binns37388

The Tullahoma Wildcats finally get to play a game at home. After starting the season 2-2 and all 4 games on the road, the Cats host a very dangerous Lincoln Co team that is also 2-2 on the season. Both teams have played a tough schedule so far. Lincoln has beaten a good Giles Co team and Lawrence Co but lost to unbeaten Siegal and a good Independence team. It should be a great crowd and Tullahoma will put on display a brand new Jumbotron scoreboard. The Falcons are 1-0 in district play and the Cats 0-1. There will be a tailgate party about 3 hours before the 7pm kickoff. This is a huge game for both teams. I like the Cats in a close one, but I wouldn't put over a nickel on it. The early forecast will be for warm weather and isolated showers. If for some reason you can't attend, listen to the internet broadcast on www.fantasyradio.com or local Charter channel 6 with Scott Shasteen and myself. Also, we'll talk about the game and others on High School Sports Plus along with interviews with Coach John Olive of Tullahoma and Coach Lee Davis of Coffee Co. every Monday evening on 101.5FM in Manchester at 6pm. 101.5FM is the Vol network and Bonnaroo station in this area.

I just received word that the young man passed away this morning. That is such a terrible tragedy.

After watching the replay, one of the Tullahoma defenders did push the receiver in the back and the reason for the late flag was the official reached into his pocket and pulled out his beanbag, so he had to reach again for the flag. I apologize for doubting the official on that call and as in most cases, the officials do get it right.

I'll take a 1pt win right now for the Cats and be happy.

From a Tullahoma fan that went to the game, I was impressed with the Riverdale QB. He seemed very smooth. Not only does he have a good arm, but runs the ball extremely well.

I questioned some of the calls Thursday nite, but after watching the replay, I think most of the calls were legit, except one. I thought Tullahoma had recoverd a Columbia fumble and when the players were unstacked, Allen Starks of Tullahoma was at the bottom of the pile with the football and gave it to the officials, but they ruled Columbia had recovered the fumble. Columbia is a very good football team and made some big plays when they had to, but overall I thought Tullahoma was the better team that night. I hope the Cats will get another chance to play the Lions. If Tullahoma has that same kind of effort the rest of the season, they should make the playoffs. I was especially pleased with the defensive effort against one of the best offenses in the state. The offense moved the ball against a very good Columbia defense and the game plan was much more like the scheme used in the McGavock game which the Cats won with ease. I guess the question is will the Cats provide the same effort against Coffee Co in the Coffee Pot rivalry game next Friday nite in Manchester? Its homecoming also for the Red Raiders and they would love to beat Tullahoma and get their first win of the season. Last season in Tullahoma, the Cats had to rally from 22pts down in the 4th quarter to get a win over their longtime rivals.

It turned out to be great game where Tullahoma actually dominated the 2nd half, but could score only 3pts. In other opportunities in the red zone, the Cats fumbled on a busted play around the Lion 15 yd line and had other chances to score and just couldn't get it done. Tullahoma proved they can play with the top ranked team in the state. Columbia has a fine offense and a trio of excellent receivers and the Lions made some big play at big times. There's a possibility these teams could meet again in the playoffs. Next up for the Cats will be a friday nite contest in Manchester in the Coffee Pot game against the Coffee Co Red Raiders. Tullahoma is now 1-2 on the season, but could be 3-0. The Lions are 3-0 and I'm sure they will still be ranked #1 next week. My defensive player of the game for Tullahoma was Allen Starks and on offenes it was Jared Davis. I'm still up at this time because I came home and watched the replay of the tv game at home.

I think Signal Mtn. has too much speed for Bledsoe Co, but if the Warriors can win the battle at the line of scrimmage and control the ball on offense, they have a chance. I think it needs to be a fairly low scoring game for Bledsoe to win. Signal Mtn has the talent to repeat as state champions, even though they have moved up in classification. Both teams will be battered and bruised after this game. It could be one of the better games in the state next Friday.

I don't think Columbia fans will get much response on the message board about this weeks game from Tullahoma fans, especially after the loss to Cookeville Friday nite. There wasn't much response after the win at McGavock either. The Wildcat fans aren't saying much this year at all for some reason, win or lose. I have told some people that I think Columbia is just as good or better than last years state championship team. I haven't seen the Lions play this season, but their scores in the first two games have been impressive. Tullahoma didn't play well at all at Cookeville and I think their minds were on the game this week. In spite of that, they still led in the 4th quarter and had a chance to win with less than a minute to go. I think Columbia will get a good effort from the Cats Thursday nite, but whether it will be good enough, remains to be seen. It definitely will a be a test of character for these players. I just hope both teams come out of this game injury free.

I think Tullahoma had their mind on Columbia tonite in Cookeville. The Cats made lots of mistakes with dropped passes, penalties and fumbles. In spite of that, Tullahoma led Cookeville in the 4th quarter 7-6. The game wasn't decided until less than a minute to go when Cookeville intercepted a pass as Tullahoma was in the Cookeville red zone trying to at least tie the score. I'm not trying to take anything away from Cookeville, as I thought they dominated the line of scrimmage and their big running back who weighs at least 230lbs was hard to tackle. I'll be surprised if they don't win their district title this season. The Cats looked about as bad as McGavock did last Friday. The Cats have a short time to prepare for a road trip to play the #1 ranked 5A team in the state, the Columbia Lions. Its a Thursday nite tv game.

Two of the best coaches in Tennessee will go head to head tonite in Cookeville, as the 5th ranked Tullahoma Wildcats take on the Cookeville Cavaliers. Coach John Olive is in his 19th season as head coach of the Cats with a 156-88 record and his counterpart, Jerry Joslin of Cookeville, is 129-78. Tullahoma will be out to avenge a loss to Cavaliers two years ago in Cookeville. This promises to be one of the most exciting games in the state Friday nite. You can listen to the live broadcast on 101.5, www.fantasyradio.com or local Charter channel 6 in Tullahoma. Scott Shasteen and myself will begin the broadcast at 6pm with the pre-game show and we'll have a live scoreboard show following the game. New this season is Murphy Fairs Matchups which will air at 6:15pm. I hope everyone who doesn't attend the game will join us tonite on 101.5FM for Friday nite football.

I thought the biggest upset was Camden beating David Lipscomb in Nashville. How many times does anyone go to Lipscomb and win a football game?

Tullahoma is ranked 5th in the state in the first AP high football poll for 2011 in 5A. Thats just another reason for Cookeville to be ready for the Cats Friday nite. Don't kid yourself. Cookeville is one of the best coached teams in Tenn and has been for a long time.I hope Tullahoma is not thinking ahead for next weeks rival, Columbia. This will be a tough game for the the Wildcats and for anyone else that plays at Cookeville.

Tullahoma makes the long trek to Cookeville Friday nite to play Cookeville. The Cavaliers will be looking to rebound from a loss to Brentwood 21-7 last Thurs nite. The Wildcats are coming off a resounding road win at McGavock. This should be a great game. I'm sure Cookeville will contend for the District 6AAA championship and Tullahoma is one of the pre-season favorites to win District 8AAA. The game will be broadcast live on 101.5, local Charter channel 6 and www.fantasyradio.com. Join Scott Shasteen and myself at 6pm Friday nite for the pre-game show and the scoreboard show after the game. Also at 6pm Monday nite on 101.5Fm, its High School Sports Plus and we'll be talking with Tullahoma head coach John Olive and Coffee Co head coach Lee Davis.

I agree. Franklin Co, Lincoln Co and Shelbyville seem to have teams who can beat Columbia or Tullahoma on any Friday. I thought it was a great game plan and executed well for Tullahoma Friday nite. They played to their strength. The Rebels won in a tough environment and Lincoln Co beat a good Giles Co team. The Lions played Lawrence Co at the right time. I'm sure the Wildcats will get better as the season goes on. The Golden Eagles have some good skill players and are always dangerous. Their running back is very good. The fun is just beginning.

Considering that Grundy Co could have won the last 2 years against Marion Co and didn't, I wasn't shocked that the Yellow Jackets won at Grundy tonite. It was good to see them get over the hump and get the win and a great start to the season. Its a program that has slowly gotten better the last few years. Next week is a trip to S.Pittsburg. I guess we'll know more about them after that game, but enjoy this week. I don't think Grundy Co had beaten Marion Co in 8 years.

I do radio broadcasts for Tullahoma football, but I have a good friend in Macon Co who told me 2 weeks ago that Macon Co would beat Jo Byrns by a big margin and he was correct. Congratulations on the win in the season opener and good luck the rest of the season.

The defending 8AAA district champs picked up a big road win against the defending District 12AAA champs, the McGavock Raiders, 36-12 in Nashville,Tn. The Cats led 36-0 before substituting in the 3rd quarter. Tullahoma displayed a powerful running game tonite with Montrel Berry and Trey Burkes doing most of the damage. The Cats open the season with 4 straight road games and next week they travel to Cookeville to play the Cavaliers.

The Tullahoma Wildcats travel to Nashville, Tn Friday nite to take on the Raiders of McGavock High School. McGavock is the defending District 12 champion and Tullahoma was the District 8AAA champion last season. This should be a great game and its the first time these two schools have ever played each other in football. Maybe Tullahoma should do like the major college programs do and schedule Red Boiling Springs, Community and Huntland in between their district games. The weather should be pretty good with scattered storms forecast for middle tennessee. I know McGavock lost a lot of good players off last years team, but its a big school with around 2700 students. I'm sure they'll be loaded with talent. You can listen to our live pregame show starting at 6pm and at 6:30pm a new feature will be "MURPHYS MATCHUPS" WITH Murphy Fair talking about most of the big games this week-end. Then after the game, the post game will be on with scores from all around the state. You can listen on www.fantasyradio.com, charter channel 6 and live on 101.5. The live radio game for this week will be Coffee Co at Shelbyville. Join Scott Shasteen and myself each Friday for some high school football.

Jordan Sheffield, pitcher and shortstop for the Tullahoma Wildcats, tried out and made the USA 16U baseball team this past week. One of only 2 players from Tennessee to make the team, he will be in Mexico this week to compete against teams from around the world. Congratulations to Jordan and his family. Jordan will be a junior at THS.

In my opinion,one of the top baseball coaches in the state, Steven Roberts, has applied for the job. Steven averaged around 30 wins a year in his 4 year stint at Marion Co. I don't know if he'll get the job, but he's the one person that could turn that program around. I would love to have him helping at Tullahoma.

I talked with the Tullahoma AD this morning and I understand the player, Jacob Pearson, had gotten a stinger last nite and he was going to be ok. It was a scary situation and I appreciate your concern. I thought Giles Co looked good last nite. They seemed to be a well balanced team and I'm sure will have a fine season and make the playoffs. Tullahoma has some work to do, especially on defense, to obtain the lofty goals it has set for this season. Losing, maybe the best all around player on the team, is not helping. He was the punter and the only punt I saw, went about 10 yards last nite. 3 interceptions by our senior QB hurt also, although one pick was on a deflection off the receivers hands.

Carlos Smith is the new womens bkb coach at Motlow College. I assume this is the same Carlos Smith that coached at Franklin Co HS in Winchester. Can anyone verify that?

In addition to raising the DH rate to $105, the rate for a JV-Varsity DH is $95 with the JV game limited to 5 innings and a 1 hour & 15 time limit. The single game rate remains at $65. This is the first raise for officials in 4 years in baseball.