Philster043

Hmm... It's not been a good year by Maryville standards (except in the passing game anyway) but in the last two weeks against Red Bank and Sullivan South, Maryville seems to have hit their stride - as far as the running game, the OL, and defensively as well - and nobody really wants to play a Maryville team that's hot, I think. I guess I'm mostly confident because of how we've done the last two weeks, that and I don't quite get this feeling that anybody really expected Maplewood to be in the big game this year. But I AM glad to play somebody other than Hillsboro for a change. Thank you, Maplewood. EDIT: Basically what Solomon said.

I initially was going to say only 10 teams from East Tennessee were consistently good, but then I started listing it up in my head and I ended up with more than 10, at least from the past 10 years. Let's say 15 teams at least, then? Maryville, Morristown West, Alcoa, Fulton, Austin-East, Oak Ridge, Dobyns-Bennett, South Pittsburg, Knoxville Central, Knoxville Catholic, Knoxville Webb, Anderson County, Elizabethton, Powell, Gatlinburg-Pittman, Sevier County, Jefferson County, Red Bank... etc. Cumberland Gap is also an up and coming new 2A team (I live close to them). And that's not counting teams that occasionally has very good teams, like Farragut, Bearden, Seymour, Halls, Knoxville West, William Blount, Cleveland, Rhea County, and so forth. So not too bad, really. Though I think East Tennessee has improved a LOT over the last 10 years. EDIT: Who knows, maybe you guys can come up with more than 10 for Middle and West Tennessee too. I don't know the areas as well.

I don't see how this could even be a discussion if Reggie White is included and the category is "best body of work a football player from the state has had" - if that's indeed the topic. Reggie White was an once-in-a-lifetime superstar and has the numbers to prove it. He's had his number retired at UT, Philadelphia AND Green Bay. But if the discussion's about people who's the closest to Reggie White in terms of career stature, I'd have to say right now Jason Witten has the best opportunity. Especially with a quarterback like Tony Romo throwing him the ball, he's going to garner some very impressive numbers in the years to come, and I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up owning all the records for a NFL tight end at the end. (Though Dallas Clark may have a better chance due to having Peyton as a quarterback.) Not only can Witten catch, though, he can also block like a demon as well. However, John Henderson also has a very good opportunity as well. Although he's a DT, so he won't have the same type of numbers that a defensive end like Reggie White would have, he's still one of the Jacksonville Jaguars' most reliable and dynamic players. Not to mention biggest. He's probably the biggest player ever from the state of TN. Chad Pennington, sometimes I'm still kind of startled that he even made it to the NFL with that arm of his - not to knock the guy, but I think having Randy Moss at Marshall really helped him get the recognition that he otherwise wouldn't have gotten. But right now as things stand, he's not even starting for the Jets now, as he's been benched in favor of Kellen Clemens. It's not looking good for him. Right now though, I'd guess Doug Atkins is the next closest challenger to Reggie White for the "Best Football Player from the State of TN."

Hmm, I'd be very surprised if this happens. Gary Rankin has a very good young upcoming team at Alcoa, as they only lose one senior on the offense (Randall Cobb) and they're likely to have a chance at two more state championships in a row at least.

Not to be too off-topic, but I think there are a lot of East Tennessee areas where the football programs could stand seeing more improvement too. As a Maryville fan I'd have to say that there hasn't been too many teams that could even have a chance against us in the last 10 years. Morristown West, Elizabethton, Central and occasionally Alcoa (funny as it's a 2A school)... these are the four teams that's given us the most trouble. Back in the early 1990's, Cleveland was a dominant program. Region 3-4A in Knoxville can be said to boast a lot of very tough teams, but they still haven't been able to catch up to Maryville yet. We would probably have had a much easier time if we were in Regions 1, 2, and 4 (though there is something to be said about stronger competition making Maryville a better team.) I think to get to the heart of the matter we'd have to talk about how many truly good football programs there are in each 1/3 of the state, especially as far as having consistency in delivering excellent teams on a year-to-year basis. I think East Tennessee has at least 20 consistently very good programs right now. I'd say Middle Tennessee and West Tennessee/Memphis has something like 10 each, but that's just guesswork on my part. But for each very good program, there's probably 5 more bad ones, and that goes for East Tennessee as well. The state on the whole has a long way to go before matching the competition level of states like Florida and Texas, I'm afraid. Though I think Maryville can still play with anybody in the nation, as long as Coach Quarles is there. De La Salle wouldn't have had such a long winning streak if they had to meet Maryville at least once. /biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" />

Ah man, and he came from Jackson too. Well, amazing stats for sure, but I wonder just how good the teams he played were. Seems like no Div I schools have really called yet though. Weird...

I do wish I had watched the 70's and 80's Maryville teams but I either hadn't been born yet or would have been too little to remember anyway, haha. And Mapperman, you're right, I forgot Baumann. Ok, totally forgot Stalcup and he does belong there, but McCord and Brock? They were both better running backs than corners. And I agree with Colton Baker, forgot about him for OLB as well. I knew I was forgetting somebody. EDIT - But I gotta say, what has made Maryville such a football machine in recent years isn't really usually due to any outstanding players but just because we've always had 11 men on the field who could do their thing very well. I don't know if many of these players would make All-Stars on a lot of other high school teams, but they were all very, very well-coached and smart. So I'm not surprised to see a lot of 70's and 80's guys make the All-Stars team on other lists, I'm sure we've had much more talented players (though have we ever had a faster guy than Tyler Maples? I doubt it.)

My experience is limited only to MHS teams since '95, but these are the players that's left a big impression from these years. QB - Brent Burnette (definitely the best pocket passer we've had) 2nd. Toki McCray (I absolutely rank Toki as a better overall athlete than Cade Thompson, Nick Giles, and Jason Phillips, and even Burnette, but we've been very blessed with great quarterbacks at MHS since 1996, that's for sure.) RB - Carl Stewart 2nd. Michael Potter ( Jason Hicks, who was a tough, versatile guy - he even played QB for a while - would have to be our fullback. ) WR - Tyler Maples 2nd. Brad Merritt 3rd. Tyler Gaskin WR - Ryan Maples 2nd. Andrew Clement 3rd. Kyle Harris (he was a late bloomer, but turned into a deadly weapon) ( Obviously, there's no shortage of outstanding receivers that we've had at MHS. Tyler Clendenen this year has been very impressive. Stephen Shiver, Stephen Childs, David Sweetland, Scott Wilks, Alex Rouse, Will Curtiss, Joey Gourley and Jacob Holt would all also have to be considered as well... as long as George Quarles is head coach, our receivers will probably always be very good, since he was a receiver himself.) TE - Aaron Douglas 2nd. Adam Parton ('95-'96 guy, Douglas is the first pure TE we've had since Parton, really...) OL - Chase Anderson OL - Chuck Prugh OL - Brandon Waters OL - Nick Black OL - John Raulston ( every time I hear about this guy it's always like he's been graded "perfect" on his performances, even though he wasn't that big compared to the others listed here ) (We've had a lot of great linemen thanks to Coach David Ellis... Matt Sharp, Issac Simerly, Drew Eubanks, Matt Tinker, Issac Cline, Chris Large, Jimmy Wallace, Cory Everett, Matt Gardner, Bobby Browning, Rhett Brooks, Justin Huskey, the list goes on and on. And this year's group is turning into a pretty good one too.) DE - Drew Galyon DL - Cole McKinney ( best run stuffer we've ever had, since '95 anyway ) DL - Brad Hilsher ( though he was a DE ) DE - Andrew Hodge OLB - tie / Matt Oliver, Josh Theriot MLB - tie / Stephen Pacifico and/or Matt Valentine. Andrew Healy was darn good here as well... OLB - tie / Colton Baker and/or Morgan Shinlever ( very underrated '98 guy, but you did not want to be hit by him ) CB - tie / Ryan Maples and/or Matt Stalcup CB - tie / Tyler Maples and/or David Sweetland ( short as he may be, Sweetland was known as "Mr. Excitement" for us in '96-'97 ) S - tie / Kyle Harris and Patrick Vananda ( '95-'96 guy, you guys probably won't remember him, but he was one of the few stars for us back then ) S - Scott Wilks ( another fierce hitter ) K - probably Takayuki Koyano is the best pure kicker we've had, although I'd want Anderson Kerr / Justin Deardorff, both from '96-'98, these two pretty much started the great kicking tradition we've had at Maryville for years and I personally wouldn't trade them for anybody else. Andrew Baumann was also an excellent clutch kicker as well. KR - Tyler Maples (no question, he's the fastest guy we ever had at MHS since '95 at least) - a great team of returners for us would be Tyler, Ryan Maples, and David Sweetland. Too bad they were all a few years apart from each other - heh. EDIT - Modified list 12/8/07, added Matt Stalcup, Colton Baker, and Andrew Baumann.

Maplewood seems to have had a lucky playoffs so far, winning over Hillsboro and Henry County each by only 1 point. This reminds me a bit of when Whites Creek surprised everybody and made it to the 4A State Championship, only to be throttled by Maryville, in 1998. This has the same kind of feeling to me as that year. So I'll say Maryville wins big, unfortunately for Maplewood. I hope for a good game though. And congratulations to Brent Burnette and Aaron Douglas each for winning Mr. Football in 4A, back and linemen. Douglas is now our first two-time Mr. Football, interestingly. I actually didn't think he played up to his expectations this year but he was hampered by injuries. Burnette however deserved every shiny inch of his Mr. Football trophy. I'm really glad he won it.

Peyton Manning probably couldn't either. And many Hall of Fame quarterbacks either. It's nice to have a quarterback that can run, but when you get to the next level, coaches are going to be a lot hesitant to run their quarterbacks all the time. I know Tim Tebow has dished out more than he's taken, but I'll bet you he's a very sore boy right now. If Burnette can read defenses better than Phillips, keeps his accuracy up, and continues to have good pocket presence and a scrambling ability like what he demonstrated on his first TD throw in that game tonight, he'll be just fine. And Burnette and Phillips are likely going to have the same quality in their supporting cast wherever they go, so which QB would you want more - the one that's known to run more, or the one who's been known to throw 3 TD's in 3 minutes? I believe Burnette has been Maryville's MVP this year as well. This was easily the worst Maryville team we've had in the last six years (yes I count the 2003 team that lost to Morristown West) but the one constant on the field was Burnette and he pulled through for us. Go Maryville, bring another trophy back home.

Sullivan South fans should be very proud of their team - that was clearly a tough little team. Phillips was a terror running with the ball (I can definitely see the Tim Tebow comparisons), and he even passed the ball well too when he had to - and for a kid playing nearly every snap through the whole game, that's just admirable toughness. Their other running backs and OL did very well. But I continue to be vastly impressed with Burnette's arm - he's just fun to watch when he throws the ball. Go Maryville. Next up, Maplewood, it seems. I thought we were going to play Henry Co. until I got home and found out Maplewood had pulled one out 36-35 in overtime, nice job Maplewood. We'll see ya next Saturday.

This has been an entertaining thread to read, for the most part. I'm glad I started it. /popcorneater.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":popcorneater:" border="0" alt="popcorneater.gif" /> I agree with the poster who said that Maryville did not dodge opponents like Farragut and Oak Ridge and would have spanked them many, many times over the years. We did play OR at least (and Dobyns Bennett) in many preseason games, and most of the time, we won handily. However I've heard rumors that Maryville would move up to 5A in 2008 or 2009 or thereabouts. Is this true? I've always wanted to see Maryville play 5A teams, to be in the top conference. That would intrigue me. I'm getting a little tired of seeing Maryville play the same teams every year from Region 3-4A (though it is a great region.) I've enjoyed reading all the great comments about what a great mentor George Quarles has been for the community and his team. I agree, too. Even when I was playing under Coach Hammontree, and Quarles was only our quarterback and receivers/DB coach, he was an incredibly patient and gracious guy. I wish I had been able to play under him when he became head coach. The way he dealt with adversity after his 0-4 start and turned the program into the most successful one in Tennessee since Shelbyville Bedford County Training is just amazing. (Not to mention I'd know I'd get a good chance to have a lot of playing time - at least in the third and fourth quarters of most games, heh.) I have to admit, though, I am just a bit little distressed that he took on a double duty as athletic director. Though I'm glad for him and I'm sure he's enjoying the challenge, I have to wonder about the consequences when he's not only preparing for the next playoff team, but also dealing with the scheduling tasks for the basketball team. How does that work, anyway? Oh well, all this is a bit off topic though. Go Rebs. I'd make a prediction of the game, but I know nothing about Sullivan South's defense this year. I don't know if they have the players that can stop Burnette, Clendenen, Shiver, Douglas, and so forth. So I'm just going to go to watch the game without making a guess this time around. I'd like to believe we could win 35-0 or something like that, on the other hand I'd like to see a good game between two very good teams even more. There haven't been very many teams that's given Maryville a challenge over the years (aside from all the fortuitous wins RebelRon listed a while ago - most of which I've seen. Freaky - but that's the Maryville "mystique" for you, I guess.) Oh, by the way... to the poster that guaranteed that Maryville is a mistake-free team, that's true most of the time, but you probably haven't seen us this year. Not to sound pessimistic, but they were terrible against Central. Hopefully we got that turned around with last week's great win, though.

Oh, just being my typical cautious self. I don't want Maryville players to get over-confident and have a let-down. Morristown West does have a good coach, obviously, and had different players on the two teams that they beat Maryville with in the last 113 games. I wasn't expecting Sullivan South to beat MoWest this year to be honest. Don't get me wrong, I think Maryville will win proved they don't expect an easy win. I honestly believe that the only team that can beat Maryville right now is themselves (which they've almost done twice or so this year.)

It's been awhile, but these two teams last met back in 1995 in the first round of that year's 4A playoffs with Maryville coming out on top 17-10. I actually went to that game as a high school freshman, but neither team is obviously the same now as back then. That was before Maryville began its incredible dynasty of winning seven state championships from 1998 to 2006. For this one, I see a pretty good matchup of quarterbacks - both legitimate Division I prospects - Brent Burnette for Maryville and Curt Phillips for Sullivan South. Before Maryville fans start saying there's no way for Sullivan South to win this game, keep in mind that they did thrash Morristown West a couple of weeks ago - the one team that's beaten Maryville in their last 113 games. What are your thoughts on this game?

Hixson and Brainerd, BULLYMOM. Hixson nearly beat Maryville in the first round in 2000 with the Bullocks brothers playing then for them, and Brainerd surprisingly played Maryville to a close 30-26 contest last year. Of course, might have just been playoffs jitters, but it's pretty amusing to think that these two teams have had better recent history against Maryville than Red Bank, Cleveland, and Rhea County combined.

Well, from what they showed on Friday Night Hits, seems like Burnette threw at least 4 TDs's, to Shiver, Rodrigues, Jordan, and Douglas. Very nice. Some of you might remember that I've questioned Maryville quarterbacks in the past (most noticeably Cade Thompson) here before on whether they really could compete at Division I, but I have no doubts that Burnette's the real deal. It'll be fun to watch him play at the next level. But first - Sullivan South next. Well, they've got a seemingly phenom QB of their own, Wisconsin commitment Curt Phillips, who threw 3 TD's and ran 2 TD's tonight. But Maryville knows how to lock down star players, Sullivan South better hope they have more than just one player doing everything for them. Also, I just saw on the scoreboard that Hillsboro AND Melrose both lost. Wow. That means if we make it to state, we'll be playing somebody else other than these two teams for a change.

So who all scored for Maryville tonight?

I wouldn't say that. I've seen Hixson and Brainerd both give Maryville a heck of a time. For some reason Maryville just has Cleveland and Red Bank's number, though.

This was actually the first time I tried getting WBCR on the internet, and it's not free. Just my luck. At least the Rebels are doing well.

Unbelievable first half. This is the first post I have made here in quite a while - but I just had to come on to say that I don't think I've ever seen a more perfect first quarter played by Maryville before. I don't know if Morristown West, or any other high school team in the whole nation, could have done anything against that kind of crazy barrage of scoring. Congrats to the Rebels, who I've now followed for over ten years. They have a lot to be proud of this year. I must admit I was worried at first after the Brainerd game, but they stepped it up big time. Two undefeated teams down, with one to go. Here we come Hillsboro. Tyler Maples for Mr. Football, ya-ha!

Hi all. I saw on the news that Maryville won 37-0, how did Derek Hunt do at quarterback? Was it all the running game and defense again? When did Coach Quarles decide to put the subs in. It sounds as though this was another game where Maryville had to use the "mercy rule" at some point. I haven't been able to personally catch a Maryville game yet this season, hopefully I will sooner rather than later. I was real proud when I heard Maryville had such a great victory over Alcoa though.

I attribute that to having a whole lot of confidence in the offense's capability to get a first down in crucial situations. It's not the first time all season they went for it on fourth down, even several times in the same game... but it's the first time they haven't converted in a while.. or from what I can remember. But I'm sure Coach Quarles thought he would have plenty more opportunities to get down into the red zone later on in the game, and I'm sure he was pretty surprised that didn't happen. Remember Quarles, a former wide receiver at Furman U., is more offensive-minded than defensive-minded. If anything, I think our defensive coaches deserve more credit for this win than Coach Quarles, but it's a great staff overall and they work together very well. This year was kind of unusual as far as our defensive play. I think Maryville's defense has overachieved the majority of the time, but sometimes they've had their share of problems (especially against, say, Alcoa, Powell and Central). So I never knew what to expect from the D. But they played great today. Yep, Melrose did a fantastic job on defense. It was an enjoyable game. If Melrose's offense had pulled off just one big play that both Alcoa and Huntingdon seemed to do at will in the 2A game, we would have been in REALLY big trouble. It felt good to get out of there with a win. I'm sure that if Maryville goes back to state next year (depending on how our passing game does more than anything, I think, with the loss of so many key players) Melrose will be there to meet us. Have a great off-season in the meanwhile.

If you count Boyd Buchanan, then technically Riverdale is also in the East (at least this year! ) So, either 3-0 or 4-1, the East still showed great dominance either way. I think the Alcoa and Maryville games were the most fun to watch, though, for different reasons. No defense in one, no offense in the other!

I wasn't able to go to the games because my car broke down this past week (had my reservations and everything ready to go!) --- so thank goodness they showed these games on TV this weekend. It was an intriguing experience to see Maryville on TV for a change. Congratulations to the players and the coaches! I really did not know anything about Melrose whatsoever so that was also why I didn't stop by and post any opinions this past week. But the impression that I got that while I don't agree that Melrose was the best team on the field, they certainly had the best defense we faced all year. I mean, I didn't think that we would run into anybody in Class 4A that would be able to hold us to 7 points. Even if we had kicked the field goals, that would still have been a pretty darn low scoring game for us. But anybody that gives Hillsboro that much trouble, I'm not too surprised that Melrose gave us a challenge also because Hillsboro always did. But Maryville always finds a way to win. What a great game! Kudos to everybody who guessed correctly that this would be a low-scoring game. And now if Maryville gets just ONE more state championship, they'll tie Brentwood Academy for having the most football championships in all of Tennessee. Be cool if that happens in the near future!

C'mon people. Talkin' smack before the game is normal. Talkin' junk after the game is quite another. Let's make our peace and accept our fates. Tennessee High, you guys had a great year but I agree with the people here who say you all need to play tougher teams. Not that there are a whole lot of them where you are. Maybe you should try to schedule Dobyns-Bennett or some team like that. ANY team with a tradition. Work on the pass, too. Running alone won't get you anywhere in this era anymore. Maryville's proof of that because they have the best balance of offense I've seen so far in high school football and look where it got them: 4 state championships in the last 6 years. But Maryville does recruit, by the way. They recruit SPECTACULAR coaches. And then keep them together for a loooong time, thankfully! That's the reason more than anything else that we are as good as we are right now. That, and collective hard work and determination and very tough competition in Region 3-4A. And a little luck at times (quality back-ups to take over for injured starters, for example.) Melrose will be challenging, I think, but I doubt they will be as good as Knoxville Central. From what I know, they haven't exactly played a stellar schedule either. All the best teams they've played I think the scores have been very close. Well, guess we'll see soon enough who's for real this year. Go MARYVILLE!