Philster043

I think both Maryville and Alcoa proved that they were on the hunt for new state championship trophies this year. Maryville could beat most 5A teams, and I think Alcoa could beat most 3A and 4A teams. Best of luck to Alcoa and I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the Maryville games this year. I have a feeling that Cade ought to just aim the ball at Clement as much as he can, despite the depth at receiver. Clement's the only one that I think can catch it consistently enough to do the passing game any good. The others have to be a bit wide open to stand a chance of making a good grab at this point. I'm sure with experience they'll all improve over time. And is it just me or is Miles and Singleton impressing more than the starting backs lately? Not that Byner and Tallent have done a bad job, but we're in pretty good shape at that position. Defense did a good job overall, too. If Maryville had been mistake-free, Alcoa probably would have been humilitated. But at the same time if Alcoa had been mistake-free too, it would have been a lot closer. Oh well, two down, eight to go.

I think Maryville win will (but then I'm biased), and the score will go something like 59-24. It's gonna be one heckuva of a showdown tonight - for at least the first two quarters or three. I would actually like to see Alcoa test Maryville. It's still early, it's not a regional game, and we need a game in which we see how good our starters are in going four full quarters. I don't think we will get this kind of challenge very often throughout the rest of the season.

Congrats to Alcoa - and their big three, Joei, Dustin, and Brandon - on doing pretty much the same thing to South-Doyle that we did to Carter last night. Dustin Lindsey had only six carries and ran for four touchdowns? That's sick! even though he didn't run for 200 yards as per the deal he made with his friend, he still should get a free meal. It will be interesting to see how our defense stands up with Alcoa's offensive stars, they've obviously got talent in the backfield and with their big tight end/receiver. Luckily we have a lot of talent and depth on our offense that we should be able to more than keep up with whatever they put up on the scoreboard. I'm actually hoping for a good game instead of a blow-out. Maryville needs better challenges than Carter. That game was just sick.

Sorry, brain fart. Kirk Harris is the brother of Kyle Harris who used to play for Maryville several years ago and is now playing for Maryville College as a receiver. I knew that it was Kyle's brother but just didn't think about it while I was typing out that post. Pretty funny how many younger brothers are on this team of previous Maryville stars. There's Kirk Harris, and there's also Andrew Clement and Tyler Maples. Jeffrey Smith, Jr. has a brother on the team right now. Everett at center is the brother of another Everett that used to play for MHS. Adrian Baker. Bla bla bla...

From what I read, Clinton did a good job of shutting down Bell County in the second half, at least. That's a positive move in the right direction. Bell County was one of the best teams in Kentucky last year with some of the best running backs in that state. So for any high school team with a new head coach, starting off in a first game against an opponent like that is always pretty tough. But coaches ARE important. I point to George Quarles of Maryville as a paramount example. Took over in 1999, Maryville could have crashed and burned in 2000, but instead they went on to win 3 states in a row. Scott Meadow, also, gets my respect. His first game with Alcoa was against my boys (which is Maryville, by the way) and they beat us for the only time in the last 10 years. He revived Jefferson County and I rather wish he had stayed there and not come back to Blount County. William Blount will be tough now with him at the helm. Meadows is like the Bill Parcells of high school football. So Shattuck, if he is as good as you Clinton fans think he is, may be just what Clinton needs. Just be patient. Especially since that is one heck of a tough schedule that they have. After what I saw at Carter last night, though (Maryville thrashed them 55-6), you guys should be able to beat at least THEM two weeks from now, though!

The scoreboard was already out of hand before the game even started. It was just slow... Stuff I'm impressed with from that game: the special teams, Cade Thompson's accuracy, our depth at receiver and running back, and our offensive line. The only minus on the offense was we did fumble and lost the ball. Our defense bailed them out this time, but they can't do that against teams like Morristown West or Central. Defense still has a little bit to go, but they turned in a solid performance tonight. Kyle Harris' crushing hit was great, and so was Byner's on another receiver. Jenkins' interception was also noteworthy. We will see how improved they are against Alcoa's 1,000 yard triplets next Friday.

I'll have to agree with ol' Ron there. Ryan Tallent was impressive even in limited duty last year. With the graduation of Chris McCord, we need Tallent to take over as the primary workhorse. Byner's a great kid and a shifty runner, and I can't wait to see what plays that Coach Quarles has in mind for him, but it'd be tough for him to bull his way through the DL. Tallent's our guy for that type of dirty work. Carter is a much improved squad from the late 90's. They're no longer a "bye team." The Rebs better practice hard all week and not let down. Defense will be the key to winning this game, which is somewhat worrisome. But I have faith in Matt Valentine and his boys to pull it all together and play hard. "One at a time" is a good saying, but it's also important that the defense plays well in this game in order to become confident for the Alcoa game as well.

Why am I not surprised that Central is doing well again? Sounds like it'll be another 3-4A championship slugfest between Maryville and Central this year.

Always seems like we start every year with a questionable Maryville defense, but we always get it done sooner or later. That's good to hear that G-P couldn't handle Maryville's offense. From the highlights that I saw on the news, it looked like a couple of our receivers (Maples and Jenkins) did a good job. Looking forward to Carter now!

Thanks, pepvol. I've been thinking about it, and I have to say in my defense, what the heck are message boards good for if not to express our opinions? I guess we're not allowed to be fans AND express our opinions around here. I've been a devout follower of the Maryville Rebels since I played with them, altogether 10 years and counting, and have not said anything remotely bad about a single player (except possibly Denarius Arrington, I was rough with him sometimes) in that time, not even on my web site about the Rebels. First time I do, you guys bite my head off. And I had absolutely no malice in my comments, it was just what I thought. I find that very interesting indeed. And if you all are worried about Cade feeling bad at seeing my comments, well, he's a big boy. I'm sure he can take it. And it appears that I'm not the only one who's skeptical, so he probably will have to. But I'm sure he will have a good year.

Pardon me fellow Rebels, is this the team that we re-scheduled to replace our scrimmage with D-B? And what day is this scrimmage? Today (Tuesday)? I'd like to go too. Never seen Austin-East High before.

Aw, what a bummer. I was hoping to get my first look at Maryville in this scrimmage, and to see them really kick butt. I'm sure they're not too pleased about what happened last week. I wonder if we WILL re-schedule with another team - and I also hope it won't require a long trip.

And I do think I have some idea of how much of a factor injuries have on college football players. (Though of course, probably not as much as you do, if you're who I think you are.) Chuck Prugh is one of my closest friends. I was really distressed about him last fall when it seemed like he was about to die. And I frequently get in touch with him since I see him almost every day at college. I really, really, really hope he'll bounce back and kick butt, but I wonder if it's a bad idea for him to even be on the field sometimes.

One thing I just want to say... ClemsonDad you also seemed to imply that I have some veiled interest in our players going to UT. Actually, no, I don't. I may be a student at UT, and I may have been following UT since the Peyton Manning days, but when Carl Stewart and his Tigers come to town, although I joke with Carl sometimes about us shutting him down, I actually hope HE'LL kill UT. I want the best for Carl. I want the best for everybody who ever played for the Rebels, no matter where they go. I think Clemson was incredibly smart to pick up Nick Black, and if Black hadn't gotten injured against FSU (which was depressing to see), I think he would have gone on to be a very, very good player (congratulations to him and his new wife, by the way). I think Carson-Newman was very smart to pick up all our players, including Brad Merritt, Matt Sharp, and Chuck Prugh. I really thought Toki McCray also would get to start for North Carolina State too, and was saddened that he couldn't. I was excited, though, when he would be playing for Eastern Kentucky, which was where my parents went to college (I've been there before). However, I think he's now into his fifth year, and so far the news hasn't been great. I had absolutely no idea that it was injury-related, so I just figured he must just have had competition too tough to beat. I figured, well, if Toki can't make it, I sure don't know if Cade would. I only spoke out about that because I worry about him not getting a shot. But it was very wrong of me to point that opinion out here. If I had time to think about it, I probably wouldn't have reacted like that either. I was just really, really surprised!

Oh, and I also wanted to say that I had no idea that Toki had any injuries. Figures. He'd never admit it to me. Anyway, I'm a supporter from now on. I won't "bash" any more of our players. I don't like being a villain anyway! GO CADE THOMPSON! I bet he'll throw for 2,000 yards this year and 25 TD's without breaking a sweat! thumb

Plus - I also want to say that I have nothing against Cade, and hope he would get the best opportunity that he can get to play football. Yes, I have doubts about him being able to start for North Carolina, but I do WANT to see him play college football and wish the best for him. If he achieves that, then that's a very amazing accomplishment. And, heck, that's a good education if nothing else, so congratulations to him.

All right, Clemson Dad. You've put me in my place, so I apologize to everybody for my comments. Despite my complete amazement at this D1 attention on our current quarterback, I do hope Cade DOES make it at the next level. Moreover, I hope Toki goes on to be a NFL player, too, somehow, and I'm also cheering for Chuck Prugh to compete at UT and maybe have a chance to impress scouts, although I'm worried about his irregular heartbeat. (By the way - I've been wondering - ClemsonDad, are you Joe Black?)

A quarterback from Maryville High once went to North Carolina State. He didn't make it because he wasn't Philip Rivers. (Even now, he's having a tough time at Eastern Kentucky.) And I will say this right now, Cade Thompson is NOT Philip Rivers, either. Sure, he's going to a top program, but I definitely think they're taking a big risk with him. I'm not trying to be mean or anything. I like Cade quite well, he's a good kid and a fair athlete, and I think he will do a great job for the Rebels this year. But unless he shows tremendous improvement this year, he's not genuine D1 material ...yet. If he does succeed at that level, then he's one of the best successful sleepers from MHS I ever saw. But we're all kinda getting ahead of ourselves here - let's focus on the upcoming season.

Wow. Well, that's a surprise to me. If Cade goes to UNC, he's going to have more difficulty starting there than most other D1 prospects at quarterback will. I mean, if Toki McCray can't make it at North Carolina State... or even Eastern Kentucky for that matter, Cade is going to have a tougher time, because his arm isn't as strong, nor are his feet as quick, and his accuracy is questionable at times. And I have seen all his games except one or two. HOWEVER, he is usually very reliable and smart. He could be a Tom Brady type quarterback that just comes out of nowhere. But to think that, you would have to be highly optimistic of his talents. IMO, his best year was his sophomore year. He hasn't shown much improvement since then. Still, sharing time with another quarterback probably did throw his throwing rhythm off last year, and for a couple of these games, he was sick. So I guess we should all just wait and see what he does this year. (P.S. to these who's seen him up close recently, has he put on any weight since last year?)

I had to chuckle when reading that Cade was supposed to be a D1 prospect. No offense to Cade either, but at this point, he'll be lucky to play for Maryville College. He has to prove a lot of things this season first to convince me that he belongs with the big boys in the NCAA. As for the scrimmage itself, it's still early. Maryville had to have a bad one SOME time. It doesn't mean anything, except that Oak Ridge is ahead of Maryville at this point in the year and a little more ready to contend in their own divison than we are in ours. I'm sure Coach Q and his staff will work things out before our first game with Carter and we'll be alright. Morristown West will be a real challenge early in the year, though (again). BTW, this is my first post since last season. Nice to be back and talking about HS football again!

Gotta give Coach Hammontree and the MHS athletic department some credit, though - we certainly drew in some mighty good coaches! My freshman year in H.S. ('95) was the first year Coach Quarles was there and I had no idea who he was and no clue that he would become the successful head coach that he would. I think Coach Hammontree knew, though. Thank goodness we got away from that wing-T formation...

I was a lot more pleased with this game's results than in the first game. We barely escaped in that first one, and we could have lost that game at the end of regulation... this game we made a good comeback to avoid that sort of thing, and our defense rised up to the occasion so we didn't have to go through overtime all over again. I was wrong about Chris McCord not being as much a factor in this one... although he didn't have any long runs, he had a lot of scores. Props to Quarles for that beautiful play where Cade handed off to Andrew Clement who promptly ran over to give it to Alex Rouse, who then stepped back and lofted it to a streaking Tyler Gaskin for a memorable score. They should try to do that kind of thing more often. Alex Rouse had a memorable performance in this one. He didn't get to play much at quarterback all year until this game. Now he can always tell his wee ones someday that "I played quarterback and sparked the Maryville Red Rebels to a win over Knoxville Central in the quarterfinals! I threw a touchdown and ran for 60-something yards!" Hopefully we will bring our "A" game to Morristown West next week. That's a team we simply can't make any mistakes against.

You guys know what I'm really worried about? That the winner of this game will wear themselves out too much to be able to put up a good fight at Morristown West's field next Friday. Ah, well. It'll be a good game tonight. If Matt Valentine returns, then I will be considerably less worried about Cassen Jackson. Andrew Hodge and Jeffrey Smith, Jr. should give Zach Helton all sorts of problems. The absence of Dave Garner, I think, will hurt a bit, but Andrew Clement is a player. Central doesn't have any receivers that really scares me right now. Alex Rouse being in this game will give Maryville a couple of options that they weren't able to explore in the last game (pun not intended, honestly!) I agree that Tyler Gaskin needs some good throws his way in order for the Rebels to really have a good night. Gaskin had an amazing catch last week that I'll never forget. I hate to say it but I don't think Chris McCord will be as much a factor in this game as he was the last time. I'm sure Central's defense doesn't want to lose the game again on account of allowing McCord to break another long run. Of course maybe Antonio Byner can take advantage of this and do some good things. We'll see. Anyway, Maryville over Central by 14 in my opinion.

That stinks about Garner's injury. All of our seniors are having a tough time with the injury bug this year it seems. I was shocked to see that Matt Valentine (not a senior, he's a soph., but still a valuable asset at middle linebacker nevertheless) was out this game, I wasn't surprised that Central could run the ball so well on us because if you'll look at our linebacking corps right now, they ain't intimidating size-wise at all. Then of course we're missing Chris Large and Ryan Headrick. Andrew Hodge and Parnells have also been nicked a couple of times. It's hard to be intense when you're hurting. I was surprised at how off our quarterbacks were. Andrew Clement kept getting open and they kept either overthrowing or underthrowing him, or throwing the ball too hard for him to catch. Just not a good passing night for us at all. What the heck was that all about at the end with them handing the ball off to our third-string quarterback Kat Kimsey at running back on consecutive plays? I guess that's Quarles' verison of being merciful. I would've given Tallent a couple of balls instead, myself.

Anspa, it was back when Hixson had the Bullocks brothers in their senior year. We played them in the first round, and Andrew Baumann, our kicker, had to win that one for us - yes, the score was that close. I think it must've have been 2000, the year we lost the first four games then went on to win state anyway. Hixson was our toughest opponent in the playoffs that year. We went on to beat teams like Red Bank, Greeneville, and Memphis East all pretty easily.