92Dragon

I wish kids would stay  and play for the schools they are supposed to but unfortunately thats not the World we live in today.

These kids see college players change teams  all the time now and unfortunately it's become part of the norm.

I'm old fashioned. If you live in Clinton, you play for Clinton. If you live in Powell, you play for Powell etc etc etc. But times have changed and I guess it's here to stay.

I thought it was funny when the South Pittsburgh HC said "when we fell behind 7-0 for the first time this season, I was wondering how we were going to battle back from adversity" lol

He can't come back to Maryville from what I heard at why he had to leave. A pretty reliable source that worked there when he left. 

3 minutes ago, SweetScience said:

Honestly I think it’s just gotten to the point where they just let it slide. It has become so rampant, you’d pretty much have to hire a small army to investigate all the corruption that’s going on right now in the high school ranks in this state. They just don’t have the time or manpower to do that. Just my opinion.

I didn't think about that, you're probably right.

It seems like Clinton would've already been punished by TSSAA by now if they had proof of them doing something illegal, but I don't know how long it takes to investigate something like that. 

2 hours ago, SweetScience said:

Hey 92, when was the last time Clinton went to the 3rd round? I don’t think any of those “Cute Andy” teams, as Ope calls him went that far, did they? 6-7 of course isn’t a great record by no means, but to go on the road and beat MC and OR was pretty huge regardless. Y’all played WV better than I expected too, tbh, especially coming off that huge emotional win @ OR. 

1992 was the last time we made it to the 3rd round.

Cute Andy team lost in 2nd Round to AC in 2009.

Tyler Thackerson teams lost to Rhea Co in 1st round in 2014 and Ooltewah 1st round in 2015.  

And then hadn't been back to the playoffs until this year.

The expectations were higher for Clinton this year with the talent they had but they also had a tougher schedule than the previous years. I believe Clinton would've finished around 8-2 if they played last year's schedule.

Playing a tougher schedule actually made Clinton better at the end of the season. I thought they were going to give up because of being 2-6 after the LC game, but they surprised me and a lot of people by reeling off 4 straight wins. 

If Clinton is going to be successful next year, they will need to find a QB and linemen. They will have some good receivers if they decide to come back and not transfer out that is   They had some decent freshmen and jv guys, but will definitely need a couple or more transfers. 

I expect us to go backwards but maybe the coaching staff will surprise me. 

8 hours ago, oridgecat said:

I do appreciate your loyalty, but if you don't have the jimmies and joes, then they can be motivated all they want, it ain't gonna matter.  4-6 regular season with that roster is just not getting it.  Unless they replace all those dudes with equal or better talent, next year is going to be extremely difficult on whomever the head coach is.  I still say he looks at the big picture and realizes it is a total 3-4 year rebuild.  I doubt he signs back up for that.  Hey, beating OR once will be his high water mark at Clinton.  I mean 19-24 with THESE dudes.  C'mon man.

I was honestly expecting Clinton to go 5-5 or 6-4 at best during the regular season.

I didn't think we would lose to LC. I did think we would lose to Cleveland, West, Powell, Oak Ridge, and AC before the season started but also thought Clinton had a chance to  upset  either Cleveland or AC but that didn't happen. 

I'll be honest....when Clinton was sitting at 2-6 I thought everyone had thrown in the towel and called it quits for the season. I thought we would beat Karns, but lose to Heritage. And I didn't think we would beat McMinn or Oak Ridge in the playoffs. 

3 hours ago, oridgecat said:

i'm not sure if too many kids are going to sign up to play there with what little is left of the roster.  The grass in Clinton will not be greener in 2024, it will be brown.  No offence 92, but man what a rebuild job for somebody.  I predict Keith hangs it up at Clinton.  

No offense taken. You're right. It's going to be very difficult to replace the graduating seniors and any of the underclassman that decide to transfer out.

With all this talk about not being able to rebuild or replace the talent will just motivate Coach Keith and the coaching staff to prove everyone wrong. They literally use the doubters and criticism as motivation.

It'll be interesting to see what happens in the off-season for sure. 

15 hours ago, atrisk said:

Same boat most teams are in. What starters or returning impact players will be returning from this year's team.

Right off hand, returning starters that come to mind are #1 Jeremiah Lee, #5 Levell (not sure if I spelled it right) #7 Bryson Maddox, I'm sure there are more 

Replacing #3 Keith will be huge. 

Not sure who will be at running back and hopefully we can have some linemen step up and fill the holes of #77 and #73 graduating 

I would love to see the defense continue to improve and get better. I wish we could have a defense compared to West. 

The 2023 football season for the Dragons is over. Time to reload and put together the 2024 team. 

I don't believe WV has seen a defense as good as West since maybe Bradley Central. I'll be surprised if West doesn't win this game comfortably.

I say West 31  Walker Valley PTA 10

12 hours ago, ipb7 said:

This is controversial to say, but, IMO, Thackerson should have started his JR and SR seasons. I know that will make some upset, I am not the only fan who thinks that.

I agree with you. I believe if Thackerson had started that game against Chattanooga Central, we would've won that game for sure. 

Proud of the team for making it as far as they did! 

Congratulations OS!! 

39 minutes ago, oridgecat said:

92, congrats on the win Friday night.  Clinton outcoached and outplayed OR, and they wanted it more than OR and it showed. Clinton deserved to win that game and my hat is off to you my friend.  

Thank you very much. I honestly appreciate the kind words.

4 hours ago, HTV said:

Did any of you read 5 Star Prep's game story of the Oak Ridge/Clinton game, written by Dave Link?  

Coach Keith was quoted as sayimg that his son shouldn't have played against Lenoir City because he was concussed. 

Is it just me, or is that not an admittance that he knowingly played a player whom he knew had a concussion?   

Don't care how one tries to spin it. That's just not a good look. 

2 years ago down at Chattanooga Central #3 tried to play after taking a hard hit and you could tell he was concussed in that game because of the way he was playing after that hit. They finally brought in the backup QB at the time which was the younger Thackerson kid. Thackerson almost brought them back and won the game but they fell just a little bit short.

12 minutes ago, clevelandblueraiderfan said:

Incredible run your team is on.  Happy for you guys 

Thank you 

1 minute ago, clevelandblueraiderfan said:

Remember a team going 5-5 and winning State several years ago. Can’t remember who though 

Livingston Academy I believe. They started 0-5 and ended up winning 10 straight.

5 hours ago, catswild said:

Let's not get ahead of ourselves...the Clinton game scares me to death! Losing to them would be catastrophic! Have we ever played them twice in a season and have we ever played them in the playoffs?

They played twice in 1943 with Clinton winning both games 20-0 and 13-0.

They have never played each other in the playoffs.

I have to go with the Clinton boys across the river. AC 31 Elizabethton 28

34-10 Final Clinton @ Oak Ridge Round 2

On 10/29/2023 at 9:08 PM, BarneySox2007 said:

So how does Clinton lose to Lenoir City like they did. 

Clinton lost to Anderson County the week before they played Lenoir City and that is the game Keith got injured.  Clinton came out against LC running out of the wildcat....I believe Josh was still in pain from the AC game and Clinton's offense was out of sync all night.  Lenoir City scored 2 defensive touchdowns and that was all they needed to pull off the win 

I believe if Clinton and Lenoir City played again, Clinton would win by 20+.

28 minutes ago, MCKees said:

And this may be Clinton’s best defensive game all year lol 

Fair enough lol

6 hours ago, MCKees said:

To be honest with this lack of offense we have who knows. Little disappointed in it after WV. That’s not saying we beat ourselves either. WV outplayed us in every way just about and deserved the win against us, just disappointed in our stubbornness on keeping the defense honest and essentially helping out our running game 

I guarantee McMinn County will look the best they have looked in a long on offense against Clinton's defense. 

1 hour ago, ipb7 said:

Do we know who the 1st round opponent is?

As of right now it would be Rhea County but there is still another game in the regular season, it may or may not change.