sportshooter

Beathard is the top passer I have seen and Huesman the best running QB. I would rate Huesman ahead of Hamby. From what I have read, the Briarcrest QB is very talented.

I agree bga does not have depth but still should not have lost that game. All they had to do was run the ball up the middle three times and kick the field goal to win the game. No reason to pass the ball in that situation. Great high school football game. BGA has the best passing offense in DII but can't stop the run. When you start five sophomores on that side of the ball, you are not going to have the size and strength to go up against the senior laden teams in the region. Next year will be a different story. All these young pups will have another year in the weight room and more game experience than their opponents. Look for the Wildcats to upset someone in the playoffs this year and win it all next season.

Do you have any stats to back up your claim that the Rebels dominated the game? It looked evenly matched to me...sounds like someone is a soar loser.

BA is one of the top teams in the country and should have no problem with a BGA team that has only two senior starters. However, I have not seen any teams execute the passing game as well as BGA this year. If the O Line can give the QB time, BGA can make it a competitive game. If BGA can't slow down the rush, it will be a long night for the Wildcats. I think it is time for BGA to stop making excuses about their small enrollment and show they can compete with the Big Boys.

Kudos to pearl,s announcer....I would go there for a game just to hear him.

I can understand why you can't believe a player had 17 tackles. It is rare. I can also understand why you can't believe the MVP had only 3.5 tackles in the game. However, if you watch the tape of the game on ihigh.com and count the number of tackles by 33 for BGA and no. 35 for FHS you will become a believer. Then you will understand what a travesty it was that no. 33 did not receive the award.

I appreciate your comments and could not agree more about the defensive player of the game award. The Franklin player who received the award had 3 solo tackles and an assist. He only had one tackle after the first quarter. Reed Loeffel for BGA was in on 17 tackles and Blake Thomson had 8 tackles, 2 pass break ups, a QB pressure on a key fourth down pass, and the interception at the end. One of those two players deserved the award. I would love to know who made this call and what game they watched. And by the way, those two players played both ways. Thomson having two receptions for first downs. He rarely came off the field. The players don't care because they won the game but give credit where credit is due.

You really need to see the replay before commenting worst call you have ever seen. I just watched the replay and it was the correct call. The initial hit was in bounds and clean but number 32 for Franklin continued and slammed the QB down 5 yards out of bounds. It was not a TERRIBLE call...it was the right call.

First, it would be great if you could take an English class before your next post. Secondly, for a first game, there were few turnovers and penalties. There was great effort by both teams and too bad one team had to lose. You should be ashamed for coming on this post and calling out a player. No one play or player is the reason for a loss.

The estimated attendance for last year's Franklin/BGA game was around 8,000. Given the game is on a Saturday night and the Clinic Bowl, one would expect more fans this year. BGA has been planning for several months to handle the large crowd. There is a detailed parking and traffic plan which includes shuttles to the stadium. Temporary bleachers and concessions will be added for the game. Fans should come early to insure seating and not be inconvenienced by the parking situation. Too bad the game can't take place at Vanderbilt but since installing a grass field the school is not allowing high school games like in the past.

I believe the TSSAA is discriminating against athletes and here is my argument. A Division II school is allowed to provide academic scholarships to students. Like Universities, this is one way to attract top students. At BGA, for example, there is the Trustee's Scholarship. Students can be awarded a full scholarship, half scholarship, or one quarter scholarship. There is a very limited number of these for each class (4) and they start in the 9th grade. If one of these excellent students decides they want to play athletics, they are not allowed to receive the scholarship by TSSAA rules. Non-athletes can participate in extra curricular activities i.e. cheerleading, debate team, theater, etc and not give up their scholarship money. I assume the reason the TSSAA penalizes these student-athletes is the assumption that schools will take advantage of the academic scholarship money and use it to recruit top athletes. The TSSAA chooses to punish the student athletes rather than develop a policy for providing the top student athletes scholarship money. For example, the TSSAA could create a policy that states a student athlete must score above a certain level on a standardized test and meet a benchmark GPA or be in the top 5% of the class. I understand the parents of the student athlete can apply for financial aid. However, the non-athlete students don't have to apply for aid. Bottom line is non athletes can be rewarded for excellence in the classroom and the athletes can not. That is discrimination in my book.

My son has attended the last two years. They do a great job of marketing their product but I don't think it is worth the high price they charge. It is neat to have a former NFL player giving advice but I think you are going to get more from a current college position coach than from an ex NFL player who doesn't coach for a living. Definitely don't attend if you are a tight end. There was no position coach for tight ends.

Hire a basketball coach? You do realize that Gary Smith is one of the most respected coaches in the area. The guy had an undefeated team and won a state title. He beat Goodpasture with Mercer, Maddux, and Sam Howard on the same team. The reason they can't compete in basketball isn't his fault. And no, I don't think BGA can compete in basketball in their own division unless they find some players from Franklin and Columbia middle schools. That is the difference between them and the BA's, Ensworth, and MBA's of their division. A new coach might bring a change in philosophy, but unless the athletic department is on board with the administration, it doesn't matter who the coach is.... Obviously you are not up to date on BGA athletics and unaware Smith had been dismissed from bball coaching duties. Please stop putting down these kids and commenting on something you know nothing about. I can assure you that there is more than enough talent returning next season to compete with the teams you mentioned. And not withstanding how good a person Gary Smith is, a new coach can turn things around quickly on the hardcourt.

Why does everyone feel that the easy road is the best road? Give Marty the support he needs and BGA will be very successful in football. Robert Jemison is a good hire for BGA. The families and administration will love him. Will Robert coach wrestling along with being the athletic director? If so the wrestling program will get much better in a short period of time. I don't think that the easy road is always the best road. I just think BGA would be better served to compete against schools they used to compete with. It would be a win-win for both. BGA could get back to playing Davidson, DCA, Ezell, Knox Webb, etc and it would be better for the division. It doesn't do justice to the students competing to not have a chance to win against the likes of MBA, Ensworth, BA, etc. So BGA doesn't have a chance to win against teams in their division? Last season they defeated MBA, McCallie, and JPII. The only games they were not in were Ensworth and BA. Last year's team had a sophomore as overall team MVP and another sophomore defensive MVP. They played more freshmen and sophomores than juniors and seniors. They will have more depth and size than in previous years. Jemison is a great hire and will coach wrestling and track. Now he needs to hire a basketball coach. I would love to see Ronnie Mcmahan offered the job.

What do you base your comments on? The fact is BGA returns 4 starters on the offensive line. Sounds to me like you don't have a clue what you're talking about. And quarterbacks without a good line rarely put up good numbers.

I don't know if BGA will be better but they will be quite a bit taller this season with two 6'10" post players. BGA has some talented freshmen and sophomores who will be playing a lot of minutes so they may take their lumps this year and then be strong the next two years.

Pictures from the game are on http://www.bgapix.com

That was our 300 lb. freshman, Kimani Roberts. He had a concussion and had to stay overnight in the hospital. He is fine now..thanks for asking.

If you did not see the first game, I understand it is hard to believe. It goes to show how big a part emotion plays in high school athletics. In the first game, BGA came in fired up and MBA was not ready to play. Just the opposite this time around. BGA was demoralized after the beat down by Ensworth and was not excited about this game knowing they would face EHS if they won. BGA is not a BAD team and really overachieved this season. The team started four freshmen and five sophomores because there are so few juniors and seniors on the team. The only games they did not compete were against BA, EHS, and this game who all have much bigger lines. The BGA kids gained great experience this year and will come back bigger, stronger, and wiser next year. Good luck to MBA next week. I hope they beat the University of Ensworth.

BGA played a great game against MBA earlier in the year but I think the players were somewhat demoralized by Ensworth last week. It will be hard for them to get up for MBA knowing that, if they win,they have to face a rested Ensworth for a second time in two weeks.

Not if BGA upsets Ensworth tomorrow night...without Darkwa I am saying there's a chance.

No, they do not both get to play at home regardless of the outcome. This is a huge game for both teams in regards to playoff seedings. If Ryan loses, they could drop to a 6th seed which plays at number 4. Baylor could also drop to as low as 6th with a loss.

I agree. Need to re-consider this. Otherwise, the regular season is only about seeding--it should be about eliminating some teams. Why not get rid of the byes in the 1st round, shorten the season by a week, and play the finals on the WEEKEND before the public finals instead of in the middle of the week? The challenge is that you have 4 teams in the west and 8 in the middle/east. Since the West teams don't play the middle/east teams how do you decide who makes the cut? You could take the top 4 from the middle/east and the top 2 from the west and give no. 1 from each region a bye. That is the only way I could see it working but then the no. 1 seed only has to win one playoff game to make the championship game. The current scenario is probably best given there are so few teams in DIIAA. The regular season is still important because everyone wants that home playoff game. You don't need to eliminate the bye for them to play the weekend before DI. The way it is scheduled now, the championship game is Thursday, Dec. 3 and the semifinal games are Friday, November 20. The Championship should be played on Saturday, November 28 which is two days after Thanksgiving.

How did MUS look? And pretty sure you are going to be disappointed because I am 95% sure Darkwa will not play against BGA. Even though he could play injured it's, Ensworth won't need him to beat BGA considering they have a good back up running back and a returned passing game. Darkwa accounts for 68% of the total offense so it would be interesting to see how well EHS performs without him. I hope the Ensworth team is as overconfident as "wrangler".

You seem to know a lot about this topic. I am curious as to how the connection was made with Ensworth. You state Ensworth discovered Antonio at UT camp. Do you know how his introduction to the school went down? Did he visit other private schools?