27ALLGO

Ooltewah 35 Science Hill 7 BTW, all you Lou Holtz's out there...at this point in the season you can't keep calling the owls players young. after 10 games they are all experienced players. but i am curious how many "youngsters" are starting for ooltewah this year?

Tribefan, will you be making the trip to Sevier?

SD does not have the speed to stay with the Cherokees. McMinn's D has been impressive themselves against much better competition. McMinn 38 Soddy Daisy 0

This was the best football game i have ever witnessed at ANY level. It's easy to throw around that best tag, but this one is no contest. mcminn had no timeouts and i'm sure was taking just one more shot at the end zone (with the thought of a TD or incomplete pass) and running a little more clock (considering how quickly OR scored previously). In hindsight, easy to say that wasn't the best decision. OR did fumble several times but i don't think mcminn actually got any did they? Awesome game by mcminn's will matthews. played solid defense all night. got the big INT towards the end of regulation, returned the KO into OR territory to put mcminn in position to win in regulation, and defended the 2 pt conversion well. great game players. you've given this football fan a memory i will never forget.

any scrimmage kick whether it is a punt or field goal is treated like a punt. the defense can field the kick, as long as it doesn't reach the end zone, and return it or the offensive team can down it. it should have been downed on the 1. take nothing away from cleveland. they will win many games this year and probably go far in the playoffs.

Let's see against ooltewah mcminn was 3-11 passing. 1 completion went for negative yardage and 1 ended up in a fumble that the owls recovered. that makes for ONE positive passing play. yeh, mcminn definitely should have thrown more in that game. against cleveland mcdermott had 180+ yards. cleveland could not stop the run game. mcminn's receivers dropped several passes and didn't look for the ball on several others. throw in that with the qb throwing an INT on 3rd and 1, and i can see why anyone would want mcminn to throw more. . .especially their opponents.

i agree with physically but not mentally. the cherokees came out ready to play. you may recall that one of those big plays came very early to put mcminn ahead. defensively, mcminn stopped ooltewah early as well. a couple of lapses in pass coverage late hurt. although ooltewah moved the ball more consistantly their scores came from big plays. mcminn had very few penalties after having 16 in their first game. (non of this is to say that the coaching on mcminn's sideline can even come close to ooltewah's, with Monroe & Gatewood, at this point) i do believe that the cherokees were mentally prepared. we did run out of gas, though. from what i witnessed friday nite, the owls are more likely to be #1 than #2. good luck to you guys.

cooterhooter and ImaOWL, thanks for the respectful comments. McMinn came into this ball game to win not just earn respect. we played well enough to be in contention but not well enough to beat a better than expected ooltewah team. IMO the owls are, or at least will be, better than last year's team. very quick on D and many weapons on O. Mcminn's offense couldn't get anything consistently. the D played well most of the game. marshall had 159 but included a 70 yd TD. take that play away and Mcminn's D holds him to 89 yrds on 26 carries. not bad considering they had to focus on the pass as well. ooltewah got many yards themselves on busted assignments (ie the last TD pass). Woods made many plays, with arm or legs, after Mcminn's D was able to flush him from pocket. Mcminn's D got tired late. the owls had 61 offensive plays. sorry for the rambling. good luck to the owls and maybe we'll see you in the playoffs. http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_91999.asp

If you are using the past two years games as an indicator (82-7) then why would you have a prediction of the owls by only 2 TD's let alone an IF statement that mcminn may win? my prediction is not based on years past but on this years teams. i don't know who you think has the areas best passing team (please don't say rhea or cookeville) but no way this years owls club is better than last years.

Should be a great game featuring arguably the regions best 2 backs in marshall and mcdermott. mcminn 24 ooltewah 14 * assuming of course that mcminn can correct the penalties and turnovers (which killed them in this same game last year) from last friday nite.

O.K. I understand what you're saying now. I still think McMinn is the best representative. Hard to punish a team just b/c they are logistically in a better position to play all of the region teams. I understand Ooltewah and Soddy and even Bradley for that matter not wanting to travel to the northern schools to play, and vice versa. But, that is still a choice those teams/coaches made. Even though there is no good criteria for choosing the best teams from each division, you can't ignore that McMinn was 5-1 against region 2-5A freshmen teams. Besides, I'm pretty sure McMinn's freshmen could beat the JV squads of Central, Walker Valley, Sweetwater, and McMinn Central as well. Don't know anything about Gordon Lee. Shoot, McMinn's freshmen could beat McMinn's JV for that matter. Anyway, it is a moot point now, since McMinn is playing and I hope you're right about next year having criteria in place. Yeah, Cleveland's Freshmen were pretty strong.

What teams did Ooltewah's freshmen team play? Whose JV squads did they play?

I don't even know what you just said.

Someone explain to me why Ooltewah freshmen are playing other schools JVs? I know the other schools have freshmen teams b/c McMinn played them and won. Don't talk logistics. If Ooltewah doesn't want to travel to the northern schools to play and vice versa, that's their choice. Why should McMinn be punished? This entire thread is ridiculous. How can there even be an argument as to who is supposed to represent the southern region. You would have to be a complete fool to think McMinn didn't deserve to be in the championship game. McMinn has played SIX region games. The southern teams aren't the only ones that matter. McMinn's freshmen have played twice the region games that Ooltewah and Soddy have played and have only 1 loss. Let McMinn have this moment b/c they've earned it. This has nothing to do with varsity teams.

Yeh, that makes a heckuva lot of sense. I'm going to defend the special teams play but in the same comment say how bad it was AND point out two other special teams miscues that hadn't previously been mentioned. Coach or not, that would be pretty d* stupid, wouldn't it?

Yep, special teams play last night was bad, just not for the reasons you specified. A miscommunication on a pooch kick resulted in a recovery, and TD, for WB. A fumbled punt return in the 4th resulted in WB last 3 pts. The blocked punts were a result of bad blocking/no blocking up front for McMinn (did you not see the pressure Nigel was under). A lot of teams are getting away from the 14 yard "rule" in high school. Nigel has been at 10 yards all year if anyone was noticing and to my knowledge hadn't gotten one blocked. The punt WB downed on the one was unfortunate but hardly bad play by McMinn. The returners did exactly what they were supposed to do, stand on the 10 yard line and if it goes over your head call a fair catch and run the opposite way. But hard to blame this loss on any one area. I agree with 8BALL, the D shut down WB outside running game, something they didn't do last year. The offense struggle early and put the ball on the ground as well. Throw in some penalties at crucial times and it was a bad all around nite for the Cherokees.

One of the Knox news channels had the QB for WB out for the game b/c of injury. Is this true? Doesn't appear to be a difference maker since WB is more of a running team.

Well said bradshaw. I've been arguing all year that McMinn is at a disadvantage b/c of numbers, especially seniors. McMinn is competing with less than half the numbers some of their opponents are fielding. They started the year with 8 seniors and have lost three for season b/c of injuries. They had eleven last year. You can't say that doesn't factor in. For comparison, Oak Ridge has over 25 seniors on their roster. Lagrage, GA (a team I have come to admire) won the state championship last year starting 17 seniors. I'm not saying you can't win with Jrs or sophs but you better have a good group of seniors in the mix. Now why have the last two senior classes been so small? Don't know. They were small jr classes, small soph classes, and small fresh classes so it goes back to when Mullinax was still at McMinn and during Hutchins' year at the helm. McMinn typically has lower numbers than most of their opponents which is due, in part, to the fact they are the smallest 5A school in the state. It seems that the last two years were a down cycle at McMinn. This years jr group has solid #s, soph are kindof small, but fresh have the most out McMinn has seen in recent memory. So the future looks bright. With all of that said, McMinn is playing good ball right now which is a credit to their players and to the coaching staff. They could have very easily written off the season like last year.

No disrespect to McMinn b/c I put them on the short end of my prediction. McMinn is playing good ball right now, possibly as well as any team in the region (oak ridge aside). WB is coming off of 3 losses to 3 very good football teams. This game could go either way, very evenly matched opponents, and could be the one of the best matchups in the region all year. And yes #10 didn't play well at times this season, just like many of the other players on McMinn's team. I personally don't believe the change in QBs is the reason for McMinn's inspired play. #7 is a better run threat, but has yet to prove he can throw the ball consistently, something he is going to have to do for McMinn to win out. #10 threw a better ball, and made some good throws, but didn't seem to make the best decisions all of the time. If anyone was actually noticing, McMinn Co. played very well, in spurts, even in their losses. They are finally putting the pieces together, something I believe they would have done regardless of QBs. Some young players have gained experience and are getting better each week. And some of the experienced players are minimizing the mistakes they made early in the year. This is probably the best 2-5 team in East TN, possibly the state. And would be a very dangerous 1st round playoff opponent, as WB would be as well.

my bad. i thought i was looking at WB schedule when i saw the W. i obviously was looking at sevier co. no disrespect to the sevier co fans. well then, with that being the case the only difference in results is WB win over the owls. a good win, no doubt. but all the HYPE comes from the fact that we are obviously McMinn fans and have high hopes. McMinn has played WB common opponents to similar scores (excluding Ooltewah). yes, i would have to believe that WB is a quality football team. but with a 2-5 record McMinn county is approaching all opponents as quality teams. i sure hope that the WB football team is overlooking the Cherokees; they will be in for a surprise. with that said i am sticking to my prediction. the 'Kees will come up a little short. McMinn 17 WB 21

This has the makings of a really good contest. Check out the scores of three same opponents. McMinn 14 Oak Ridge 34 WB 6 Oak Ridge 27 * It sounds like the two games were almost identical. McMinn 27 SD 7 WB 42 SD 14 McMinn 0 Farragut 31 WB 7 Farragut 31 The big difference in scores/records is that WB beat the Owls, while the McMinn lost handily to the Owls (although I think McMinn would love another shot at Ooltewah right now). Plus the Govs have a quality win over Sevier Co. as well. Close game. WB 21 McMinn 17

Big win for the Cherokees. Gave up a late TD on a long pass. Had TD called back in the 4th on a KO return b/c of a clip. McMinn dominated the last three quarters of play after SD moved the ball well in the 1st quarter. Sets up what should be a great game next week in Athens. Both McMinn and WB playing for the last playoff spot.

Don't want to change the field condition subject (Oh, wait, yes I do!) but I was just wondering if anyone could shed some light on something I've been wondering all year. I know the younger Gulmire kid is a good safety, but why does he play on defense at all? I know a lot of schools where the QB doesn't play defense. Is he that much better than his backup safety that he has to play? Like I said just wondering if anyone actually had the reasons for him playing both ways.

And you would know about not being good at all.

Good win for the cherokees at rhea, but put any team against oak ridge, at oak ridge, and the prediction has to be oak ridge. but that's why they play the games on friday nite!