Hoya

Congratulations to Alcoa from the Irish! Keep up the great work. Another all Region 2 final would be sweet! /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

First and most important, congratulations to Coach Gorman and the Alcoa Tornados on a job very well done! While it doesn't sound like either side fully "appreciated" the officials, it does sound like both sides left it all out on the pitch. Again, well done! I know it is very sad for the Irish faithful as this will be the first time since the year 2000 that Catholic soccer has not advanced to the State Tournament. Alas, all good things must come to an end and this year the Irish will have to learn to "wait until next year." Now, the part about tomorrow---the A/AA State Soccer Championship is very nearly a Region 2 "Right of Spring". I know our friends at CAK will be involved in the championship (isn't that right G?). Now we wish (expect?) Alcoa to make it another all-Region 2 final. Go Tornados! The trophy belongs in Region 2! As for the Irish, hold your heads up and start getting ready for next year. You lost to a fine team and you will owe them a little pay back next season when you start your next 9 year run of State Tournaments. Go Irish! /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

I'll try to catch up with you at the next match. To be honest, though, I hope you have reason to stay grumpy. It amuses me. /roflol.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":roflol:" border="0" alt="roflol.gif" /> Next week it looks like both teams are taking on some big dogs to tune up for the tournaments. See you in a couple of weeks and good luck with Science Hill and Farragut. /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

I prefer two more matches with CAK. But that's just me. /rolleyes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":rolleyes:" border="0" alt="rolleyes.gif" />

I think Coach Shadowens was just mentioned by the Tennessean as having accepted the job at Blackman.

Exactly. Galilee, you know as well as anyone, if that pass ends up completed and Mitchell goes on to score, Coach Cole is suddenly a genius who made just the right call to trick the Irish who were expecting another tough rushing play. Hind sight is always perfect, but making choices during a game at this level is a risky business for all involved. It is awfully hard for me to believe Coach Cole was the only person in the State who didn't notice his young running back was having one heckuva game. He made that call for a reason and if it had worked....well you know the rest. Mitchell has one very fine football team. I bet they'll go deep in the playoffs again next year. Congratulations on a great season. Loosing in the last game is hard, but it beats every other team's season except one. /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

Amen! /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" /> I really get tired of posts about "undeserving" championships, regardless of team. No championship has ever been won by a weak, but lucky, team. It just doesn't happen. In my view you need to be both strong and lucky team to win a championship and that describes the Irish. P.S. playoffsarecool, you said, "If the official doesn't miss the pass interference call in the end zone at the end of the AC game, Catholic loses. If the Austin-East players weren't conveniently suspended, Catholic loses. If White House holds on the the ball, Catholic loses. If Mitchell runs the ball for the entire game, Catholic loses." First, none of those things are relevant. The games are over and you know how they turned out. Whatever team you support---unless you support none and just hate the Irish---your team lost this season and, probably, for most of the last several years. Second, Catholic also beat AC by two touchdowns at AC during the season. Was there a bad call against AC in that game as well and how did the Irish score 14 off of it? Moreover how about all of the other times Catholic beat AC since it joined 3A---I guess all bad calls, right? Third, Catholic beat AE by 9 points earlier in this season for AE's only other 3A loss (other than the playoff loss to Catholic). Who was conveniently suspended for that game so that result is explainable? If White Station "holds on the ball",... Are you serious? White Station played great , but Catholic dominated the second half of that game with the run. No luck there. Good old school football won that game. Finally, Mitchell's back was awesome (as were several other players that we will see in big time college programs)but if Mitchell had become as one dimensional as some of the posters on the Board suggest (i.e. run #28 every play), it would be just a matter of time before Catholic's coaches would have shifted their defensive focus to him. Mitchell's coach made his choices and Catholic's defense made him pay, but teams win games, not individuals. There is good news for you though. With Catholic being forced up, maybe your team will be able to get past AE and Fulton next year. Unlikely, but maybe. Good luck to you,....next time of course! For now, Go Irish! /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

Congratulations to the Fightin' Irish! You followed the in footsteps of the real futball team well and brought the gold ball home. Well done! /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

Great post! I couldn't agree with you more. The soldier's name is Capt. Greg Ambrosia. He is a 2001 graduate of Catholic and a graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point. He was awarded the Silver Star and the Bronze Star for combat heroism in Afganistan. He was awarded the Silver Star for calling in air strikes on his own position after his men were being overrun in a fire fight. Here is a link to a Wall Street Journal Article about the incident: http://www.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB...7866949001.html

bdp079, I was at the game on Friday night and saw a terrific high school match-up. I thought White House's football team was excellent and, by and large, I thought your fans were way more spirited and enthusiastic than Catholic's. As is my custom, I spoke to fans from both schools, all of whom seemed to be tremendously supportive of their teams and all of whom seemed to be having a very fine time. The seating mess up was obvious and to the extent that anyone was "at fault", in my opinion, it was Catholic's mistake for not anticipating the need to be more prepared for such a great crowd. Our local rivals know the seating pattern in Blaine, but there is no way a team from Middle Tenn. would have any way or reason to know the customary seating pattern. I am sure some folks got bent out of shape over it, but they need to get over it and in the long run, so what? Everyone who wanted to sit, sat. The game was unaffected by seating locations and a great game was played by both teams. Late game extra-curricular activity sometimes happens in big games. Big deal. It ended as fast as it started. It's not like a gang war took place. I'd like to be more receptive to the balance of the many KCHS mis-deeds and wrong-doings that you have recounted in your posts on this site; however, I am of the opinion that your stories simply have no credibility. Your statement that every one of the "many greetings" you received from the students at Catholic employed the "f***" word or some form of that word in it" is exagerated, ridiculous and, in my opinion, most likely without any factual basis whatsoever. That single preposterous remark makes every other statement you have uttered simply unbelievable, at least to me. I hope you enjoyed making your holier-than-thou, exagerated and shrill public reports on the game. It's too bad you didn't enjoy the excellent contest I enjoyed last Friday evening. You could have, had you not been blinded by your own prejudice, apparent hard feelings and an obvious attentional focus on matters off the field rather than on it. I know that school. I know those students. I am proud of both. What you stated above does not ring true. This kind of spiteful, sour-grapes reporting should not be a part of this site. White House clearly has a great team and great fans. These posts, though, are sad--especially the one where you refer to the Catholic High School community as hypocritical. Now, if that isn't the possum calling the racoon narrowfaced....

I haven't been around the school much lately and I only heard about this this morning. I'm very proud of the kids at Knox Catholic today. Football's great, but this is what really matters. Well done, Irish. God bless Scott County. http://www.volunteertv.com/news/headlines/33678444.html

And then there was one...DII must be the culprit. /ph34r.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":ph34r:" border="0" alt="ph34r.gif" />

G, with all due respect, I know you have been on top of this as usual and that you have been swimming upstream in trying to get this job done. I hope, however, that your comments don't mean that you think it is okay to have the list come out in August. I hope that is never going to be viewed as acceptable to the TACA. Good grief, the TSSWA beat you to the finish line by over a month (and still counting). In all of my high school years, going back to the late '90s, I can never remember the list coming out this late. If the coaches don't want to respond promptly, then leave their players out of consideration. Once word gets out why someone was not considered for the list, you can bet the parents and, hopefully the AD's, will see to it that the coaches do their jobs in a responsible manner. Ideally, I think the All-State lists should be published at or near the time of the state championships. There is no reason, other than negligence by the coaches, that the list has been delayed to this point. This isn't rocket science. And finally, I hope the TACA isn't basing the All-State selections on a regional quota. There is no way the three Grand Divisions of the state merit equal representation every year. Some years the studs are in the East, some years the West and some years the Middle. Select these teams on overall performance, not as top players for their respective regions. That's what the All-District and All-Region teams are for.

The Tennessee Sports Writers 2008 All-State Soccer Teams have been announced. Here's a link: http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/jul/05/t...te-soccer-team/ Let the debate begin, that is if anyone is still on CoachT in July. My first question is, "Where is Tyler Gibson from Knoxville Catholic?"

I agree. To me, the Catholic season really took off after the seniors left the team during their Spring Break and a bunch of freshmen and sophmores had to step up to play the Bearden Invitational. Going 3-1 against the likes of Hendersonville, Morristown West, Baylor and Bearden helped the young guys mature and, once they came back, it helped the seniors understand that they needed to step it up because the underclassmen had represented themselves very well. Fortunately, a lot of those younger players saw a lot of playing time as the season went on, including during the post season tournaments.

As I said, this was my first time to this complex and I was very impressed overall. I hope you all are able to address your drainage issues but, especially given the weather for the last 18 months, I thought the surfaces I saw were quite good. This complex sure beats anything East Tennessee has to offer.

The Mike Rose Stadium pitch has a fantastic state-of-the-art irrigation and drainage system. I recall one year at Club States (2002 or 2003) when it rained 3 or 4 inches overnight and through the hours leading up to the finals. Just prior to warm ups we were standing in ankle deep water all over the stadium, yet by game time the standing water was gone and the pumping system went on to remove the surface water almost entirely by match time. It was incredible. Unfortunately, the side fields have to fend for themselves. They have been overused and maintenance has fallen off markedly from when the complex first opened. The last year I was there for high school states, I thought the regular fields were just shy of terrible.

Given a multi-year drought in Tennessee, I thought the fields looked in reasonably good shape, although not as outstanding as I have heard they have been in earlier years. I really admire that facility and prefer it to Mike Rose, except for the magnificent Rose stadium facility. I am a big fan of having the State Tournament in the Middle region every year. Going to Memphis every year was extremely expensive and created serious fairness issues for teams in the East. Of course, East Tennessee simply doesn't have the facilities to host this kind of event properly, so taking turns isn't possible. I hope the girl's tournament moves from Chattanooga to Murfreesboro soon so there can be one central venue. As for the net issue Baylor encountered, you're right, that should never happen in a state championship or any other match for that matter. You would have expected, even if the venue manager and the TSSAA didn't conduct adequate pre-event inspections of the facility, that the referees would have discovered and required a hole in the net to be repaired during their pre-match inspection.

Catholic isn't and probably won't be. It is very tough to be considered if you are a small school. In addition, while the NSCAA is a really solid organization, not everyone is a member. I am pretty sure that the NSCAA won't rank a team or consider players for post-season honors (All-Region, etc.) unless either the coach or the school is an NSCAA member. At the small college level this policy has been the cause for a good deal of contraversy. See, http://home.comcast.net/~d3soccer/NSCAA.htm. Having seen Brentwood, CBHS and Knoxville Catholic play, I would love to have seen matches between those teams, to say nothing of Father Ryan which had a fabulous year as well. I'm curious about why Brentwood doesn't regularly schedule more teams like Father Ryan, BGA, Baylor, McCallie, CBHS, Houston or some of the Knoxville teams (Catholic, CAK, Bearden, Farragut, West, etc.)? Other than a few pre-season matches with JP II during the last few seasons, the Bruins don't seem to meet many of the big boys until the tournament. Most of the established teams seem to really try to seek out top competition during their regular seasons, and I certainly think Brentwood is an established power.

I was a little surprised to find that only 17 schools have won State soccer championships since the creation of DII in 1998. Division I A/AA ??“6 schools CAK CCS Christ Pres. Knoxville Catholic Lenoir City Ridgeway Division I AAA---5 schools Bearden Brentwood Farragut Hendersonville Houston D II---5 schools Baylor BGA Christian Brothers Father Ryan McCallie DII-A---1 school St. George

Brentwood has a very fine team. No question about it. But, Middle Tennessee has a long way to go to catch up to the East in overall soccer championships over the last 11 years (I can't locate older records) and is still trailing the West as well. In A/AA the East has won 8 of the 11, the Middle 1 and the West 2. In AAA the East has won 6 of the 11, the Middle 3 and the West 2. In DII the East has won only 3 of the 11, the Middle 4 and the West 5 (including the new classification DII- A in 2008). Overall, in the last 11 years: East 17 titles ; Middle 8; West 9. "How about them apples?" /roflol.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":roflol:" border="0" alt="roflol.gif" />

It is pretty easy to get very "HUNGRY" when your district rival keeps eating all of the food every year for year after year! Gman, you are one h... of a coach. Your work this season with this young team, especially with your injuries, spells nothing but trouble for the Irish---and everyone else---next season. I, on the other hand, want to keep this run going to at least to 11 in a row after the way the Warriors have refused to play nice and share the last several years. And of course you'll know that the only way we can try to get to 11 in a row next season is by playing a rematch in the 2009 final. I'll be there if you are. Congratulations to the Warriors on another great season! See you next spring to start it all again. /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

A very fine all around match. Catholic pretty well dominated the pitch. CAK had only 1 shot on goal that I can remember to probably 10 or 12 for the Irish. Catholic scored all 3 of its goals early--under 30 minutes. CAK's keeper played a huge game for the Warriors. Catholic's Payne and Martinez were easily the most effective and dangerous of the forwards. Tarr was nullified by Mishu from Catholic.

Reaction, how about a little love for your old coach and his Irish? This man-crush on BigG has simply got to end. /roflol.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":roflol:" border="0" alt="roflol.gif" /> P.S. Tell your folks "hi" for me. I hope they are well.

And this post started off so well. I really liked it in the beginning. That last section, after the "Go Warriors" part, well...not so much. Stop being so greedy. You sound like the Gman. /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />