CtownGK

i have to say tullahoma and columbia will be a mighty good matchup, tullahoma not losing as many starters as columbia will def have the edge, but however walker is the best sweeper in the state, and sowell makes great back to accompany him, i dont believe they will ever lose any high balls with them back there. Storey will be the biggest scoring threat and i believe he will have around 20 this season. Gray has the biggest responsibility having to basically run the midfield which is smaller than most schools, he will have to control the ball and try to feed the ball to storey. Moss is coming off a torn acl but should be a good help in the back as long as he is in shape and keeps his speed. the left winger Dale should be a lot better this year which comes with age and experience. Danny just needs to make sure he has sure hands and should a good job back there. Hann should be a good filler for either a partner with Storey up top or Gray in the middle, and Stewert more than likely be splitting time with Moss in the back, and allowing him to make runs up. Stafford will be a good stopper as long as he keeps his head in check and avoids stupid fouls. As for tullahoma i know Uzzi should have a big year scoring around 20 or more too, and they have a good keeper who was a beast last year. this match up should be good and may be worthy of me coming home to watch, best of luck to columbia throughout the season

Bryan Cartmell (Columbia Central) Huntingdon College, Montgomery, Alabama

As far as BGA being the better team maybe so. Talent wise that is. But there is more than talent that has to go out on the field. First of all mental preparation is very important. Maybe ECS was better mentally prepared. Team chemistry is another important factor. Im sure BGA was hurt by Walton not playing. Look at all the big name teams that have been eliminated, Brentwood,FRA, Hendersonville, BGA, CBHS Perhaps they took their opponent too lightly. If that is the case then I believe these teams were not mentally prepared. When it comes to the state tournament no opponent should be taken lightly. Look at Farragut. They realize everyone is picking them to win the championship. But they realize nobody is just going to hand them the trophy. They have gone out and crushed a very good McMinn Co. team 7-3 and followed that up with a 5-0 win over Houston. Remember CBHS defeated Farragut during the season but in crunch time you can see what schools step it up. Hopefully Oak Ridge will play Farragut the way they did the first time they played and not the second. Congrats to everyone.

Yeah but why were they off their game. Maybe Oak Ridge had something to do with that.

They can do it as long as their defense plays a solid 80 minutes. If they play Brentwood they will be playing a solid defensive team. Although Brentwood was a little inconsistent down the stretch they have a real solid team. Lets face it when two really good teams play each other anything can happen. Both teams need to play real solid fundamental soccer because the slightest mistake can cost them the game. I give Farragut the edge on offense, but Brentwood the edge on defense. That is if they meet in the finals. Each team has to win one more game to go to the finals. If Farragut can score 3 goals they should win. But a matchup of Farragut and Brentwood would probably be the 2 best teams in the state. Like Ive said before goalkeeping will be the difference.

This is quickly looking like a Brentwood Farragut final but not much has been said about Houston. They shut out a very good Hendersonville team. Looks like they have a pretty decent defense. Probably wont be able to defeat Farragut though. Brentwood on the other hand has a superb defense, probably a little better than Farraguts. Brentwoods keeper will have to have a stellar game against Farragut if they meet. I wasnt real impressed with McMinns defense when we played them so I figured their keeper would really be tested against Farragut. I thought that McMinns offense would be able to compete well against Farragut but I was wrong. But with Price, Slack and Shavers all returning next year they should still be strong. McMinn has nothing to be ashamed of when you lose to defending state champs. How good is Farraguts keeper?

Jared never scored on me, but he did have 2 assists. The first goal was Shaver's. Jared played a beautiful ball, I came out to punch it, but Shaver headed it off my hands into the net. The 2nd goal was Slack's. Jared flicked the ball to the streaking Slack who dribbled to the six or so and placed the ball far corner. The thrid goal was agian Shaver's. Our wing tried to dribble out of pressure on the sideline. Shaver stole the ball, did something cool and shot it. I never saw the shot or Shaver, all I saw was the ball hit far post into the goal. Jared didn't score any, but his presence was felt. Tough lost today McMinn. Y'all will more than likely be returning next year.

hey kingfish when is cbhs, the best team in the state, next game?

Ouch...

For what its worth. I think it is between Farragut, McMinn Co and Brentwood. Ive seen Brentwood and McMinn Co. play. I havent seen Farragut play since last year in Memphis. The team that gets the best goalkeeping should take it. All three teams have explosive offenses so it will come down to defense. McMinns keeper is okay and so is Brentwoods. Nothing real great. Have never seen Farraguts keeper unless its the same on as last year. But I think goalkeeping will be the difference. I think out of the 8 teams left Blackman has one of the best keeper, Sean Pierce but Im not sure they have a strong enough team. Being from region 4 my heart is with Blackman. Should be exciting. Good luck to all.

Yeh you are probably right, but I'm still pulling for Boynton and company.

In Boynton I trust...

Ive played and grown up with most of the CA players, and at the beginning of the year I didn't think they had the talent of the past. They have proved me wrong. Good luck CA...

Boynton takes over and Blackman wins 2-1. Pierce ends with 10+ saves. At least thats what I'd like to see. I have no kind of information on Oak Ridge.

Hmm.. next year is a little shaky. We do have a sophomore goalkeeper that played for our junior varsity, but he needs help. Last year he was 250 pounds and during the offseason worked hard on loosing weight. I do believe he is down to around 190 which he pretty good for one summer. He is a little shaky with his hands and coming out on breakaways. And he when he dives, he does the rainbow and occasionally arches over the ball. But if he trains as hard this summer as he did last year, he should be quite a solid goalkeeper. next year Columbia should be quite a solid team, we return our sweeper, both fullbacks, most our midfield, and one of our strikers...

Thanks alot. We are a little disappointed not going to state, but we went last year and it was a good experience. We needed to beat Blackman for the regional championship and then we would have played Cleveland instead of you guys. But Blackman beat us 1-0 in overtime. We lose a lot of seniors this year but our back line will still be there. The thing with Columbia is we dont have a real soccer coach. He is a football coach but does the best he can with soccer. We probably dont get the best training during the season. We are more or less self directed. Its obvious you guys are well coached. We dont use that as an excuse we just live with it and do the best we can. Making it to the final four last year was definitley unexpected and even though we had a fairly easy schedule down the stretch we made the most of it. We beat a couple of teams in the playoffs that had beaten us during the season and the worst team we played was for sectionals, Red Bank and they almost beat us. We took them to overtime for the win. Anyway play well in state. Too bad about playing Farragut right off the bat, but every team is beatable.

I typed this like 2 seconds ago on the other thread. But yeah you can't count CA out. They are the masters of pulling the upsets. Best of luck CA.

I tell you what lc you better not underestimate ca. At the beginning of the year I didn't think they would make it out of district, but now they are basically undefeated. Thier only loss came to Cordova while CA only had 8 players for the most part of the game. They are sure capable of pulling the upset. Good Luck CA wish I was there with yall.

I think McMinn has a legitimate shot. Unfortunately playing Farragut right off the back doesnt help, but chances are they would have to meet up eventually. I think their keeper needs to be a little more aggressive especially against Farragut. Against Columbia he seemed a little slow reacting to some shots and the two headers that hit the post. They play the entire field to perfection and can cross the ball better than any team Ive seen this year. They have speed and pass the ball great always on someones feet. They controlled the play against Columbia but a strong defense kept the score respectable 3-0. Good luck to them.

McMinn is def the best team we have played so far. They work the ball beautifully together and land passes right on the feet of the players. The defense seemed asleep, and we froze the keeper hitting post and crossbar off headers. Andy Slack has tremendous footskills and is fast to go along with it. His 2nd goal was beautiful. Jared Price seemed to go for the pass when I was expecting a shot, but he played a couple pretty balls. I wish McMinn the best of luck against Farragut the first round. Unfortunately for such a good team they have some real ignorant fans. McMinn you were winning 2-0, and the game had been clean so far, but the fans on the fence were trash talking like we were out on the field running our mouths or playing really dirty or something. I found it quite comical when our sweeper hit the fence post, and they all jumped back. But anyways as long as you don't come out on your heels wendesday you should do alright. I wish you best of luck.

Congradulations Blackman I wish you the best of luck in Memphis. Really wish we could be there too. Have fun and play well.

Congratulations Blackman.

chxian great post and i'm glad you feel that we are contenders along with mcminn county but we play them for substate so one of us wont be going....

Great game on both parts we were a little unlucky, and really only had one real chance for a goal early on. Their goal was just hussle on the part of Boynton and maybe indecision on my part. I really didn't think he would come sliding to the ball. This game was much like the last game between us and them. I wish y'all the best of luck, and hopefully you can put out cleveland and head to Memphis. As for us, our road is a little bit tougher having to go to McMinn county not only that but its a 5 or 6 hour bus ride. Should be real fun. Again good luck Blackman and represent well.

Just wondering who all is left contending for Memphis now that there is only 16 teams left in each class....