Hoya

This was a very well played and evenly played match. I agree that both teams look ready for the real season starting next week.

Having seen both of these teams play several times this season, I think they are very evenly matched--especially in the midfield. This one could go either way. I would guess it will be close. They've had four common opponents with very similar results. Both teams beat Morristown West, Bearden and CAK. West lost by 1 to Baylor and Catholic beat Baylor by 1. Not much difference there. Both teams should use this match to get ready for their tournament games next week. I think Catholic, in particular, is playing too slowly and sloppily. The Irish need to increase their intensity, speed of play and precision to maximize their tournament chances. West will give them exactly the type of challenge they need at this point of the season. Good luck to both teams, but better luck to the Irish! /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

Final: Catholic (1) Maryville (0)

Excellent analysis! Coach Turner = Yoda. I never thought of it that way but, if you think about it, the similarities are way too many to ignore! /roflol.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":roflol:" border="0" alt="roflol.gif" /> P.S. Don't count the Dawgs out. They've been sleeping on the front porch, but they aren't dead. I wouldn't bet against them in the tournament.

Big G, I only saw the second half. Something significant had to be bothering the Stone Memorial team other than the score. There were a number of players with good skill, but only a couple or three players seemed into the game at all. It was a very unusual match. The entire half was played in near silence. Something was not right.

The blue-cleated avenger will never be forgotten...misplaced maybe, but never forgotten! /roflol.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":roflol:" border="0" alt="roflol.gif" />

I'm interested in the final between Farragut and Bearden as well, but I don't have an update. I do know that Catholic beat CAK 3-2.

Honestly, I don't think you have read the posts above carefully enough. Very few of these comments are about "hatin on G and [T]arr" or are written by folks "just scared of CAK". Your summary of this thread isn't fair to the Board. Differences of opinion do not mean the advocates are "hatin". They are "state'n" and that is what this Board is all about. Having read all of the above, I stick by my initial thought. There are no losers with these decisions. Mr. Tarr, because of the special nature of his school, his team and his coach, has a chance to correct what he (and I) think was a mistaken decision. No, we don't all get a second chance every time we go down a wrong road, but it sure is a wonderful relief when we get the chance for a do-over and I doubt many of us would throw away the opportunity to get things right. He's fortunate and my guess is he will make good on his opportunity --- to the benefit of all involved. "Tough love" isn't the only way to teach or to learn. As for BigG, I know of no single instance since I have known him--and competitively it hasn't always been friendly and nice---when I felt that he acted other than in his players' best interests. He is a teacher first and a fine soccer coach. Second guessing his motives just isn't in the cards for me. With Mr. Tarr his team will be better; however, because a number of my club players have also played for him at CAK, I think I know something about this coach. I truly believe he would have done this very same thing if the regretful senior had been at the bottom of his team's depth chart. It is about sports, teaching and the team, not about competitive advantage. The fact that it was Mr. Tarr clearly makes the CAK team stronger, but, in my opinion, the opportunity to rejoin the group would have been extended to any similarly situated CAK player regardless of skill level . BigG, Mr. Tarr and the Warriors soccer team got this one right. Congratulations to all of them. Now, the Irish will have the opportunity to beat the Warriors at their best. Go Irish! /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

Good for Brandon! He would have eventually really regretted the initial decision to sit out his senior year and his inability to help his fellow teammates get back to the title game. The game becomes a part of you and teammates are teammates forever. This should be a decision that brings him an enjoyable and memorable senior season. Good for CAK and Big G because he is a very fine player who has meant a great deal to the Warriors and he will have an immediate positive impact on the team. Finally, always keeping in mind my #1 loyalty, good for Knoxville Catholic because to become the best you have to beat the best. There are no losers with this one! Good luck, BigG. /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

Big G, do you have any idea how much an announcement like that costs?!!!!!!!!!!! /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

Congratulations to Knoxville Catholic for two shutout wins in two days over Student Sports' #5 Baylor and #16 Bearden, both 1-0 wins by Catholic in the Bearden Invitational.

My first chance to see Catholic this season was enjoyable. Even though the Irish were missing their senior center mid, center back and keeper, they still managed a gutsy win over Baylor 1-0 on a goal by Tyler Gibson in the second half. Nice win Irish. Good luck with Bearden tomorrow.

Leonard, you've been on this site for a long time and I really enjoy most of your posts. I don't always agree, but in most instances I enjoy reading your comments. In this case, however, I think you are being overly judgmental and way over the top with your generalizations. As a coach, I always believed---in fact, I've insisted--- that there needs to be a moment or two of private team time immediately after the end of every game or match to allow the emotions of the game to dissipate. Win or lose, the moment a game is over is not, usually, the right time to start interacting, congratulating or consoling person's other than teammates and it certainly isn't the time to pass out or receive awards---especially with younger atheletes. After a team (alone) moment, then both sides should immediately go about shaking hands, receiving accolades/condolences and visiting. The losers won't be happy and the winners won't be sad, but neither team will be as likely to act emotionally rather than as they should. Emotions can cloud good judgment in teenagers. It has nothing to do with knowing "how to act". Few coaches reherse proper "loser" behavior before the final gun or buzzer. An adult, especially one familiar with sports, should know this and not try to spotlight and publicly overblow emotional behavior that occurs immediately after the end of a team's loosing the biggest game of the year. Further, individuals' emotional behavior is certainly NOT a "direct reflection on everyone involved in the program including Knoxville." That over the top, overbroad and, in my opinion, unknowledgable statement, to me, is a "direct reflection" on your failure to reflect on your post before you let it fly in a public forum. In the last few years I have had numerous opportunities to observe the Fulton football program from the vantage of what I now believe to be their biggest regional rivalry---Knox Catholic (sorry AE). There have been big wins and big losses for both---usually in closely contested games. Overall, though, my obsevation of the Falcons' program---winning and losing---- has been very positive. The boys know how to carry themselves and have always, when given an opportunity to decompress and reflect, been great sports and excellent adversaries. Congratulations to DL and the Falcons for two outstanding seasons!

Not sure what you want to know regarding "the real story". DB needed a coach and Shane Calvert was available. Shane's a very good high school coach. He is an experienced player and has college coaching credentials. He was a men's assistant at King in Bristol (NAIA) and at Tusculum in Greenville (NCAA Div.II). I also think he was (or is) a coach for the Impact USA club in the tri-cities area. He put a very good team together in Morristown and I'd bet he'll do very well with DB's talent base.

/laugh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":lol:" border="0" alt="laugh.gif" /> I agree. The KNS has made significant strides in soccer coverage over the past few years. It still isn't as thorough as I would prefer, but the current writers deserve credit for their efforts to learn the sport. By the way, I hear Brian Walker will join his high school teammate Ryan Radcliffe and play for Maryville College next year.

Congratulations to both Coach McCloskey and Smyrna. This should be a terrific combination. /smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

I truly hope TSSAA didn't pass this rule as a result of the Red Bank situation. If discipline was needed there for either the player or the coach, the mechanism already exists to impose it and the high school rule that you can't add a previously unscheduled match to "burn" a red card suspension has been in place for years already and is nothing new. I think TSSAA's handling of soccer red cards illustrates once again the Board's lack of understanding about our game. Soccer discipline rules are far more stringent than virtually any other high school sport. The average red card --- not the obviously deserved "bad" ones--- generally are given for behavior that is either ignored or far less severely sanctioned in every other high school sport. When was the last time you can remember a football or basketball player being ejected from a game and sitting out one or two more for foul language or "taunting"? When a basketball player fouls an opposing player from behind on a breakaway, it's a foul---one of five allowed. Sometimes it is ruled a flagrant foul. But seldom to never is the fouling player ejected from that game and, automatically, one or two more. Moreover, if a basketball player fouls out there is no resulting automatic additional punishment. A foul from behind on a breakaway in soccer and the player is automatically gone now for two matches and whatever is left of the match in question. TSSAA does not understand soccer, nor does it want to understand soccer. There has been little to no change in my decade of experience with TSSAA and I don't see it getting better except for the club team rule variation made last year after Tom Gerlach and others took the coaches' fight to the Board of Control. It is a bad decision. Why can't TSSAA simply employ modified FIFA rules (just like USYSA or US Club Soccer) and let our game be governed by the same rules used everywhere else in the country?

Catholic only lost 4 seniors, two starters and two subs. They should be pretty strong again next year.

I think Kirk was hurt early in that season or maybe the football season before, but he was playing again by that match. I think he got hurt again the next summer or in the fall. Have you heard anything about how he's doing? Give me a call if you have any news.

No. Christian Brothers won DII that year. The expected game between McCallie and the Brothers would have been a classic between two exceptionally talented sides. Instead, McCallie, which was ranked #1 or 2 in the nation that season, lost in a totally unexpected and very improbable 1-0 upset to Knox Catholic in the DII East semifinals.

The Bearden v. Farragut final sounds like an amazing game, but if I'm limited to games I attended, CAK v. Knoxville Catholic Round 2, for the District title, was my choice for the best match I saw this season.

'01 was an amazing year for talent in Tennessee High School soccer and I think McCallie's '01 team was the best team in the State that season, regardless of classification. They would compare very favorably to every other team I listed, including the '99 and '00 Houston teams with all of their future college and pro talent. Of course, from my extremely biased perspective,"Viva les vagaries!" McCallie's last game of that season was the beginning of a pretty good run for my favorite team. /wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink.gif" />

No particular order: Houston '99 and '00 Baylor '00 Christian Brothers '01 McCallie '01 Bearden '01 Farragut '03

/laugh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":lol:" border="0" alt="laugh.gif" /> That must be it.

It wasn't always this way. When I first started paying attention I think Memphis, Nashville and Chattanooga were pretty much ahead of Knoxville. Two changes in the last 10 years or so stand out in Knoxville. First, two or three really good clubs developed where there used to be just independant teams. Nike Impact , Smoky Mountain and KFC have all become pretty respectable state-wide. Second, several of the schools got soccer people to coach soccer teams rather than continuing to give the coaching stipend to a needy assistant football or basketball coach the way it had been done for years. Bearden, Farragut, West, Oak Ridge, Catholic, CAK, Webb and several other competitive programs all have had soccer people coaching for all of the 2000's, and it shows.