zizoufan

There have been some unbelievable turns of events with regard to the state tournament this year. Some of the biggest dogs will not be a part of the event which leaves some interesting scenarios for some teams on the cusp of greatness. I'd just like to hear any thoughts especially about your own districts and how you see the state tourney evolving.

 

As always Farragut not in the state tournament is a big event which only seems plausible because they had to go through Bearden to get there this year. Turnabout is fairplay...if I remember correctly Bearden lost this game a year ago so congratulations to the Bulldogs for stepping up when it counted.

 

Maryville over Knox Catholic seemed an even more daunting task but despite some close losses Maryville found a way to play big against perhaps the top team in the state going in.

 

I have seen Independence play this year and know they are a good side and any undefeated team always seems ripe for the picking once district tournament play begins thus Brentwood for whatever reason will not be the player I personally thought had one of the best chances at winning state this year.

 

According to the Tennessean, Brentwood advances to the Regional tournament as the regular season winner: "Fifth-seeded Independence (10-7-1) will play defending champion Ravenwood (13-2-4), a 2-0 winner over Franklin, in the championship at 7 p.m. today. The winner earns a Region 6-AAA berth. Brentwood is already in after winning the regular-season title."

I also didn't say they played a hard schedule, just that they have one of the most talented players they have had in a long time. Poke fun at their games all you want. It doesn't take away from the fact that they have legitimate division 1 players on the squad.

I'm curious. Are there any division 1 prospects on the CAK squad other than Ben Holt and Ryan Creel?

The TSWA lists proves little other than the fact that the Tennessee Sports Writers know little and care even less about soccer. Not a single player from A-AA District 9. Really? Do you honestly believe that there are no players from CPA, Lipscomb, Hume Fogg or MLK that belong on this list? How many District 9 games do you think a writer from the Tennesean or Nashville City Paper attended? Any? Should the Sportswriters all-state list really be a product of coach lobbying? If the sportswriters in Tennessee are not going to do their jobs, then they shouldn't bother putting the list together at all.

My apologies sir,

 

No worries. And good luck to CAK and Alcoa in the tourney. I saw Ben Holt and Austin Stone play when Alliance was still Little Brazil. Good to hear they are still going strong.

 

 

I did like the creative argument though. After all the years of hearing the public/private discussion, this was the first time I heard that one.

 

 

I will take creative over dumb any day.

I have looked for data to support my point and I cannot find hard numbers. I found only general statements to the effect that "redshirting kindergarteners" (google the term) seems to be more common among private school students because more affluent parents who send their kids to private school can more easily afford to keep them home and out of school for an extra year. These articles, however, were based on observation and interviews and were not supported by hard evidence. If middle school students are repeating grades to get the same advantage in other sports, then that undermines my opinion that the practice is more prevalent in private schools, but doesn't undermine the argument that the practice tends to give older players an advantage. Or that it also tends to give teams with older players an advantage.

With respect to CAK, I can only say that I know of two sophomores at CAK who are the same age or even older (by a couple of months) than their club teammates who are juniors at other area schools including Alcoa, Hardin Valley, and West. All of the students to whom I am referring were born within a four or five month period in the same year. Am I saying that the parents of the sophomore players held them back so they would get a competitive advantage in soccer? No. Read my post. I never said that and I have no reason to believe it.

Am I saying that CAK will have an advantage over Alcoa and other schools when these sophmores are 19 year old seniors? Absolutely. Reading Big G's post, it seems even he would agree with this -- at risk of being called dumb (twice) by Coach Logan -- but only if I could show that the seniors at the other schools were not also 19. Fair enough. I cannot show it, so both Coach Logan and Big G can go on believing that it is not the case. And they may be right.

The two A-AA public school teams I am most familiar with are in middle Tennessee. Both of these schools have large junior classes. Neither has a single junior who will turn 19 before the end of his senior year. One has several juniors who will not turn 18 until after they graduate. Are they at a disadvantage playing 19 year olds when they are 17? Are their schools at a disadvantage because their parents started them on schedule rather than holding them back a year? I think they are so I will stick to my guns, dumb or creative though they may be.

I also never intended to suggest that any age advantage that may exist is the only reason that the private schools have an advantage in soccer. The more obvious reason is that soccer is a sport for the upper middle class, which (in urban areas) is the same group that sends their kids to private schools. I was merely suggesting another factor that I believe may differentiate the publics from the privates. EOM

 

 

It's not a public private issue, it is a parent's decision.

You are absolutely right. It is a parent's decision, and many parents make the decision to hold their sons (in particular) back a year to give them an advantage in athletics. If you haven't heard this before, then you haven't been listening.

My anecdotal observation suggests that this is far more prevalent in private than in public schools, though it is not exclusive to the privates. This is supported by the fact that many private schools have a birthday cutoff that is months earlier than their public counterparts, your 11 year olds notwithstanding. Do you seriously dispute that your typical 19 year old will have a maturity advantage over your typical 17 year old?

Not sure what your point is. One freshman handled the pressure very well and that is to his credit. Most teams would prefer to have an upper class man be in a pressure packed situation like this one was. Both teams rolled the dice using a freshman in this situation, it worked for one, not the other. I hope and am confident that our freshman will use this to make him a better person and a better soccer player. Sports teaches such life lessons, dealing with success or failure, handling adversity, so many life skills that sports teaches even at practice.

 

Any idea how old the two freshmen were? Private school players of the same grade tend to be older than their public school peers. It is not always the case, but it is often times true. Ben Holt is an example. He is a sophomore, but turned 16 months ago. He is months older than many juniors on public school teams. This is not unusual. David Lipscomb has a junior who will be 19 in the early fall. He will be two years older, and more physically mature, next year than some of the seniors he will face from public schools in the district.

Across the board, the privates, on average, have older players than their public counter-parts. Ben would be a quality striker if he were a junior, but I suggest that the tendency of private school parents to start their kids later gives the private schools an advantage and is part of the reason why the private schools will once again be over-represented at the state A-AA tournament.

Where is Tyson playing next year?

There are a lot of unaccounted for goals in the Tennessean's compilation. It would be helpful to get an accurate tally.

The Tennessean shows the following for 9A/AA:

Steven Severino (Hume Fogg, Sophomore) 14 Goals, 5 Assists

Will Cross (MLK, Sophomore) 11 Goals, 4 Assists

Logan Waugh (David Lipscomb, Senior) 11 Goals, 0 Assists

Richard Haggard (CPA, Senior) 10 Goals, 1 Assist

Austin Vogel (Hume Fogg, Senior) 10 Goals, 1 Assist

For a lot of games, the Tennessean runs a score, but doesn't give the stats, so this listing is incomplete, though Severino seems to be the clear leader. Does anyone know who is responsible for reporting the stats to the paper?

Given the stated membership requirements, will we have any players from any region other than the East? Is this game announced anywhere other than this Board? Seems that to be a high school "All-Star" the only criteria should be the player's performance on the field. If it is, fine, just seems that, given the talent in other parts of the state, the All-State team was a tad lopsided in favor of the East over the Middle and Western divisions of the state.

Hume Fogg 1-0 over Goodpasture. PK shootout.

My guess is that MLK has several other very good offensive players that they needed to bolster their back line. Either way he is a top notch Junior.

Not challenging the talent. Just seems wierd they'd put him in back if he can finish. MLK is not exactly tearing it up this year. Taafe is a beast at CPA.

I will give you 2 from teams in my district

 

1- Simon Johnson (MLK) plays sweeper but is an exceptional forward

 

We have several good Juniors but I don't like to be a braggar.

Why is Johnson playing sweeper if he is an exceptional forward?

You appear to have a strong sophomore class and a couple of good seniors, not familiar with your juniors.

I was not complaining, and am sorry my post was taken that way. I did not attack MJ's rankings. My sole disagreement was the absence of Ravenwood from Week 5, which I doubt was a purposeful omission.

I for one am terribly sorry to hear that MJ now has a life, and hope he will not use that as an excuse to discontinue his efforts. My only point was that ranking teams early in the season is a pretty hopeless task, especially when many don't play each other or even have common opponents. You are bound to get some pretty dramatic movement from week to week as a result. Nonetheless, I think all of us enjoy the list, especially those who find fault in it.

In the meantime, I would like to know the identity of the missing #13 in A/AA.

While I enjoy the rankings as much as anyone, a comparison of Week 5 to Week 6 reveals the intrinsic silliness of early season efforts to rank teams. From Week 5 to Week 6:

In AAA:

Ravenwood jumped from NR to #5 (why was it omitted last week?)

Houston jumped from NR to #10

Hillwood jumped from NR to # 17

Several teams in the lower quadrant dropped off the Board and much shuffling among those that stayed put.

In AA/A:

Hixon leap-frogged 10 places from #13 to #3

Fairview remained unchanged despite beating (and, as rumor has it, mauling) some higher ranked teams.

Columbia Academy debuted at # 11.

Both MLK and Madison dropped out of the rankings to make place for Columbia Academy.

For some undisclosed reason (superstition?), #13 was omitted.

In D2:

MBA climbed from NR to #2

Silliness true, but it's fun to see where your team ranks in the eyes of others so keep 'em coming.

No they won't. Possibly one, but not both.

That address is for the middle school. The high school is west of Nashville on Hwy 100 near Warner Parks in Bellevue.

I prefer....If you can't stop them, foul'em at the half line. Get your numbers back and defend the free kick. Then Counter, counter, counter.....

This conduct should be considered a tactical foul and the offender should be carded. See explanation at: http://www.oregonyouthsoccer.org/assets ... onduct.pdf

In practice, you rarely see high school referees or even club referees in Tennessee issue a card a tactical foul. I know a club player, a center back, who routinely trips opposing players when he gets beat on a breakaway. I've seen him do it three and four times a game often sending the opposing player flying. Instead of carding him, the referees just as routinely award the other team a meaningless free kick near the half line, giving the other team time to get back and defend. Saw the same kid get three yellow cards (ending in ejection) in an out-of-state tournament with refs who saw this conduct for what it was and put an end to it.

And the results are:

U14 Brentwood

U15 Brentwood

U16 Clarksville Kaos

U17 Brentwood

U18 Alliance

I predict a near Brentwood sweep:

U14: Brentwood

U15: Brentwood

U16: Too close to call. In years past, Alliance would have been the easy favorite. Times have changed, but still can't bet against the boys formerly known as Little Brazil. The winner of the Alliance/Brentwood match will take it all.

U17: Brentwood

U18: FC Alliance

The State Cup continues to suffer from the lack of a semi-final. The best two teams too often end up in the same bracket. The tournament should be split into two weekends with pool play the first weekend and semi-finals and finals the second weekend.

Independence will have a great defense, but not sure how much fire power they will have up top compared to Brentwood and Ravenwood.

Brentwood returns its two leading scorers. It has to be the preseason favorite in Middle Tennessee. Ravenwood will also be strong.

I only see two players from Tennessee, Dykes and Geno for ETSU. Have no players committed to Memphis yet? I thought Dykes played for Brentwood.

yeah, he is very good, top freshman keeper, danny what high school you at?

Bijan's a stud. So is Danny who's lighting it up at Overton. Danny, your game's great. Keep working on your English. (Just kidding. You're a good kid...)