ErikG

Thanks, friendzz, for tuning in and for the kind words. It's a lot of fun covering a top notch program and an outstanding district. After all this team has been through and continues to deal with, it's a special group. Hope you're enjoying your new neck of the woods, another wonderful region in this fantastic country of ours!

For those attending the game interested in hearing Coach Courtney's pregame interview, the call of the game, halftime and final stats, scoreboard updates, and postgame player interviews, the 105.3 WFIV broadcast will be available in and immediately around Sevier Co.'s Burchfield Stadium on FM 104.1.

I don't know what the enrollment parameters would be, but if 3 classes are good enough for the first 10 weeks, why not the last 5? Again, I don't necessarily have a problem with there being more than 3 classifications, but it seems absurd to me to construct a conflicting regular season/post season format. The smaller schools (1A, 3A & 5A) in the current 3 classification regular season certainly held their own when it came to securing the automatic playoff berths that go to the district/region champions and runners-up. In Class A (1A, 2A) -- eliminating Dist 15 since all members are 2A -- 13 of the classification's 24 automatic berths went to 1A teams. In Class AA (3A, 4A) 14 of 26 automatic berths for finishing as district champion or runner-up went to 3A teams. To arrive at that number, I eliminated from the mix districts 1 & 7, where all but 1 team is 3A (the 4A team finished last, by the way, in both of those districts), and District 14 which has only 1 (out of 8) 3A member. In Class AAA (5A, 6A), District 7 (made up entirely of 6A schools) is set aside as is District 13 (which is 5A heavy) to arrive at 11 of 28 auto qualifiers being 5A teams. If you combine those numbers, the smaller classes (1A, 3A & 5A) within the 3 regular season classifications claimed 38 of the 78 automatic berths. That's just 1 shy of a 50/50 split. I suspect those numbers would fluctuate a bit year to year, but I seriously doubt that this season was exceptional in any way.

The current system rewards those who schedule cupcakes, and there are only so many cupcakes to go around. A system will never work well which penalizes teams trying to improve themselves with a tough non-district/non-region schedule while propping up those teams that pad their records. I would like to see a return to 3 classifications for the ENTIRE season, not just the regular season. But whatever the number of classifications, there has to be consistency from the opening week to the championships. I respectfully disagree. Where's the improvement this year? Where's the common sense? One problem may be addressed, yet that action tends to create a new problem. You can't play by one set of rules for the regular season (3 classifications) and a different set of rules for the post season (6 classifications). It's inherently flawed and no amount of "tweaking" can offset its fundamental foolishness.

Streaming audio of the entire broadcast including pregame, which begins at 7pm EDT, and postgame, which usually runs 20-25 minutes, will be available at http://www.myi105.com by simply selecting "Listen Online". With it being a regular season home game, streaming video will accompany the radio call at http://www.farragutfootball.com . The video coverage begins a minute or two before kickoff and ends when the game ends. On another subject, I personally like that the Riverdale game is homecoming. It's much more interesting to have one of the state's traditional football powers as an opponent than some cupcake. I suspect any grads attending because it's homecoming will be familiar with at least some of Riverdale's history and will appreciate the opportunity to see Farragut host a Middle TN team. I'm hoping this series can be extended beyond this year. Finally, heed CU06's advice on exiting I 40/75 at Watt Rd (#369). Campbell Station is a never-ending nightmare.

All Farragut games can be heard at http://www.myi105.com . In addition, for home games live video will accompany the radio broadcasts at http://wwww.farragutfootball.com . As of now, it seems links to the broadcasts can't be added on the "inside the game" pages.

Maryville HOF game at Anderson Co. Tuesday and McMinn Central Thursday. Farragut hosts Hardin Valley Tuesday and visits Clinton on Thursday.

Because it was 2 Knox Co. teams the officials were also from Knox.

Thank you. Those game replays are a wonderful resource for me to be able to go back and verify my stats. Everyone involved with http://www.farragutfootball.com is a pleasure to be around. They have created and maintained a fantastic website, and it’s great to be associated with folks who are so committed and conscientious. Mark Mowery, Brandon Campbell and Greg Harper are the gentlemen I usually have the privilege of interacting with. When you consider the time they donate and their dedication to getting everything right, it’s rather amazing that none of them have sons -- to my knowledge -- currently playing football at Farragut. I’m really glad for this group of seniors that they get at least one more opportunity to play at home. I hope they savor it and make it a night to remember. It gets no better than Farragut vs. Bearden.

Robbie Leonard (#58) filled in for Kevin Sellers against Ooltewah. Robbie has been getting increased playing time the last few weeks at LB, so if Kevin can't go the coaches might, with a week to prepare, prefer Miguel Aranda (#55) or even Clint Callahan (#76). I suppose positions could also be shuffled to work Scott Vance (#77) in somewhere. Vance was the "3rd tackle" Farragut used throughout the 2nd half last week.

Thanks, thorough97. I'll have plenty of recently updated Farragut rosters with me.

The 105.3 WFIV broadcast will be available in and around the stadium on FM 107.3. I'm hoping thorough97 stills checks this message board. In the past he has been very helpful providing Ooltewah's season-to-date team and individual stats. While I hate using this forum to make the request, it would be much appreciated, thorough97, if you could help us out again. The Times Free Press website is only showing numbers for 8 games, and I'm not sure even those are accurate. Looking forward to the electric environment this matchup always produces at The Nest.

DCCATVOICE, Good luck to Oak Ridge, and keep up the good work.

My understanding is that there will be no charge for admission. I heard talk of accepting donations.

Congratulations to Michael. Anyone who has watched either Region 2 5A or this year's Dist 4 AAA knows this young man is one of the best defensive players in the area.

Last night's scheduled game was postponed due to weather conditions at approximately the half-way point of the opening quarter with both teams still scoreless. Due to previous commitments, Saturday's rescheduled 6 PM restart will not air as would normally be the case on FM 105.3 WFIV, but can instead be heard on AM 850 WKVL. After 8 PM we anticipate a simulcast on FM 105.3 and http://www.wfiv.com. We apologize, in particular, to family members who, living outside the Knoxville area, can only follow the games via the internet. As always a replay will be available at http://www.farragutfootball.com. Thanks to all for your understanding.

Unfortunately, the game has been postponed until 6 P.M. on Saturday. Because of earlier commitments, rather than airing on FM 105.3 WFIV, the game can be heard across East TN on AM 850 WKVL. After 8 PM we anticipate simulcasting on FM 105.3 (and http://www.wfiv.com). For those at the game, there will be a stadiumcast on FM 98.1 from start to finish. Thanks to all.

Thanks for listening and for the kind words. It's a good gig, covering competitive, well-coached teams at a top-notch school with the luxury of a strong FM signal and online streaming. You can't ask for much more. I feel very fortunate to not only be at Farragut but to have such an outstanding district to follow.

Further proof that with old age my memory is no longer dependable! That was the year that in the middle of the schedule we had 6 weeks between home games. On another topic, this week's JV score was Farragut 15, Austin-East 8.

The West game was postponed until Thursday of last week. Farragut lost 26-7. There's a rare chance to see video of that freshmen game at http://www.knoxivi.com/wesths.html.

Regarding Heritage and homecoming, an earlier post mentioned 2007. I'm pretty sure Soddy-Daisy was the '07 homecoming opponent. From '01 through '08 the Heritage game was an early season contest. Typically, but not always, homecoming is a little later in the season.

As CU06 stated, Farragut's 105.3 WFIV will be there. We're also planning a stadiumcast on FM 93.5 so that those attending the game can listen to the WFIV broadcast. As for print media, The Farragut Press will make the trip.

All Farragut games will be broadcast by FM 105.3 WFIV and can also be heard online at http://www.wfiv.com .

Hunley is Farragut's best free throw shooter at about 80%. Campbell Co. sent him to the line 8 times in the final minutes. Hunley's makes were big, of course, but Farragut's defense (minus Ben Mixer the last 4:26) came up huge in the 4th limiting Campbell Co. to just 1 field goal. The Cougars' Cody Malicoat, a freshman, looks very promising.

The Powell enthusiast needs to check his/her numbers. The District 3 Tournament win over Oak Ridge (after losing to the Wildcats by 11 and 22 points in the regular season) was a 7 -- not 25 -- point victory, 55-48. The Region 2 win over Farragut was by a 12-point margin, 71-59 -- hardly a 30-point spread (but what a spectacular shooting display that night!). The region championship over Maryville was a 19-point win, 74-55 (why let final scores cloud one's perspective?!). Powell shot amazingly well over a 5 game stretch, propelling the Panthers to Murfreesboro. It was a great run, but I'll agree with the others here that Maryville was the better balanced, more versatile team. I can't say the Rebels struck me as a great team that year, yet they accomplished what no other AAA team from East Tennessee had done in 10 years. Bearden is a far more impressive team this year, even allowing that their AAA competition across ET is likely down a bit. That would be one of my major concerns for Bearden: when have they been pushed, truly challenged, or faced some real adversity? But I look admiringly at that Maryville team of two years ago and think, "why not Bearden?"