whyisthat

I've been watching high school football since 1958 and have seen a lot of good ones. As far as numbers go Tanner Williams lit Mo East up for almost 900 yards and who knows how many TD's in 2 games I saw him play. I've seen all of these play and here are some of my best: Spurrier was at Science Hill when I was in high school and pretty dang good. Another from that era is Steve Sloan from Bradley where he won mythical football as well as basketball and baseball state titles in the same year if I'm not mistaken. Todd Kelley from Rhea and Shane Kelley from Sevier were really good and I also saw the show Locke and Matthew put on that night. Phillips from Sullivan South was somebody that did whatever he had to do to take his team to a win. Charlie High has to go on the list because of sheer numbers. But I think the best I saw at doing whatever he had to do was Todd Helton. He could scramble around and find the open man better than anyone I've ever seen. He was quite an athlete.

First I agree that DB was a really good football team last year but what you people in the upper end of the state don't seem to get is the fact that there are a lot a 'really good football' teams that play the Rebs and get thumped. And yes, ask George and he would tell you they were a good football team just like you said because that's the kind of guy he is...all first class. And you said if not for the turnovers well that's just it if not for the turnovers it would have been that they were better on offense or defense or in the kicking game...It really doesn't make much difference what the reason is you still got your shot and got nothing for it. DB has a great football program, no doubt about it. And I'm sure their mythical championships were well earned. But they still don't have one one that was decided on the football field. I haven't seen them play this year but have seen all East games. SECfighter did a great job of summing up the Hurricanes. East is 9-1 but the schedule that looked pretty good at the start of the season turned out to be fairly week as far as number of wins by opponents go. I think this will be a close, exciting football game and if East stays away from turnovers I think they win simply because of what these kids and coaches have going on within themselves in believing after last year's disaster.

Don't see how this should mean anything. The reality of Maryville smoking either one of them has been there for 10 or 11 years now...you all just didn't know it.

i have seen both teams play against East. Two completely different offenses. S-D can not throw the ball effectively against a good team and they had some really big breakdowns in the secondary against East. That should lead to plenty of opportunities for the Bears. On the other side of the ball SC had better be ready because Bruce is the real deal and Rollins is pretty good himself. Last week S-D had the football the whole second half it seemed. If they can do that they might have a chance. But East runs the ball pretty well too and the Bears stopped them. Granted, the East QB was hard and couldn't throw but S-D doesn't throw it well anyway. I think Sevier wins by 10 or more.

I don't know what you SC guys expect from the offense. Although they didn't score a lot of points they had 434 yards. The Bears rushed 42 times for 175 and the team completed 22 of 35 for 259 with one of those a halfback pass. There were also 4 or 5 passes that should have been caught. If you play as well on offense this week and take out the four turnovers I think you win the game.

Typical Trojan thinking. East had nothing to do with what happened on the field it was simply what West was handing out! If the fact they should have lost the first time is enough to motivate them then they certainly should be motivated.

I think this game will be another really good one. I believe how close the first meeting was makes it a lot easier for the head coaches to get their teams ready. The East game and the Sevier County game the next week showed the Trojans they were not invincible as many Trojan faithful were already believing before those two games. I'm sure Coach Brown's team will be ready to prove the closeness of that game was a fluke! And Coach Hatcher is telling his team how close they were to winning and that correcting little mistakes will make a difference. East is much better defensively than earlier in the year when Knox West blew them out and there's no question their offense is pretty good. I think West is also better on offense with Horton playing like he is but still subject to be beaten with the passing game which East doesn't have. West stopped East most of the time earlier but was still behind until the end of the game so you can't say their defense wins it for them. To have a chance the Hurricanes can't fumble the snap five or six times and must establish some sort of passing game. With all that said, I feel West has to be a slite favorite but would not be surprised to see East win the game.

Red81KP Did you have any problem when Kisabeth put up 50 and 57 against weak East teams in back-to-back years. Probably not, it's just when the shoe is on the other foot that it bothers you. As for Friday, he had the subs out there but your coach left his first teamers in when he didn't have a prayer of coming back. I don't blame the coach at all for putting Ricker back in when the ball was on his own five with nine minutes left. And if they are as classless as you think they would have scored that last touchdown to break their school record for points instead of taking a knee three or four times at the end. Regardless of what you believe, I truly hope the Patriots can get it back together next week against South-Doyle and hopefully get in the playoffs. But a trip to Maryville in the first round wouldn't be much of a reward for getting in would it?

Pudding, Didn't think you were being negative toward anyone, I was actually referring to the comment by Mr.T about the calls. And I really do not think that had I been refereeing, the hit on Ricker would have drawn a flag from me....unless I was the same man who had just thorwn the one this guy threw a minute or so earlier when the other team had the ball. That was what I was trying to say about the hit...it was not dirty or anyting. But he put him on the ground far enough out of bounds to draw a flaw if the man has just thrown one like he threw earlier. The tackle on Ricker was certainly harder that any contact between the wide receiver and defensive back that drew this man's flag way away from the ball. Actually, I am a fan of both Morristown teams and seen both play several times this season and I don't know if East could have stopped West from scoring even without the penalty being called. But it would have been interesting to see. The Trojans did what they had to do to win and that's what good teams do. Wasn't trying to take anything away from West and get Motownanddown upset like I did. Just expressing an opinion that's not worth any more than anyone elses.

Pudding Did you see the tackle from West grab the jersey of East's right defensive end every time the QB dropped to throw. You didn't mention them enough for Coach T to take a shot at the East people. And two or three plays after West scored, did you see the tackle on the East QB 7 or 8 yards out of bounds that drew no flag? If you're going to make statements like you made, be fair about it. No question on the first personal foul or the offsides both were totally obvious and had something to do with the play. But the East sideline was told all night long they weren't going to call the holding unless it effected the play. In that case why would something 50 yards away from a play run on the hashmark on the other side of the field be called. It was nothing that doesn't happen all through a ball game. If you've called it all night, call it in the last two minutes. If you haven't, leave the flag in your pocket and don't throw it just because the West coach is in your ear. I'm not an East man and do not think the officials beat East. But I would say that last personal foul in that situation was a gutless call and did have a bearing on the outcome!

I agree. West was fortunate to beat Science Hill and East. I can see the Trojans racking up a lot of yards on SC if they could't get any more than they did against an East D that was giving up over 400 per game. Granted it was a rivalry game but it was still the same defense that had been pushed around by everybody. The only way I see the Trojans winning is by outscoring SC because I don't think they can stop them. Also can't see them scoring more than 21 and that won't be enough to win.

It will be another long night for the 'Canes if they don't do a better job in the offensive line. Ricker has to be the person to make things happen on offense for East. He's a good player and a tough kid but it's hard to do anything when the defense is hanging all over him about the time he takes the snap. I agree with Cane73 about the defense last week. They played pretty well but played way too much. When you don't get any first downs on offense, the defense gets tired. Harlan County was a very good football team and a very physical team. This East team really needs to get something going of offense or it's going to be a very long season.

The reason the Fulton game was only 7-0 at half was dropped passes and fumbles. It should have been at least 28-0 at the half. The Trojans have a chance if they eliminate those mistakes. Not saying West will win, but you can forget that 35-7 nonsense!

magicman I wasn't assuming an automatic win on Friday. Look at my post and it says if you win your satelitte game. What I was saying is that if you win tonight against Sevier County you know what's waiting in the semis of the region if you win. And the Lady Canes played the heck out of West the other night and might pull an upset if they met again...but I'd be willing to bet if wouldn't be nearly as close next time.

Thanks for the history lesson WMTN. Some of those crazy years where the IMAC had football teams in different conference and TSSAA districts and then turned about and had the regular IMAC teams in basketball, baseball, softball, etc., just seem to escape my mind at times. Back to this topic...If you are Sevier and East tomorrow night, isn't this a hard game to win?. If you win, you go in the region bracket with the Lady Trojans (barring a Jeff County miracle). That means if you win your satellite game on Friday, your season ends in the semis. On the other hand, especially for East, a loss to Sevier and then a win on Friday would mean playing Jeff or a Big Nine team at Isenberg-Siler for a substate berth and with another great game maybe even a trip to state. I'm not saying anyone would ever lose intentionally, but it there's ever a game you really wouldn't mind losing...this has to be it. Not trying to start a debate about throwing game or anything, just throwing something out there had has surely entered the head of at least somebody out there. Any other thoughts on this or is it something I really shouldn't have sad in the first place?

Enjoy reading your comments and most of the time info is really good. But Knox Carter has never been in the IMAC in any sport.

Absolutely.... In previous years, the top two seeds have gotten rewarded by a bye - which was an automatic bid to the region tournament. This year, with an extended conference schedule that comprises nearly 60 percent (14 of 24 games allowed by the TSSAA), the reward is playing on one days rest if you make the semifinals, which is the most important game of the year since the winners receive a home region game. Some reward there.... Really, with the nearly two-third regular season schedule comprising of conference games, I think they should've went with the staggered bracket that puts the one and twos in the semifinals. Otherwise you're saying the regular season is meaningless. The real loser may be Jefferson County. They will get a steadily improving Cherokee team that played them within 5 one meeting this year and lost by five at Seymour on Saturday. If they get by them, they will then get either Cocke County or Sevier, who both beat them this year, on three days rest. I also agree with you guys. This bracket and setup is ridiculous. Next year when the coaches meet to discuss tournament formats, dates, times, etc....they need to take a long, hard look at how district 4 does their bracket (which I think is what SportsWriter is referring to). But in that format, the bottom four seeds play to face the 3 and 4 seeds in the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, the 1s and 2s get byes all the way to the semifinals. The reason they got a bye into the semis was that there were only six teams. And if you give 1 & 2 a bye to the semis, how is that fair to the team that had the same record as the number two team. And if 1 or 2 is not good enough to beat our own 8 or 7 teams, what's the point of them getting to the region in the first place?

I've seen every team in the conference except Sevier and the Lady Trojans seem to be in a class by themselves. I don't have anyone playing and never have had so I have no horse in this race and who beats who or by how much doesn't mean a thing to me. But I can't help but wonder how good the Lady Trojans will be if Taylor or Sydney get hurt when they're out there playing the last minute of a 35 or 40 point game. I know the concept is that anybody can get hurt at any time but why take the chance when there's a possible state tournament run out there for a team this good.

Tee wound up with 162 rush on 7 carries and 140 receiving on 7 catches. 'Canes have been that kind of team all year...move the ball and get a penalty to put themselves in a hole they couldn't get out of. Boone was better that I expected to be honest. They're a solid football team. That gave up big plays but had some big stops when they had to. Your D shouldn't worry too much about what #10 did to them, he's done that to several teams this year. Thought your #5 ran hard. He's a tough kid. Good luck next week.

Maybe they could take some pictures of state championship trophies, too, since they've never 'won" one on a playing field! We have got just as many as any team on the field in 6A Only reason for that is nobody has won one in 6A! How many you got from all those other 'great' teams that have fired and fell back?

Maybe they could take some pictures of state championship trophies, too, since they've never 'won" one on a playing field!

Defense has played well at times and struggled at times. Giving up about 300 yards and 25 points per game average. But, pass defense gave up over half their yards in two games 339 against Anderson County (won 41-35) and Sevier County 401 (lost 38-27) Lost a wild game at Cleveland (56-42) when we couldn't tackle anybody. They had over 400 rushig and A-E got 318 so those two and the two passing games blow the averages out of proportion. Still have some solid defensive players who have played well. As far as qb last week, Tee did not play. Ricker was starting quarterback most of year with Tee also taking snaps there. Ricker hurt ankle against Mo West and had not played a great deal since then.

I think the question here will be how many points Boone can score, because Mo East will score some points. Tremendous speed and quickness. They're averaging over 30 points a game. MoWest held them to one TD and Jeff County gave up only two. Scored three TD's on a pretty good Austin-East team and at least four in the the other six games. How good is Tee --- he has 108 touches on rushing, passing, receiving and kickoff returns for a total of 1,647 yards...15.3 per touch. Defense has been decent againt run and not very good against teams that can throw. How well can the Blazers move through the air?

I saw the Eagles against Mo East and they appeared to have no team speed. East had touchdowns runs of 85, 80, 80 and another run for 62. The Vikes will eat them alive with big plays!

It's not about fair, it's about classification. There is only one other school in your classification and you lost to them. East finished second out of six class 5-A school where you finished second out of two class 6-A schools. Granted you beat them but why would it be "fair" for you to go when you finished last in your classification?