Hoya

I assume tennis is the other. Great work. As for the Mets fans analogy, remember the Mets actually won one. We are still in search. I have always thought of us more along the lines of the Buffalo Bills---a city with attitude and plenty of chances, but no ring. Who knows, maybe tomorrow.... /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

Thanks, CoachT. Those are some great shots.

Indeed, my friend, indeed. /bored.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":bored:" border="0" alt="bored.gif" /> But what explains your discontent, soccerpro1? Your posts about Catholic are so melancholy it makes me wonder if you haven't had a long history of defeat at the hands of the unworthy, unathletic and uncrowned Irish. No state championships in your soccer background either? So sad. By the way, is Webb still playing? /roflol.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":roflol:" border="0" alt="roflol.gif" />

Gman, the easy answer is a simple, "Amen". A whole lot of our kids at Catholic have gone on to play in college, to successful careers--some are now introducing me to their wives and children---and in all these years, I've never had a single one of them tell me they were slowed down in life one bit because, for whatever reason, they didn't win a State title. And as you also well know, not a single one of your Warriors who I had on club teams---kids who did raise the trophy---ever cared near as much about the title as they did about playing with and for you and their teammates. If you are cheesy and old fashioned, I am ancient, moldy, old fashioned cheese. At Catholic and at CAK (and in truth, at most schools), we coach and play for our teammates, not for gold balls. If gold balls were the measure of our success, we needed to quit a long time ago. It's the effort to win, not the winning, that really counts. I expect a great match. I pray for a safe match. Regardless of which team wins, the trophy will be going to a first-class team with first-class coaches from a first-class school. Now,.... of course, I have an extremely strong preference for the outcome, as you already know. So.... I wish good luck tomorrow to my friend, BigG, and his Warriors, but....I also wish MUCH BETTER LUCK TO THE FIGHTIN' IRISH OF KNOXVILLE CATHOLIC! Make it 7 wins in a row in the ongoing "Battle for Cedar Bluff"! It is your time! /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

No apology necessary, G. It gets so old. /dry.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="

Congratulations to BigG and the Warriors! An all Region 2 District 4 A/AA Final! I can't wait until Saturday. /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

Again, it would take a Saint...just the thought of BigG having a "sweet side." Inconceivable! /roflol.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":roflol:" border="0" alt="roflol.gif" />

Exactly, oknative, except you may be confusing Maryville (AAAA) with Alcoa (AA). Same rules. Same results. Both public. Both in the same county and both fantastically good.

It appears that BigG actually found someone willing to be Mrs. BigG, and she is posting in his name. That's his story and so far he's sticking to it. /roflol.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":roflol:" border="0" alt="roflol.gif" />

Final: Knoxville Catholic (6) v. Boyd Buchanan (0)

Catholic still leads with about 11 minutes left 6-0. I just got a report that Spencer Payne has 5 of the 6 goals for the Irish. Nice outing.

Catholic is up 3-0 over Boyd with 14 minutes left in the 1st half.

This is a very accurate post. In some ways, Brandon makes CAK more predictable. BigG's greatest strength is team building, and he does it well year after year. Next year, Tarr will be gone, but BigG and the Warriors will still be in the mix.

It never ends... Catholic did just fine in DII. We built a solid program and we advanced to the DII State tournament by being 1st or 2nd in DII East 4 out of the last 4 years we were in DII (2001-2005). Back then only the top two places out of DII East advanced---that's two out of Baylor, McCallie, Notre Dame, Webb, Kings Academy and Catholic. We were DII semifinalists three straight years in 2002, 2003 and 2004---I'd call that contending for state championships. And no we didn't win, but we competed. How did your teams do in A/AA those years? We should never have been in DII to begin with. We don't recruit, we never recruited, we don't give scholarships, and we sure have never had the athletic department money of our competitors like Webb, McCallie or Baylor. We also never have had the pleasure of going 20 club players deep on varsity like Farragut, Bearden, and other "poor" public schools who "have to take whatever comes." We were and are lucky to get 3 or 4 players per class. Farragut, Bearden, LC, Science Hill and numerous others are "forced" to take two or three times that number in every class. Give me a break. Seriously, it is time for some of the A/AA schools to commit to getting coaches and building their soccer programs or just get used to getting walked on by teams the way Catholic used to be treated before we started to take soccer seriously. You are totally correct, A/AA competition is less intense than DII. DII was and still is the best division, top to bottom, in the State. If Catholic could learn to compete in DII without money, scholarships and recruiting, your programs ought to be able to stand up in A/AA much more easily. My own personal preference would be to do away with all of the divisions in soccer and play for one unified championship the way it was done in the early 90's. But can you imagine the whinning? /dry.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="

/roflol.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":roflol:" border="0" alt="roflol.gif" /> I don't know Kaz, maybe we need to convert you and get you on our payroll! You are a great publicist! /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" /> I totally agree on the issue of Goodpasture's effort. From what I've heard of the match the Goodpasture mids and defense worked hard all night for a very good result considering the amount of possession Catholic was able to maintain. I can easily think of two significant matches in Catholic's recent history that illustrate oknative's absolutely correct observations. In 2001 Catholic played at McCallie in the first round of the DII East Region Tournament. McCallie was then undefeated, #1 in Tennessee DII and ranked #2 overall in the Nation. Catholic played catenaccio to perfection that night in Chattanooga. We were outshot somewhere around 30-2 and we won the match and advanced to States with an enitrely improbable 1-0 win. Just three years later, the Irish were similarly ranked highly in DII and favored to face CBHS for the 2004 DII title. We lost at State to USN with virtually the same shot numbers--now in our favor---by the same 1-0 score. The lessons are clear: 1) Only the shots that hit the net count; 2) You only have to score one more goal than the other guys to win; 3) Riding time (possession) only counts in wrestling; and 4) Anybody can beat anybody on a given night so respect every opponent, especially in knock-out games. /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

I don't know if I'm buying this BigG's "wife" explanation. I know that guy and to be his wife would require, well,... lets just say she would have to be a saint. I still think it is BigG playing hooky from his coaching duties and posting instead. Regardless, congratulations to the Warriors and good luck tomorrow with USJ! I want to see a certain rematch on Saturday. You know the one. /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

Yeah, and a couple of years before that.... /hungry.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":hungry:" border="0" alt="hungry.gif" />

Hey old man, shouldn't you be coaching? /roflol.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":roflol:" border="0" alt="roflol.gif" />

That will be Knoxville Catholic tomorrow night at 6:30 pm CDST. I don't think the Irish will be taking anyone too lightly, but it should be a good game. I wonder if the Bucs' legendary old-timer, Reaction, will be there?

Sorry about that BigG. Bad information. CAK still leads 1-0 with about 18 minutes left. Catholic just went final 2-0.

In addition to Brian Beckham (Knoxville Catholic) and Hunter Acosta (Christian Brothers), Maryville HS midfielders David Large and Ridge Carter will also be attending Maryville College in the fall.

10 minutes into the 2nd half, Catholic is up 2-0. I was told the Irish also hit the crossbar or posts 4 or 5 times in the first half. Bonfini scored goal number one and Brian Beckham hit the second. CAK was 0-0 at the half in the Warriors' match. No update yet.

Knox Catholic up 1-0 at the half.

The three designations of Division I A, AA and AAA are all based on school population numbers; however, if you are a private school your population is increased by a multiplier (I'm not sure what the amount is) for classification purposes. The theory is that competition will be more even if private schools end up playing against bigger public schools. CAK, for example, I think would normally be a A-sized school based on census, but the Warriors get moved to AA based on the multiplier. In soccer, it makes little difference unless you are a really small A school and you have to play against borderline AA schools that are near AAA size.

Entirely possible. Luke was a fabulous player (four time State Div. I champion with the Warriors '86 and Impact '86) and Tanner is like a whole lot of "little" brothers. First, a lot of times they end up physically bigger than their older brothers. They also often work harder than ever to keep up when they start playing and end up being tremendous players as well. I've watched Tanner play since he was about 4 or 5. He's aggressive, not dirty, and he is full of "little brother tricks" learned to hang with the older kids he scrimmaged with on a regular basis. I have no idea where the long throws come from, but they are a great offensive weapon. Good luck at State to West.