. My two cents: - I feel the best two games we played this year were against West and Maryville. Before these games I sensed the players wanted to "just go out and hit somebody," i.e. a little mean streak. - Sounds like most think Red Bank is going to take Halls out to the woodshed and do a little spanking. How do the Halls players feel about that? - Halls players, don't worry about how good people say you are, just get that mean streak back. - You still are not being respected by these guys, or anyone else. - Go out tomorrow night and knock the socks? off them(can't say any other words, you pick some). - Win or lose, make sure you get some respect. Respect is earned, not given! I wonder if you can at least be the hardest hitting team! Go Halls!

- I agree about Cody Sliger at 285! Is he the "best" heavyweight of all time in Tennessee?? Maybe some people who know more about the sport can help me out, but I don't think there has been many two time heavyweight champions in the state of TN. Has there been any three time heavyweight state champs?? - Cody is awesome. I believe this is the safest bet of any weight class. Don't see anyone to challenge him this year.

HaveitYourWay - - I agree about the sluggish start last week. However, I believe it had more to do with all the injuries/sicknesses that we had on our football team. I felt any win (under those circumstances) was exciting! Got to credit coaches for covering up everything. - How do we look on the injury front?? I hear Turner is getting back close to 100%, and Kitts is getting better everyday. Gresham's ankle looks to be close to healed, and Cottrell's arm is healing. I expect all the sick players will be well this weak (always a chance this time of year that anyone can get sick). - What's scary is to think about all we had to overcome last week and still win. Does this mean that we will beat Red Bank? Not really, but with everyone getting better I know the product we but on the field this week will be much better than the previous two due to the injuries. - I agree with most that Red Bank and Maryville will be a good game next week. I just wonder if Red Bank is getting a little scared about now or are they starting to get excited? It's only a week away!

- I can't help but wonder what the big game next week between Red Bank and Maryville will be like. I have a few questions for the Red Bank faithful; Are you beginning to get nervous or excited since it almost a week away? Do you feel like you can go into thier house and win?? Have you worked all summer tp get ready for this game?? Can you believe it is almost here?? - Concerning the Halls game, not sure if we are man enough for this one. I hope we can smack you guys back when you hit us, just not real sure. O. Line had a poor performance against Cleveland, and R. Bank is much better up front. You guys (O. Line)need to get serious and get tough again. We need you guys to get a chip on your soldier and come out nasty.

DB fans - If you really want a peak at Sterling think back to your preseason scrimmage with Knox Central and a healthy Jamie Wilson. Similar type speed and burst, but Sterling is a little stronger.

jlancaaster- Most Halls fans understand your are just stating the obvious, no nerve hit. Consider this info from the Pilot preseason top 200 players in the state: Red Bank #43 - Dominque McDuffie - WR 6'2/190 #44 - Tracy Sims - LB/FB 5'11/235 #47 - Tyler Chambers - OL 6'3/295 #56 - Tim Benford - WR 6'2/195 #57 - Jake Ledbetter - QB 5'10/190 #58 - Taylor Chambers - 6'2/280 Halls #145 Daniel Dayton - WR 6'1/175 Also, consider these preseason 4A All-State selections: Red Bank - D. McDuffie, Tyler & Taylor Chambers, and T. Sims Halls - No one - On paper this is a mismatch and a half. Halls has no chance(on paper) All Halls has is a group of no-name, blue collar type of players. However, on paper Halls should have been 5-5 and fifth place in the region. Many thought we (Halls) might lose to Clinton and South Doyle this year, maybe even finish 3-7. - Red Bank fans, is this the year you finally beat Maryville? After your warm up game with us on Friday, can you get serious for the Rebels?? - Halls players, remember this - It is amazing what a team can accomplish when NOBODY cares who gets the credit!!!

Moroon - Are you for real? Calling out our LB's? Right now are LB's are the strenghth of our defense!! Consider this: - The leading rusher ALL year against us was Clark Mac. from Central with 143 yards. (A QB!!) - We have held 6 teams under their averages for rushing. - Have you seen our defense lately against third down, especially third and long? Defense holds against the run for two downs, then gives up big play over and over again on third and long.Many of these are QB scrambles, not LB's fault. - I would love to know how many yards QB's have scrambled/ran for against us.My guess is somewhere between 1/3 to 1/2 of our total!! - Next year these LB's will be one of the best groups in the KIL!! Back to the game. My head says Cleveland (too many injuries for Halls), but my heart says Halls (Coach J will pull some magic out somehow). Usually I go with my head, but toady I will stick with my heart! Go Big Red!

I heard we lost another one to the injury bug! Can anyone confirm if BJ (Brandon Johnson) did indeed BREAK his ankle? I heard it is severe, and he may not be 100% for next year. Can anyone help? If so, our prayers go out to BJ. Great kid and good football player (FYI he leads the team in int. and is a two year starter).

Thanks for the info Clevelandblueraider fan. Halls has struggled (like most teams) with a mobile QB - i.e. Central. Looks it like it might be a long night for the devils. I hope they bring their "A" game, otherwise this one looks to get ugly with Cleveland's speed. I hope the players can dig down deep for at least one more time. However, I believe Coach J still might be able to work some magic. On paper this looks like Clevelands to lose.