Wildcat3

When I saw Hillsboro and Maryville warming up in the '01 and '02 state championship games, I thought people would have to be CRAZY to pick Maryville over Hboro. Hboro's size, speed, and intensity made Maryville look like pee wees. Image is nothing....Quarles can out-coach anyone/anything that they face.

Having seen hoover play (some friends of mine go to school at Samford), and living here in East TN, the atmosphere at Hoover is second to none. The MTV cameras have helped the hype of course, but as mentioned earlier the players down there are the same age as those up here. Hoover would handle any team in east TN......with the exception of Maryville. I think that Maryville's discipline is second to none(e.g. coaching). Obviously Hoover has excellent coaching also, but my point is that if these two teams met both teams would be ready to battle and it would be close. It would probably come down to special teams/turnovers/depth. These things considered, my gut says Maryville, my head says Hoover. I'll go with my gut.

Every year people post messeges that refer to "5A" schools like they're supposed to be better teams just bc they have a big school. I don't know how cookeville and that region is this year, but a few years ago they were'nt very impressive. They lost games to "5A" coffey county, who wasn't that great of a team. Classification should be thrown out the door as far as relating it to the strenght of a team...

Actually, there is a problem with that predection. Two years ago, DL lost to a mediocre GP in the regular season, a 1A Boyd Buchanan, and barely won the 1st round of the playoffs against Marion Co. We, being Sweetwater, figured we had it in the bag by about 2 TD's. Even though DL wooped up on Tyner and then avenged the GP loss by handing them a 29-0 rout. We were still pretty confident, but we got a wake up call. DL is more disciplined, and probably plays the smartest football I've seen at the high school level. I would compare that DL team of '02 to a Maryville squad. Many would agree with that. Whether or not they have that kind of team this year, I don't know. All I know is if Alcoa doesn't bring all they have, it could be a long night. Good luck Tornadoes. Bring it home to region 2.

No, you couldn't be more wrong. Historically speaking, when milan makes it to the finals they win. Alcoa was an inferior team against UC, early mistakes proved costly to the tornadoes. There superior physical football play showed in the second half as they dominated Alcoa both offensively and defensively. I'd compare west tn. teams to Nebraska style offenses while east tn. are more like rutgers, possibly even temple. Historically? 1993 AA State Championship: Sweetwater-10 Milan-6 2000 AA championship: looked more like Alcoa got too comfortable with their first half romp(happens quite often when a team is up 3 or 4 TDs). 2001 and 2002: West-Side teams just can't seem to score. BTW..... I wasn't tryin to talk historically earlier, I was talking recent yrs in which the east has owned AA. I'm not doubting Milan's tradition, they have one of the top programs in the state. If they've improved 100% since last year, they'll probably win state.... but 100% improvement is what it'll take to get the best of the East-Side privates.

First of all.....if Lipscomb is HALF the team they were last year, no AA team in the state should be worried about speculations. They would be hands down the best team. Lipscomb is physical, discipline, and speed...... multiplied by ten. I'm not sure what their line looks like this year, but I seriously doubt much has changed. Anyway, I've seen Oliver Springs play once this yr(Kingston), and they looked good at times, bad at times. That definately won't get them past semi's. We (sweetwater) were playin great ball goin into the semi's last year. We gave lipscomb an inch, and they took a mile. If OS gets there, they'll have to bring much more than their A-game to get to state. I don't know a thing about milan, other than they have a much easier road to murfeesboro than OS would have. But who knows, they might have that special team that can't be brought down, like the alcoa team of 2000. Just goin on what I saw in the championship last year(lipscomg pounding mitchell), I'd say the best from the west is about like the 3rd place of the east. OS over Milan by 7. BEAUMIA

First of all.....if Lipscomb is HALF the team they were last year, no AA team in the state should be worried about speculations. They would be hands down the best team. Lipscomb is physical, discipline, and speed...... multiplied by ten. I'm not sure what their line looks like this year, but I seriously doubt much has changed. Anyway, I've seen Oliver Springs play once this yr(Kingston), and they looked good at times, bad at times. That definately won't get them past semi's. We (sweetwater) were playin great ball goin into the semi's last year. We gave lipscomb an inch, and they took a mile. If OS gets there, they'll have to bring much more than their A-game to get to state. I don't know a thing about milan, other than they have a much easier road to murfeesboro than OS would have. But who knows, they might have that special team that can't be brought down, like the alcoa team of 2000. Just goin on what I saw in the championship last year(lipscomg pounding mitchell), I'd say the best from the west is about like the 3rd place of the east. OS over Milan by 7. BEAUMIA

Would someone who knows something about this please post soon? It would be appreciated, thanks

I wish Coach Martin the best at Meigs. He is a great coach, great motivator, and even greater person. I was lucky to have had the oportunity to play for him for 3 years. His influence really brings out a player's best. He accepts nothing less. Good luck Coach

Summer workouts will make or brake a team..... that's very obvious to me. Having been a part of a mediocre team my first two years of HS, and then turning into a team that competed with the best in the state my last two, the biggest difference in those two periods was our summer workout program. Following my sophomore season, We had a team meeting, and the simple message was.....the difference between good teams, and great teams. At the end of the discussion, our coach let us know that workouts would begin in a week (the earlist we'd ever started by far), excluding b-ball players of course. Our staff also made it VERY clear that failure to show up either before or after school would result in quarters not played in scrimmages, passing league, games, etc. This meeting was a turning point, and my junior year we surprised a lot of people. We were predicted to finish second to last in our region......we finished 2nd(no "to last"), losing to a very good Alcoa team. Though the coaches were very strict, they also opened the field house doors at any time. All a player(s) had to do was make arrangements. Even with the strictness, a little old fashioned dedication from individuals also played a large part in our success. It's a mindset, with players and coaches alike, whether they are willing to do whats neccessary to be successful. I think it was great that our coach placed consequences for missing workouts. It was those consequences that prevented us from the worst consequence of all.............LOSING.

Gatlinburg-Pitt won't have it as easy as they might think. They'll definately win their region(very weak). But, once they get past that it'll be tough. In my opinion 3a isn't too far ahead of 2a.......especially the last few years. I know for a fact NOONE in 3a could have handled Lipscomb last year. That team definately "clicked" in the playoffs. Anyway, G-P may have an easy road to the playoffs, but they need to load their schedule with some competition if they expect to go very far. OH........Rockwood will get handled by Sweetwater next year (AGAIN) and finish 3rd, maybe 4th in region 2-2a. No doubt.

Alright.....I'm Sweetwater's goalie. I for one would know if I have been pounded by CCS the past 2 games. The answer........NO. LOL. Yes, they took a lot of shots, but I touched about 7 of those, 9 at the most. And in last years regional? give me a break. I remember one decent shot, and I didn't even have to leave my feet on that one. CCS has possessed the ball better than we have, they just can't seem to get a good shot on us.

I never thought I would be saying this but David Lipscomb is undoubtedly the best team in the state and I think they will jump all over mitchell the first quarter just like what they have done all through out the playoffs. Lipscomb 45 Mitchell 0. First Down Lipscomb lol Santiago will run all over mitchell. Elrod better keep him in the pocket because that kid is a rocket. Good Luck Both

thom022....... Nice assumption there genius, but oldreb is not TJ Brock. Overrated? You try playin with a plate in your foot and one ankle half as strong as the other. That's heart. It's too bad you never ever had the oppurtunity to play with him, cause it seems like you need some of his humility to rub off on you.

OS91....I apologize for my unspecified remark concerning the bad mouthing. I was referring mostly to just one of the three. Again, thank you for your support. We'll try to bring one back for Sweetwater and the rest of region 2AA.