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Thanks for explaining that to him Big G. That's pretty much exactly what I was trying to say. I will agree that in this year, the top two teams from AAA were in the finals. That's not always the case though. I think they need to have some sort of seeding rather than a blind draw. Who is it exactly that's in charge of the eurosport rankings?

I wouldn't say AAA had a down, or off, year. Sure, some of the perennial powerhouses such as Bearden and Farragut didn't make it into the state tournament, but I don't necessarily think this is because AAA had an off year. I think the parody level has risen tremendously over the past few years. The talent is finally about equal with many of the schools, thus making it to where it's not the same teams that dominate every year. It makes things more interesting. I think this was a good year for AAA. As for Brentwood, stop dogging on them with these "If this had happened..." or "If Brentwood had played this team..." The fact of the matter is, Brentwood did not play those teams. Nobody can say that Father Ryan would've easily handed Brentwood their first loss. No one knows because these teams did not play each other. So quit making assumptions just because you're probably a Father Ryan fan/player/student. Give credit where credit is due. These guys played a heck of a season. 24-0 in any division is hard to come by. I don't necessarily agree with the whole national championship thing, but that's because I don't think it's valid to compare high school teams on a national level. But my hat's off to Brentwood. Those guys did a remarkable job this year.

I did notice a few dry spots on the fields where in some the grass was completely dead. Going back to the Mike Rose stadium field though, that one is going to be in excellent condition because that's also where the University of Memphis plays their home soccer matches. They're of course going to try to keep that field in as great of shape as possible.

I'm not exactly understanding what you mean by walking away from the competition.

I don't think you can justify Jordan being a better keeper simply because he's going to Memphis and James is going to ETSU.

I do feel that the teams should be seeded by rankings. It hasn't been done this way before, and it might have benefitted some teams this year. Who knows? But if you're saying the rankings aren't accurate because the teams play very few common opponents, you might as well throw out the rankings in every single sport then, high school and collegiate. The teams aren't always going to have the same opponents. That's why there are district rankings and state-wide rankings. In response to your other question, yes, I would feel this way if it didn't benefit me. The teams that would receive the #1 and #2 seedings (which would've been Brentwood and Houston) have earned that right this year. They deserve to have the lower seeds (#7 and #8 it would've been). I don't feel it's right, and have never felt it right, to pit two of the higher seeds (once again, had it been done by seedings) in the first round. I still feel the championship game would've been the same, but I think the semi-final matchups would've been more interesting.

The teams are #2 and #4 according to eurosportscoreboard.com

I wouldn't go as far as to say "Leedle is by far superior at that position in the state of TN." Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying he's a bad keeper because he's far from that. He's an extremely talented keeper. I've seen both play though, and from what I have seen, I would say James commands his team better. In the matches I've seen, James is much more vocal than Jordan is. James's size will work to his advantage more than Jordan's will at the collegiate level too.

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree here. You want to play the best teams, but not in the first round. Take this past year's NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament for instance. You wouldn't have wanted Kansas and Memphis to play each other in the first round because then there wouldn't have been the incredible championship game there was. I know that's probably not the best comparison, but to have what would've been the two lowest seeds play each other in the first round and then have what would've been the #2 and #4 seeds play each other in the first round seemed a little foolish to me.

I just received a text from one of my friends at the game...Tied 1-1 at the beginning of the second half

I'm not a big fan of the blind draw thing. If they went by seedings (rankings according to eurosportscoreboard.com) it would've shaped up like this... 1. Brentwood 8. Oak Ridge 4. Riverdale 5. Collierville 3. Knox West 6. Cleveland 2. Houston 7. Hendersonville I personally think that would've kept things a little more even. The bottom half of the bracket with Knox West, Cleveland, and Houston would still be really tough, but this would've kept the two lowest seeds (had the bracket been set by seedings) in Hendersonville and Oak Ridge from playing each other in the first round.

Riverdale 1 Houston 2 My hat's off to Houston. They have a heck of a team. They threw everything and then some at the Riverdale defense during the first 15 minutes. Once Riverdale settled down a bit, they started moving the ball a little better and actually scored first. Houston is a very talented team though, and I expect them to make it to the championship game.

Just to throw this out there, Riverdale starts 8 seniors too.

Call it lucky if you will. But at the same time, Riverdale had Blackman on its heels in the District Championship game, leading 2-1 with 5 minutes to go with both teams at full strength. It was just a simple letdown however that allowed Blackman to win that game. I hate that people are trying to take something away from Riverdale winning the Region Championship. Those guys have had a heck of a season and deserve it. As far as the red card goes, from a fan's perspective, yes it was a questionable red card. However, from the TSSAA's perspective, it was completely justified. It's in the rule books that any curse word results in an automatic red card. Just out of curiosity, because I really do not keep up with them, who has Houston beaten this year that can be considered a good team? I know they lost to CBHS in their first game, and I know they've beaten Collierville two or three times. Who else have they beaten? And even though Collierville is in the state tournament, are they a little overrated?

Riverdale only lost to Cookeville and Blackman this season. They lost to Cookeville once in the regular season, but avenged that in the District Semifinals. They lost to Blackman in the regular season and in the District Championship, but avenged that loss by winning the Region Championship.