MavFan

I don't agree with getting rid of the A-11. It was a valid offense, it wasn't really that effective against a good disciplined defense. I think coaches wined and complained enough because they didn't want to try to teach a new defense. Secondly, the coaches box thing. Are you kidding me? Who the heck thought this was necessary? This is impossible and not going to work at all. It was bad enough last year when they limited it to 3 coaches in the box. How many defensive coaches does your team have? Which one would you leave behind the action? Anyway This is a disaster waiting to happen. Are you telling me the kids behind the coaches box have to be ready to move and make sure the coaches have room in the formerly players box? Holly cow, this ought to be fun to watch. Thirdly, the horse collar. We all knew this was coming eventually it was just a matter of time. The problem is kids have relied on it instead of learning how to tackle. Instinctively kids will still do it occasionally, but I guess in time they will learn. I guess after watching it in high school for so long I am immune to it being dangerous. I am not trying to start a debate on its danger however just saying I don't see it. Anyway, as I said we all knew it was coming. My question is does TSSAA have to abide by these rules? Is this organization over them or can they treat it like a suggestion. I know every State has their own rules, for example the A-11 was already outlawed in some states. I would appreciate an answer to this from anyone that knows.

I have been following Clinton for several years now and I see a couple things they need to address before they can improve. One, keep your kids. Clinton's freshman team is usually really good but by the time the kids get to varsity its the same ole thing. The problem I see is that kids used to quit to play other sports or just get tired of losing or run off by their bad coach. The coaching seems to have been solved, and I believe you have the right man at the helm. If Clinton can find a way to keep kids long enough to develop them they watch out. Second, coaching. Until recently Clinton had arguably the worst staff in East Tennessee, see my first point for an example. I remember when Clinton and Campbell County would play every year and the winner would get their win of the year. Clinton has improved and needs to keep going. Coach needs to sell those kids on himself, themselves and their program. Third, this is the beginning of the best times Clinton is going to see is awhile. They are in an easier region then they where and need to use that to there advantage. They need to make sure they schedule non regions they can win, but not cupcakes cause they do need to learn and grow from them. Their region schedule in the past has been over their heads. I am not saying they are in an easy region now, they are not. I am saying this is easier then what they had. Best of luck to all this upcoming season, and I look forward to intelligent responses from Clinton fans.

I disagree only because I have seen a 4 seed win a State Title because they came out of the toughest region in the state. They where below .500 in conference but obviously deserved to be their. Don't cut the teams in the playoffs that just means that the traditional powers continue to dominate and leaves less chance for everyone else. I do not agree with going to a watered down 6A system, and I am anxious to see how it works. I call it watered down because really a lot of teams moved up that where going to move up anyway. 6A is just trying to give the state a better reputation in football. Here is what I want to know. What state did they steal this new format from? I don't believe they made it up from scratch I fully believe they stole. I want to know where they got it from so I can look at see if it worked there.

Catholic you guys can say whatever you want but facts are facts. You do recruit and you legally can take kids from anywhere you want and I know for a fact at least 2 kids that have played football and gotten tuition. You ARE a football factory you claim an enrollment of 650 but dress out 100 kids for a home game? Are you kidding me? If we put those numbers at AC we would have 192 kids on our team. Say whatever you will but admit your percentages are not in line with the rest of the region.

White County has lost a heck of a coach, best of luck to them in the future. Perhaps this could be AC's gain?

I never understood why Oak Ridge wanted him in the first place. He will not get another big time job, he is a bad coach and a worse person. Getting rid of him is the best thing to happen to the Oak Ridge program in years.

From what I hear the coaching search is down to Josh (little Kerr) and Tony (Lambert.) I would love to have either. Go Mavs.

I will NOT say anything positive about the football academy at Catholic but i will say congratulations to Region 2 for winning the tittle yet again. All they needed was one non throw flag on the last 3 plays to beat AC to win the title good for them.

Good luck to Coach Lambert!!!!

While this story did not surprise me I have to say this. It was a non school event so it does not effect their playing status. If they can make it to school on Friday then they get to play. I hate saying that, but I don't think Coach Graham is willing to step up and discipline his players for off field incidents. Then again I also don't think he should either. Its like the kid from Greenville a couple weeks ago that got the DUI. It was not a school related event so he plays. I would expect the coach to man up and talk to these kids about the choices they make in life, but not suspend them from the game. Football is about more then wins or loses, its about character development. These individuals showed they have not learned that from their coaches, which does not surprise me. Keep in mind Coach Graham started over there under a coach (Stevens) that has pushed an opponents coach and pulled a knife on a student. Coaching is about more then wins and loses and its about time that program learned that, teach your kids to overcome the obstacles and be men.

This was a very heartbreaking lose and thats why it has taken me this long to respond to it. One thing I do not want to hear from anyone is that AC did not play hard. Those kids gave their all and just fell a little short. That TE that KC has will be playing on Saturdays and do the football factory at KC proud. That kid can move for his size. For those of you that want to get on here and throw cheap shots, that just shows your class. If you watched that game and didn't think it was one of the hardest fought ball games you have seen in awhile then you have seen a lot. I am not willing to say that Catholic is a better team, but I am not going to take anything away from them. They fought the fight and came out on top. Congratulations and best of luck in the rest of the playoffs. I would love to see them win State but I think they got a lot to work on if they are going to do that. AC showed the State how to beat Catholic, just came up a little short. We have to acknowledge why Catholic won though and call it like it happened. I am sure that Pemberton said to his defense do what ever you have to but don't let them catch it in the end zone. There is no doubt there was interference on the last 3 plays of the game that was not called. I don't know how the officials are trained, but it seems like they never throw the flag on the last couple plays. If that is the case then it gives the advantage to the defense. I do not like the no call by the officials. There i said it, and let the cheap shots begin. It stinks for a game that hard fought by both teams to end like that. Hold your heads high Mavs you fought the good fight. Catholic good luck in the rest of the playoffs and represent the Region well.

Well I was going to keep my mouth shut on this one, but after reading the replies I couldn't. First until Larry Kerr officially retires he is not gone yet. While he has said all year this was his last year, we all heard that before. Personally I hope he comes back for another year. The coaching staff that he has over there is the best he has had since he got to AC. People don't realize how close AC was in going to state this year. Lets assume that he does retire. Here are four names in no particular order that I think will get consideration. Josh Kerr, although he had a rough couple years at White County he is a heck of a coach and players really enjoy playing for him and he gets a lot out of them. Tony Lambert. While his success is at a smaller school there is no denying his AC ties and how much the fans and community want him back. I think it is very unlikely that he would pack up his family and move down to AC, but I still think he needs to be considered. Dave Gilum (forgive me if its misspelled). He played for AC and his All State picture is still in their locker room. While he has a great thing going for him in a lot of ways at Scott County, and is unlikely to leave, I think he has to get a call. When I say he has a great thing going we are talking about more then just wins and losses. Coach Samples. While he does not have previous ties to the school the biggest advantage of promoting him is that he would more then likely be able to keep the current staff in tack. Also the kids know him, respect him, and that would make it an easy transition. Lets also go ahead and take Coach Terry's name off the board. For those that don't know he has another opportunity coming to him that its well deserved and I think all of us that know about it wish him the best of luck. No don't ask me what it is, I am not going to be the one to post it on here. The only reason I did not put one of the Price Brothers on the list is I could not distinguish between them enough to say one is ready and one isn't. Unless you are going to have duel head coaches, which I am sure is not in the budget, thats not an option in my opinion. I will support whoever gets hired, and wish the people involved in the decision the best of luck.

Its not a matter of not wanting to face AE again, bring them on. Obviously you didn't see the game they played against us. Is that because it was a road game and you couldn't watch it from the fence on the hill? Listen the only reason I want Kingston to win is that AC would get a home game in round 3. Nobody in this region is scared of AE, nobody. By the way its nice to see its still a "classy" place to visit, throwing stuff at the team bus. GO JACKETS!!!

Well, well, well what do we have here. 7 pages of talk on this game, I have to say I am shocked. It looks like people are excited about this game, probably because the winner should make it to the 'Boro. I expect a well played, tough, very physical game tomorrow. Both teams know what is at stake and both teams know what they have to do to win. I am glad to see this game getting this much attention. Lets go play in the rain and mud again and see who is left standing. GO MAVS!!!!

Kingston pulls out a close one. AE is overconfident after running up the score on a region 1 team. Kingston is a better team, better coached, and more disiplined. That counts for a lot in the playoffs. Go Jackets!!!

While this will all be answered tomorrow, I can't wait to see it before I respond. The idea sounded like a decent idea when I heard about it, but the closer we get to it the less it looks like the plan I once supported. First off all creating 6A did was moved 5A up. Of the schools that used to be in our 3A region all but one moved up at least 1, most moved up 2 classifications. There used to be a rule that a school could not move up more then 1 classification in a reclassification period. Apparently that has been thrown right out the window. My biggest complaint is with schedules. Why is it a good idea to not play common schedules for playoff seedings. What I mean is the way I read it you will play games against local teams, cutting down on travel, and then for playoffs be grouped with teams that played their local games. So your completing for sports against teams that may played teams lower then you. I hope I am wrong on this, I guess we will see soon enough.

If you want to witness to me your welcome to do that if you ever run into me at a game or on another web site, this site is for the discussion of high school sports. If you don't understand the rivalry, and intensity of it well then I feel sorry for you. High school sports is supposed to be the last level where the game is pure and kids play it based on a love of it. Sure some have college dreams and many of them are fulfilled. For the rest of us we can say I knew him when, or I saw him play at. High School sports is serious to some people, and I know that I get what some would call way too intense on game nights. You know what though? I LOVE IT!!! I would never start a physical fight with someone over a high school event or even be seriously demeaning to them in person or on here. As for me I try to stick to facts and let the kids fight it out on the field/court/diamond wherever. I guess you either get it or you don't. Some of us will think about the upcoming playoff game at some point this week, some of us more then others. Some of us will get a little excited about the pop of the pads and the thrill of the game; again some more then others. For those that get that HURRY UP FRIDAY!!! For those that don't go watch a neighbors kid or a family member play. If you don't have that option just go to the closest playoff game to you on Friday and watch it. Be warned, if you have an open mind and enjoy sports you might catch the fever. I guess what I'm saying is the degree of intensity obviously varies from poster to poster and this is a big state. You can't stop stupid only deal with it after it happens. Like everything else in this world don't let the bad eggs spoil it for you. Also if you are one of those that don't get it or know someone like that. Buy them a copy of the book Bleachers and see if they don't understand how important sports can be in devolping children into adults. Thank you CoachT.com for allowing us a place like this to vent our frustrations to other fans.

Wow how quickly we forget or perhaps just don't know. As was stated TURNOVERS alone are the reason AC lost to Catholic last time. People forget that last year it took some what we will call questionable officiating at home for Catholic to come up with the win against AC in the regular season. I know last year doesn't matter its too different teams. My point is Catholic is not invincible. Catholic historically in the playoffs loses in this round. AC may not be Fulton, but they sure went to their (Fulton"s) house and beat the stew out of them this year. Now it is important to note that AC has not played a complete game against a playoff caliber team this year since then. It will take AC executing and playing a full game on both sides of the ball. This is a winnable game for either team and I think it will be closer then people expect. The frustrating part as a fan is that Catholic has ran the same 4 plays for 3 years, and yet they execute so well and are so well disciplined and coached that they are hard to beat. I know I just complimented them, please forgive me. My point is everyone knows what they are going to run, its just a matter of stopping it. Best of luck to both teams I have been looking forward to this game for a long time. GO MAVS!!!

For what its worth it surprised me, I thought McMinn Central was going to be the team to make the Semis out of that bracket. Now this is just from what I have read and heard, I have not had the opportunity to watch any of these teams.

Yes congratulations to all 4 schools once again. Time to beat each other up know and see who ends up still standing.

Well right when I was saying to myself that Carter is a classy team and deserves respect and congratulations on their season, all heck breaks lose. On the last play of the game AC lines up in their victory formation to take a knee and go home. Well Carter decides they have not quit yet, so in a legal but unnecessary play Carter hits the heck out of AC's line, jumps over them to hit the QB. Again, legal, but borderline dirty. Even if they cause the fumble and recover they are out of timeouts and on their own 30ish with less then 20 seconds to play. Well I don't know exactly how it happened but someone did not appreciate that play and there is a scrum. The coaches from both sides come out and separate the two teams and AC is sent off the field for the hike back to the locker room. Well after its over AC leaves the field. AC's coaches are in the middle of the field congratulating the Carter staff and just trying to do the right thing. One of the Carter players THROWS a helmet about 30 yards and it lands 5 feet from hitting an AC coach in the back. I understand that Carter's coach is a very emotional guy and I am sure his team feeds off it. I applaud them for this and I wish at times AC was more like that. However throwing a helmet at an opposing coach, not cool. Carter fans don't even think about getting on here and saying it was an accident. He had the whole field to throw it, heck he had to turn toward the coach to throw it. In my opinion it was an intentional act. Despite this one incident congratulations Carter on great season, and a heck of a hard fought effort tonight.

Good luck coach Lambert!!!!!

I have tremendous respect for the kids at Stone who got stuck in a very tough region that involved way too much travel for them and the rest of the region. I can't imagine the mental state of kids that are 0 for 2 years. Like I said tremendous respect. I personally dont agree with not playing ironman in highschool; I think you win by identifing your best athletes and keeping them on the field as much as possible. Also I don't know if its buisness as usual but the offense and defense arived at different times when they came to play us. To me, and I might be wrong, how do you have a unified team if that is normal practice? Again I wish this program the best of luck, and perhaps they will benefit from the realignment coming. Their kids played with unbelievable class; despite their record they did not play dirty. Again best wishes and good luck with the future of your program.

Scott County, according to how I understand TSSAA rules, can schedule a game with anyone that is not involved in the playoffs. I think its a great idea, especially if they could schedule it on a Saturday so that more people could go. I know it would be hard for the girls to walk out on that field without their teammates, however I still recomened and support this idea.

Good luck in the playoffs Coach Lambert!!!!