82cat

hey lod,tdc,riverdaleman its sort of funny being in the same situation riverdale used to be in when they were going to the chamionship game every year. I remember every post used to be riverdale cheats - recruits players- intimidates the officials - is classless blah blah its also funny to hear fans talk about "smyrnas" officials. the crew last week was from west tennessee and I have never seen any of them before ( i have done the chains for smyrna home games and usually recognize some officials I have seen over the years) well it turns out it wasn't personal at all, losing teams can not accpet they got beat by a better team so they throw everything but the kithen sink at you. go to just about any playoff thread and you will see what coach gonyea says and you are right about what is said doesn't usually represent the coaches and players they know example from some bearden players: "It's frustrating; we made some plays at the end," said Eichholtz, who also caught a 13-yard pass to get into Smyrna territory early in the drive. "The first half we made mistakes we haven't made all year and we didn't do enough in the first half. You've got to play the whole game." "If we would have clicked on offense earlier it would have been a different story," Gunn said. not at all reflective of what the fans on that thread are posting. one thing I have noticed this year is a lot of the refs are very old nit saying that is good or bad just an observation.

its pretty much bulldog day around here from august till december!

really??? I have watched every smyrna game and they have never been called for a chop block and they were not called for a single penalty against gallatin and I have attached the game stats below for the game. Game statistics :from the tennessean [ First downs Rushes Passing Pass yards Fumbles Punts Penalties Smyrna 18 29-167 18-25-0 228 1-0 0-0 0-0

smyrnas defensive line is probably their deepest and strongest area. they are all in very good shape and while not big size wise they can flat out run every one of them. Smyrna rotates 3 to 4 defensive lineman every 3 or 4 plays. how is indy's kicking game? kicker - can he get it to the end zone consistently punter - distance and control? can he keep it away from wilks.

smyrna has several receivers the following all have td passes wilks hagar hendricks martin torres bryson sonny will be fine got his knee rolled up on at lincoln county and is a little gimpy I can not tell you how much last years playoff run helped get this team ready for a battle every week. They understand exactly what it takes to get here and the hard work required. Smyrna is a team and the defense has now taken the role as pulling the team to the chamionship game. One thing you will see on every SMyrna thread throughout the playoffs even from fans that hate smyrna is that smyrna is loaded with team speed especially on defense. I promise you nobody from smyrnas team expects anything but a down to the wire battle and if it is 45 to 42 or 3 to zero they will do whatever it takes to win.

they onside video shows----------------------------------------- nothing. smyrnas player caught it and held it till he hit the ground end of story.

there is actual scientific evidence that 2 different people can see the same occurence and see it differently and--------------------both be right!! This comes from no lesser authority than Stephen Hawking the renowned physicist and author of a Brief History of Time. as he noted: 2 people are playing ping pong in a glass train box car. Hitting the ball back and forth as the train goes 100 miles per hour down the track the ball is in mid air. As they go through the station how fast is the ball going?? well ------------------------ it depends on your position and where you are watching. IF you are on the boxcar the ball is moving at 10 miles and if you are watching from the station plat form it is going 100 mph. THE ANSWER IS YOU BOTH CAN BE RIGHT BASED ON YOU VANTAGE POINT so there you go scientific evidence that explains it all /smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" /> great job coach "zupruder" his right foot is clearly oob and since his left leg is even further on the outside it could not be in

you're such a dumb ###### bearden showed a lot of class but you certainly reflect that every team has their exceptions your whinning certainly does nothing to diminish your teams accomplishments as much as you try. bearden is an outsatnding football team that as their coach said after the game just did not play very well the 1st half great teams find ways to win and dont put themselves in position to have to recover onside kicks to have a chance. Smyrna is a GREAT football team and did what it took to win 3 turnovers 1 returned for a td and an offense that did nothing till the last 4 minutes is why you lost but if blaming it on the refs (who were from memphis and have not called a single game either team has played) makes you sleep good thats fine.

there is no way they would ever go to nuetral sites and they shouldn't. the money generated at the home sites is tremendous for the booster clubs and the tssaa does not get any of that money (although I am suprised they haven't tried!) and all teams need funds to support these players. plus the atmosphere is unbelievable and that would never happen at a nuetral site.

this years smyrna team is completely different from last years team. A lot more blue collar defense where different players make plays all night. Smyrna just seems to find a way to win last night is a perfect example: Smyrna 6 1st downs Smyrna one offensive td Smyrna no points and one 1st down in the second half you would think they would have lost with those numbers. but--------------- THEY DIDN'T - they just refuse to lose in the playoffs and now counitng last years championship have won 9 playoff games in a row. This is no dis respect to Independence I am sure they have a good defense but I can tell you they won't be as good as Beardens defense, they are the best I have seen since maybe riverdales in 2004 and they may be better then them. This should be a great game and I think will be a lot more high scoring with the offenses both teams run plus that arena and field seem to suit Rod Wilks just fine.

I will not discuss the refs period- they did what they get paid to do and that is call what they see. The crew is form memphis area so they certainly dont have a dog in the hunt. the truth is the officials didn't call much either way, I believe bearden was only called for one penalty all night and that was an offsides in the 4th qtr. they had 2 unsportsman like on the bench that had zero affect on the outcome. the truth is smyrna defense won the game in the 1st half and really were responsible for winning the game. 1st half -- bearden only crossed mid field twice and had 3 turnovers one returned for a td. bearden was held scoreless for 44 minutes of the game so if anybody is looking for scapegoats this is where they need to look. turnovers kill you in big games and smyrna had zero to beardens 3. bearden has the best defense I have seen in years and they may be as good as riverdales 2004 d smyrna had 6 1st downs the entire game and only one in the second half. great game between 2 outstanding teams and I hurt for the bearden players but I am thrilled to see the mental toughness of Smyrnas football team a lesser team would have not perservered but smyrna knew from last year how tough this was going to be. everybody thinks because smyrna won last year it is a given for 2007 but this was MUCH tougher. Any time you lose 3 of your starting lbs that were your starters at the beginning of the year and play defense with 2 sophmores and a freshman you have over come obstacles. Smyrna also replaced the best tailback tandum in the state with a freshman tb and still over came it. I met halliday's parents befor the game, they were the 1st bearden fans there like at 3:30! Great folks and I was also able to talk with them after the game also and wish them well. They should be very proud of their son as alll Bearden families should. I am so proud of the kids on Smyrnas team and cant wait till Saturday night GO BULLDOGS:

well not much left to be said We will find out in less than 36 hours how the teams stack up. It is all just guess work till the game is played. One thing is for certain one team will continue on ot their goals the other will end the season short of that goal but still a success. I have posted this many times in the past but I think it so applicable to hs football and applies to both teams. "It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat." Theodore Roosevelt

gee made it very clear about improving other sports and gave lip service to football. those plans have been on the board since I was 12. vu takes sec football money and spreads it to all the other sports and that was gee's plan. He believed vu would never compete in football but could in other sports. if gees's decisons to completely change the athletic dept were so great as related to football please name me one sec school that has followed his lead? I will go even go further name me one major school that has followed? and if those "revolutionary" ideas were such a milestone as he put it why has he not even mentioned it at ohio state? if you dont think gees decisions hurt vu football you are not paying attention. all other sec football schools have an ad and staff that do nothing but try to improve their programs and facilities while vu has the director of intramural activities.

Noticed on the big ones list bearden is now the pick to win and by friday will probably be picked by more. Here we go again!

since this has turned into a vu problems thread here goes vanderbilt has the worse athletic facilities of any sec team by far and probably any big time conference. I mean they are pathetic and have been for years. vu cashes sec checks every year and make no investment in football.Vu players deserve better. it is hard enough for them to compete with their history and lack of support ( about 25,000 vu fans per game and that may be generous sinced sec visitors fans inflate those numbers) now you add in bringing in a top recruit that is visiting other schools and he see the facilities compared to auburn,florida,ut,georgia etc and quite frankly it is amazing they get any players that could go to those schools. gordon gee set the football program years with his decisions and de emphasizing football and focusing on other sports. funny how at ohio state he now sings a whole different song. DOes anybody really think David Williams the head of intramural activities has anywhere near enough power that an athletic director would have to get those facilities updated?? the answer in not a chance. bobby johnson is a good coach but he is coaching with one hand behind his back compared to other schools in the sec. the powes that be at vu are happy with the status quo vu is not getting blown out they win a couple sec games each year and now with out of conference games will have 5 wins each year. heres what big time recruits see: bad facilities no national tv exposure no chance to compete for sec title or bsc bowl no fan support (show up late leave early) no admin support I applaud every player that goes to vu and coach johnson I think he does things right.

in hs you play with the talent that shows up - sometimes good sometimes average or bad. in most cases talent wins lc is down talent wise especially as it relates to over all team speed. playing in their region and winning it is fools gold (not calling lc fools just a term) it is by far the weakest 5a region. coach thompson obvioulsy knows more about coaching than most and when some talent cycles through lc will be fine. however in objective person would have to say their offense has become stale and predictable but from what lc folks have said it is because he doesn't have the talent to open it up more.

Same at Smyrna as most played middle school together. I was just noting to have a a division 1 wr and an oustanding qb play that many games together is a huge advantage.

cliff notes answer if you take people out of the normal defensive scheme to double cover it can cause match up problems in other areas. you are correct about the d line numbers but most defenses have 6 lineman and lbs in some fashion. I have seen 3 bearden games on dvd (william blount,farragaut and i think the other one was dobbyns bennett) Very impressed with the qb runs the offense very well and really likes the 10 to 15 yard curls. The rb always cuts it up as soon as he gets the ball even on sweeps he is a power back and I only saw one run where he tried to get wide. Smyrna had a typical tuesday full pads live inside drill and scrimmage on both offense and defense. Once again just like the last few weeks very physical and unusual to go full scrimmage live this late in the season. as for what smyrna runs passing the ball well it depends on what bearden does on defense - sonny can change the play at anytime. sonny and rod will be playing their 59th game together this friday night (going back to middle school) to say sonny knows where rod will be on a route or when he may change one based on coverage is and understatement.

something to ponder while waiting on friday night. how rod wilks makes the offensive game go with out ever touching the ball. 1st some basic stuff: On a running play you have 11 men on offense minus the runner equals 10 men.While the qb is usually not a blocker he has to be accounted for. The defense has an advantage since they have 11 men. Even if the offense executes perfectly there is alway one defender un accounted for. if you split out a wr the following occurs: cover the wr one on one you leave 10 on defense and 9 on offense (11 - the wr and the runner) the defense still has the advantage numerically. if you double team the wr you now have evened it up and lost the numerical advantage it is now 9 on 9 if you double team and cheat over a safety to the wr side of the field (cookeville did this) you have now as many would say sold out to stop the wr and the offense now has the defense out numbered and at this point the offense has to run the ball effectively since now the advantage is on offense. now when you throw: once again the defense has a numerical advantage since the qb is throwing. You can cover all receivers and still blitz because one defender is always un accounted for. Once you double team the wr you now have lost that advantage. If you blitz now you leave somebody un covered. if you double team the wr you now have 3 dbs left to cover up to as many as 4 more receivers meaning you will get an lb on at least one wr. If you blitz both your lbs on 5 wide there is one wr un covered. by going 5 wide you can take a lot of the blitz packages off the table anyway just something to think about and how a lot of what goes on during the game is physical there is a lot of a coaches chess game going on. All the schems and match ups above is where sonny has been very good. He knows what defense to expect when smyrna lines up in certain formations and he also knows how to see a dummy coverage when he sees it and not be suckered. anyway just some stuff to think about

saw some film on bearden what comes to mind very physical team especially up front on defense power running game and finish runs well qb can throw and they spread it some but running down hill inside is their bread and butter. it will be interesting - most of the teams they played were run teams that wanted to set up the pass with runs smyrna is pass 1st to set up the run. thats what makes these games fun and why they should get teams a couple rounds out of region match ups so we can see what other areas have and how various regions stack up. I dont know how much difference it makes but I think smyrna has seen a few teams that run similar stuff to bearden but I dont think bearden has seen the sets and schemes smyrna runs much.

you just made my point perfectly /wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink.gif" />

games over and done some people will never get over it didn't go their way. There is nothing anybody can say to change their mind. Since they could not win on the field in either game all they have is the hater card. but no matter how much they try to degrade smyrna the facts are simple smyrna played wc twice and won both games and they can post how much they hate smyrna blah blah blah till next fall and it wont change a thing the class thing to do would be what you players and coach did say good game, good luck and move on. hard to believe anyone could get worked up over roy rogers happy trails. when smyrna visits riverdale they always play how much is that doggy in the window over and over - you know how we got them to stop -------- we finally beat them.

never seen a 2 word post that has been edited /smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />