Neil

Thanks for the list of 4AAA champs. Mark Blevins was Bearden's coach back in 2005, I think.

Please tell me how any intelligent football fan can possibly get excited about the outcome of a 1 quarter meaningless scrimmage? Who cares how much emotion a team displays under such sterile conditions as a jamboree?

I agree with you that talent alone seldom wins champioships,WBG. However, if Maryville was as "untalented" as you claim ( you said only two MHS players would have started for you or Farragut...come on now...Barbee and J. Connatser would also have started, and Hilliard would at least have been a DP), how did MHS beat you in the district tournament? I guess we just got lucky, huh?

Maryville 52 Bearden 14 in 4th Qtr.

Good luck to the Rebels tonight. GQ goes after playoff win number 50 tonight against the Admirals. Recap: 6A 2010 1-0 (to date) 6A 2009 4-1 State Runner-Up 4A 2008 4-1 State Runner-Up 4A 2007 5-0 State Champions 4A 2006 5-0 State Champions 4A 2005 5-0 State Champions 4A 2004 5-0 State Champions 4A 2003 3-1 4A 2002 5-0 State Champions 4A 2001 5-0 State Champions 4A 2000 5-0 State Champions 4A 1999 2-1 (GQ's 1st season) VERY IMPRESSIVE!!!!! Unbelievable, really, but true.

Good point. Maryville doesn't even take a knee when its own player gets hurt. I can not figure out why this is such a big deal to so many fans. Unless the injury is of such a critical nature that everyone needs to pray for a fallen athlete, kneeling actually can cause the legs to cramp. You don't see college or professional athletes kneel every time there is an injury. If a team chooses to kneel, that's ok. If a team chooses not to kneel, that's ok too.

Going all the way back to the 5th week of the 2000 season, Maryville is 140-4. They don't "over look" anybody. We fans can say a lot of things, and usually do, about how much we believe that Maryville will win a particular game, and we fans can become over confident all we want to. The coaches and players keep everything focused on one game at a time, and their record proves it. Only two post season losses since 2000 confirms it as well. (They have won 46 post season games during this stretch.)

How refreshing to see two outstanding, successful, and classy football programs having such mutual respect for each other. I expect a great game between these two teams and a lot of good sportsmanship from players and fans alike. The stadium will be packed with Maryville and Riverdale supporters and a whole bunch of other football fans. It will also be very loud...on both sides. Can't wait for what may become an annual Thanksgiving treat!!!

Congrats Maryville on one of the best comebacks against a quality opponent that I have ever seen. Both teams are very good and will probably meet again in the playoffs this year. All of the Farragut fans that I talked to after the game were classy, even though they were dissappointed. However, to those of you who are complaining about the refs cheating and causing the Admirals to lose, you are way out of line. How many flags were thrown on Farragut scoring plays? None. How many times did Farragut get away with holding? Several. I saw a couple of questionable calls on each team, but both were judgement calls. Considering how big this game was, the overall small number of penalties suggests that, if anything, the officials let both teams play and were not being nit-picky about every little infraction. Farragut had a great first half. Maryville's opening and closing drives of the first half were about all that Maryville did well in the first half. The second half was all Maryville. They tackled better, blocked better, and executed better than Farragut for the most part. The officials had nothing to do with those fundamentals. To even suggest that Maryville won because of the referees is absolutely absurd.

Not so fast my friend. I believe that Maryville's softball team has won 5 of the last 8 district tournaments, including the last three in a row, while Farragut has won it twice during that period. (Bearden won in 2005 and Maryville was runner-up.)

Perception...it looks to me that the runner's leg is touching the fielder's arm instead of the glove...therefore...safe (no tag).

They can have. Should they? Why not. TSSAA rules make it possible to do so, if certain conditions are met. Why is it not done more often? Two words-liability and accountability. Most schools have a wide variety of athletic teams to find coaches for ( football, basketball, soccer, track, tennis, golf, baseball, softball, wrestling, swimming, etc.). Many of these have both a boys and a girls coach as well as different levels...varsity, JV, freshmen. Most school systems don't want to deal with trying to keep up with a large number of non-faculty coaches, or, for that matter, even one. Maybe one day this will change, but don't hold your breath.

I have seen many high school coaches who are very, very good at what they do. I have also watched a few who were not too good. Likewise, I have seen some outstanding travel ball coaches, but I've also seen some really bad ones. Comparing high school athletics to travel ball is really apples to oranges. Travel ball teams can select the finest players they can find, or recruit. High school teams have to select from the talent pool at the school. BIG difference. TSSAA already has in place a way for non-teachers to become a head coach, as was mentioned by someone earlier. I guess what bothers me is this prevailing notion that travel ball coaches are automatically better than most high school coaches. I do not believe that this is neccessarily so.

I never said nor did I mean to imply that youtalked smack. I appreciate your "manning" up to the outcome. I responded to your post about "here come the comments" because I think the Maryville fans have earned the right to have some fun on this message board.

Once again Maryville wins on the field...Red Bank joins an ever growing list of teams whose fans talk a lot of smack leading up to the game on coacht and then act surprised that Maryville's fans respond to some of those comments after the game. Congratultions to both teams. Way to go Maryville.