osunut2

Clark Duncan would be my "dark horse" pick. Managed to build an excellent program at Powell in the 90s, and now has a chance to "build" a program at South Doyle.

Powell played surprisingly well against Catholic in the jamboree, which should give the Panthers a little bit of confidence (even though it was a glorified scrimmage). The Cherokees have former Panther head coach Clark Duncan at the helm, which gives South Doyle an instant upgrade in the coaching department. I expect SD to be slightly improved, but just how much is the bigger question. The Cherokees won 4 games last year, but were destroyed at Powell last fall (52-25 I think). Also, what can we expect out of the Panthers, now that Kier Houston has graduated? On paper, Deshawn Mobley is the key for the Panthers, with Houston gone. What are your thoughts on Friday night's matchup?

This game should be an excellent measuring stick for both teams. Bearden seems to have the edge on the ground and in the kicking game, and that is a plus this early in the season. I'll take Bearden, 28-20.

That makes sense, thanks for clearing that up for me. I'm excited to see the finished product in a couple of weeks!

I haven't noticed exactly what you are talking about. I'll take a look when I am by there, most likely tomorrow. They poured a concrete pad next to the concession stand (where the old caboose used to be), but I can't figure out what it's purpose is. At first glance, I wondered if they are planning on constructing something on the pad, but I'm not sure what. They poured a similar concrete pad at the far end of the home seating, but that may be permanent asphalt repair.

HTV is right, the hedges are history. The stadium is really coming together! As of last night, the stadium is nearly complete. Construction crews appear to be adding the new fence around the track this week, in addition to finishing up the band seating in both end zones. There is still a lot of cosmetic work to be done, from what I can tell. I'll probably stop by again next week to take a look at the progress. HTV, do you know what the purpose of the new concrete pad next to the concession stand is?

I had another thought, HTV. Are there any plans for some kind of "locker room" for visiting teams? I wasn't aware of any, and I was just curious to know if this was something that might be alleviated in the future.

Powell doesn't charge for parking, so I don't think that's an option. HTV is right, I won't make this into the "team versus band" issue; both play important roles in enriching the lives of teenagers.

I'm one of the leaders of the marching band alumni association, and we are throwing around the idea of raising the money ourselves, depending on what the needs for a second concession stand/new restrooms are. Since the current band boosters are responsible for the concession stand that already exists, we are planning on discussing the possibility of a second concession stand at an upcoming band booster meeting. The band boosters have their hands full with funding the current band program and staffing the existing concession stand, so the alumni figured that it would help out a great deal if we were able to fund such a project. Is this something that you think is feasible and should I float this idea by the football booster club as well? I certainly mean no offense and this won't make me the most popular person with some, but my personal opinion is that the football booster club should be the one running any new concession stand on the visitors side. It's done that way at Halls and other schools. The football booster club should be able to reap some of the benefit of their hard work by being able to generate some revenue on Friday nights, too. The band does well in its concession stand. There is enough there for the football booster club to be able to get a well deserved piece of the pie, too. Like I said, that's just my opinion, but it is one that I know a lot of folks share. By the way, has a new band director been hired yet? I actually agree with you, and I never really understood why the band boosters earned the right to sell concessions, instead of the football boosters. That being said, I would completely support the football boosters building and operating a second concession stand. As far as I know, Ricky Shaw, one of the assistants from the past few years, has been promoted to head director. I don't know all of the details because I haven't done any volunteer work for the band in a few years. It's a shame to see Spence Milligan leave, but then again, I don't know the details of his departure. He will be very difficult to replace, just like Greg Roach was difficult to replace back in 2000.

I'm one of the leaders of the marching band alumni association, and we are throwing around the idea of raising the money ourselves, depending on what the needs for a second concession stand/new restrooms are. Since the current band boosters are responsible for the concession stand that already exists, we are planning on discussing the possibility of a second concession stand at an upcoming band booster meeting. The band boosters have their hands full with funding the current band program and staffing the existing concession stand, so the alumni figured that it would help out a great deal if we were able to fund such a project. Is this something that you think is feasible and should I float this idea by the football booster club as well?

I've heard the same thing about the hedges, but I haven't asked either the head coach or the AD about it. They've been a bit busy recently. I'll see what I can find out. I do agree with you. I think the hedges give the field some character, but with stands on both sides now it probably doesn't make sense to have them just on one side. Now that I think about it, that might look a bit odd. I think we are all still living in the mode of the old stadium. It will take some getting used to having stands on both sides and in the end zones for the respective bands. On rest rooms, I don't think there will be anything done for this year. Getting the home and visitor sides built and ready is phase one, from what I understand. New restrooms and other ammenities will probably have to wait until next year. I suspect that there will be some kind of temporary concession stand and possibly port-o-pottys put on the visiting side for this year, but I don't know that for sure. I wondered about the hedges and the possibility of new restrooms as well. I would love to keep the hedges, but for it to look right, they'd probably have to plant hedges on the opposite side of the field to match (now that there are bleachers on both sides). As far as new restrooms are concerned, this is a must. I'm not sure if that is something that the county will fund as part of the stadium renovation, although I hope it's part of the package. If Knox County doesn't fund that, I hope that the band boosters or the touchdown club will take the initiative to build a 2nd concession stand, with new restrooms.

Yep, I actually talked to the owner of the company who is doing the construction last week. He told me that they have a late penalty for every day that they go past August 1, which is this Saturday. He told me that it would be done on time "if we have to work three shifts around the clock" to meet that deadline. I'm in the same "see it to believe it" mode that you are. I don't know that, and especially with the weather forecast being what it is for this week, that they will be done by Saturday night, but money does have a way of motivating contractors. The Stadium will be done in plenty of time for Fulton on August 28, but the field itself still needs some work. It's getting better, but it will likely mean no practice on it before the home opener. I've been told that the freshman jamboree, which the Powell Touchdown Club sponsors and puts on every year, has been moved to Halls for its August 15 date. Powell's only home scrimmage will be this Friday against Austin-East, but they are going to scrimmage on the practice field, and not the game field. I do have some up to date pictures of the new stadium progress on my computer, but I'm not computer savy enough to get them from there to this forum. I also heard that they were planning on moving the Freshmen Jamboree to Halls, due to the construction at Powell. Just out of curiosity, why is the field in such bad condition? It looks pretty torn up in places, but I don't really understand why, since all of the actual construction is taking place on the outside of the track (with the exception of the concrete pads for the marching band bleachers). Are they constructing anything else other than new bleachers?

For the first time since its demolition, I dropped by Powell High School's Scarbro Stadium last night. What an improvement this new stadium will be! Visiting fans will no longer complain about seating issues, now that Knox County actually decided to build seating on both sides of the field. I had to see it to believe it, considering the challenges the engineers faced when constructing the visiting bleachers. There will also be new permanent seating in each end zone for the marching bands. The first home game is exactly one month from today, against Fulton. The actual structure appears to be complete (on both sides), they are just finishing the railings, steps, and a few remaining bleachers. The band stands have not been constructed, but the concrete pads for those bleachers are ready. A lot of the unfinished construction appears to be cosmetic. I'll be in Switzerland all next week, but I plan to post some photos of the new stadium once I get back. HTV, have you heard if everything will be ready by then? Anyone else have any thoughts or comments?

I completely agree.

I just don't think I can see West winning more than 4 games this season. They have a very difficult schedule from top to bottom. I can't picture them beating Farragut, Catholic, Maryville, or Sullivan South. After a rebuilding year last season, Fulton will be back as usual, which will be a tough game; plus, I think that Bearden is a step ahead of West as well. That leaves games against Hardin Valley, Lenoir City, Heritage, and William Blount. A 4-6 record seems reasonable, but anything better than that would be pretty impressive, given their schedule.

Gallatin was a AAA powerhouse, before TSSAA introduced the new classification system in 1993. Gallatin hasn't had the same success since. Don't get me wrong, they still have a solid football program, but they have only won 6 playoff games since 1993, and they've only been beyond the 2nd round of the playoffs once (2001) since then.

Now I'm starting to find some conflicting reports. According to the Chattanooga Free Press last fall, wild card berths would go to teams with the next-best records to round out a playoff bracket at 32 teams. So it looks like those wild card spots could actually be filled by teams from any district, not just districts with an odd number of teams. Confused yet?!

Here is some more helpful information. According to TSSAA, there are 5 districts that each have an odd number of 5A teams - districts 4, 9, 10, 12, and 14. Excluding wild card teams, there are 27 automatic playoff spots, which leaves 5 wild card spots available from those 5 districts. Similarly, there are 24 automatic bids for 6A teams, while there will be 8 wild card spots available for teams from 7 districts (districts 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 13, and 16 have an odd number of teams), if my math is correct.

In district 4, there are 3 5A teams (Lenoir City, Catholic, West). Only one team will be guaranteed a playoff spot, but a second team could earn a "wild card" berth, depending on their overall/district record at the end of the regular season. There are 5 6A teams in this district, meaning that only 2 teams will be guaranteed playoff spots, while a 3rd team could earn a wild card berth into the playoffs (depending on their overall/district record). West is going to have a very tough road in order to get into the playoffs. On paper, all they have to do is beat Lenoir City and Catholic (or finish ahead of both teams in the district). However, beating Catholic will be easier said than done. If they can't beat Catholic, they will likely have to find a way to finish ahead of half the 6A teams in their district, just to have a shot at a wild card berth, which will be no easy task (although that depends on the strength of the other 5A teams vying for a wild card spot). At first glance, I would assume that your playoff teams would be Maryville (6A), Farragut (6A), and Catholic (5A), with Bearden (6A) and West (5A) fighting for a wild card spot. In district 3, I would assume that your playoff teams would be Oak Ridge (6A) and Clinton (5A), while the last 2 automatic 5A spots will be a crap shoot between Anderson County, Central, Halls, and Powell. With an even number of 5A teams in district 3, there will be no wild card eligible teams, but a 6A wild card team could emerge (Karns or Hardin Valley).

In short, the top half go to the playoffs in each district (ex. top 3 of 6). It gets a little bit complicated with an odd number of teams. In district 3, there are 3 6A teams. Only one team is guaranteed a playoff spot; however, a second team could gain a "wild card" playoff berth, depending on their district/overall record (compared to other potential wild card teams).

Since all 5 of these teams play the same district schedule, it obviously comes down to non-district games. Here is how I'd rank district 4. 1) Farragut - Dobyns-Bennett, Oak Ridge, Riverdale 2) Maryville - Alcoa, McMinn County, Oak Ridge 3) West - Sullivan South, Fulton, Hardin Valley 4) Catholic - Rhea County, Austin East, Webb 5) Bearden - Walker Valley, Jefferson County, Rhea County 6) William Blount - Sevier County, Karns, Jefferson County 7) Lenoir City - Loudon, Sequoyah, Kingston 8) Heritage - Karns, South Doyle, Seymour Farragut has the toughest schedule by far. Maryville has 3 tough opponents, compared to West's 2. I think there is a step down from Catholic's schedule to Bearden's and beyond. District 3 doesn't have the depth of district 4 this year, but here's how I'd rank their schedules. 1) Oak Ridge - Farragut, Maryville 2) Clinton - Dobyns-Bennett, TC Roberson 3) Central - Webb, Morristown West 4) Powell - Fulton, South Doyle 5) Halls - Sevier County, Webb 6) Anderson County - Morristown East, Livingston Academy 7) Hardin Valley - Carter, West 8) Karns - Heritage, William Blount 9) Campbell County - Loudon, White County There is a huge jump from #2 to #3 on this list.

Until Clinton proves that they have some depth, I doubt that they will dominate. They are definitely the team to beat this season, but a lack of depth could be their undoing.

OR won 66-0 back in 1990. The 2 teams met during a 4-year span between 1987 and 1990. OR won all 4 games by a combined score of 170-7 (according to HSF Database).

In the past 7 or 8 years, I can't tell you how many times Powell's great expectations got the best of them. It is very difficult for teenagers to meet those expectations, especially when you are "the hunted." Clinton has the same question marks that Powell had a few years ago under Larry Stevens, and I wonder how the Dragons will respond. Depth was a huge issue for the Dragons last year (just like those pre-Matt Lowe Panthers), and I have to think that it will be a big factor again this season. That said, I still think that with Clinton's star power, they are the team to beat in this region. As far as Powell is concerned, I'm curious to see how their offensive and defensive line play works out this season. Kier Houston made up for a lot of the mediocre line play last year, and I wonder how the line will perform without him this season. The two-platoon system will be in full effect once again, and that will definitely help. I'm not a fan of using those "big-uglies" on both sides of the ball, and Matt Lowe's system has proven that a two-platoon system (in high school) will wear down your opponents. Last year's Clinton-Powell game is a sterling example of that. On another note, how is the new stadium coming along? Does anyone have any information on how it will look?

Why does it seem like all of these district 3-AAA threads are getting so far out of hand?? First we had to close and reopen the Powell thread, now this one is heading down that same road. Someone always has to have the final word it seems. Why don't we just get back to the topic at hand??