WrittenWord

/biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" /> You're probably right about that.

Kazdaddy, I'm not sure how my name wound up on that list but you just take it right off. I'm not sure how many of those people I would want to be associated with. /roflolk.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":roflolk:" border="0" alt="roflolk.gif" />

I feel your pain. And I second what Kaz said about the quality of your work.

I'm not sure why reclassification is brought up by someone on every Oneida thread every week, but it's a little premature to be speculating about where Oneida's going to wind up heading into 2009. Yes, if reclassification were to be based on the current structure, and were to happen now, there's no doubt that Oneida would move up. But there is going to be a LOT of movement from A to AA and from AAA to AA, etc. Then you have the multiplier with the private schools to consider. The numbers are very likely to change.

Who is complaining or crying about the region Scott plays in? Who wants to see Region 2 broken up? You're the only one who has injected that argument into this thread. You're right about that. I guess this being an open forum also gives us the right to make silly statements, such as the following . . . Having had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Coach Gillum a few times, I feel safe saying that his personal coaching record is the least of his concerns. He's very frank about where the program stands and what it has to do to get better. Coach Gillum left the collegiate ranks as offensive coordinator of one of the better offenses in the NAIA to come to this program, so I doubt he's overly concerned with his record. What is your problem with Scott High School, anyway?

I'm saying that it's ludicrous to suggest they aren't playing anybody or that they are any better or worse simply because of their non-region slate of games. When the season is said and done, Scott playing Taft isn't going to amount to a hill of beans as far as determining what kind of team they have. If they beat a couple of region teams during the rest of the season, they'll be considered as having a pretty decent team. If they pull an upset or two, they'll be considered as having a pretty good team. If they lose six straight, they'll be considered as being pretty weak, and whether they played Taft, Carter, Seymour, Alcoa, Maryville or Podunk High early in the season isn't going to make any difference in that regard. The bottom line is that who they play is the coaches' business; it isn't LeonardsLosers' business or WrittenWord's business. You're always going to find a reason to have a problem with this school, whether it be the schools they're scheduling or something they say or what happens on the field on any given Friday night.

Well, let's see. When the region gets in full swing, they'll play Catholic, Fulton, Austin-East, Kingston and Anderson County. Those aren't legitimate teams? If they beat one or more of those teams, they're recognized as a playoff contender in Region 2-3A. If they don't, they aren't. It's as simple as that. Who you have on your non-region schedule determines little about what kind of football team you are.

Coalfield has won five straight against Oneida. In 2002 and in 2003, the Indians had the better team, but Coalfield won 12-0 in '02 and 14-8 in '03 to start this winning streak. Coalfield could very easily win this game. It's going to be a war, regardless of who wins.

If you can point out the inaccuracies that you're alluding to in that post, I'll buy you a steak dinner at the restaurant of your choosing if/when Oneida and Hampton meet in the postseason.

Pujo, you keep saying that four of Oneida's first downs came by way of penalty. I figure it's silly for us to keep talking about the game, especially on a thread about this week's game, but since you keep bringing it up, I'll be silly too. There were penalties called on four of Oneida's first downs: The first came on Oneida's first possession. On third and three, Braxton Hutson was stopped for no gain, but Hampton was called for an incidental face mask, giving Oneida a first down at the 14 yard line. The second came late in the second quarter. On third and 17, Jonathan Lewallen rushed for 11 yards and Hampton was called for a personal foul late hit, giving Oneida a first down at the 32 yard line. The third came in the fourth quarter on Oneida's second touchdown drive. On third and four, Torrey Slaven carried for four. He had the first down anyway, but Hampton was called for an incidental face mask, advancing the ball to the 39 yard line. Four plays later, on fourth and four, Slaven carried the ball for 10 yards, easily picking up the first down by about five yards. Hampton was called for an incidental face mask, advancing the ball to the 18 yard line. So, Oneida had two first downs by way of penalties. One of those came on a drive that ended with a fumble inside Oneida's 20 yard line (so it actually benefited Hampton since Oneida would have punted on fourth down if not for the penalty) and the other came on a drive that ended with a missed field goal at the end of the half. You say "What would Oneida's stats have looked like" without the so-called 4 extra possessions. On the first 1st down by way of penalty, Oneida wound up with an additional three yards before turning the ball over. On the second 1st down by way of penalty, Oneida wound up with an additional 12 yards before missing a field goal. So, if not for the two penalties, Oneida would've had 15 fewer yards and would not have had the game's only turnover.

"I" am not going to get any penalties this Friday. I'm merely an unbiased observer. However, you may very well be right that Oneida has 5 penalties against Coalfield. Maybe they will have 10. Maybe more. But I'll grant you this much: If Oneida is fortunate enough to win the football game, I doubt you'll see them whining about officiating. You Hampton boys beat anything I have ever seen. As upset as you get because you got called for grabbing a facemask, I'd hate to see what you'd do if your guy was down on one knee and the ball was ripped out of his hands and carried in for a touchdown without the play being blown dead . . . or if two touchdowns had been called back due to penalties during the course of the game . . . or, well, you get my point. Geez, as much as you boys complain and call for a TSSAA investigation after a win, I'd hate to see what would happen if you lose a game this season. Don't you guys have a region game to play this week, or do you just enjoy making yourself look silly on other threads?

Pujo, you are foolish. You need to get over it, stop making excuses for why your team didn't win by any more than they did, and go talk about Jellico. I've never seen a team who won do all the complaining . . . until now. As for Oneida's penalties and that terrible officiating crew, Oneida was only penalized twice at Rockwood. Both of those penalties (a delay and false start) occurred on back-to-back plays early in the first quarter. After that, they had no penalties. Rockwood was penalized five times for 30 yards. I suppose Oneida paid off the officials at Rockwood as well?

It's hard to know exactly where Stone stands. They stomped an exceptionally weak 4A team and were stomped by an exceptionally strong 3A team. As for the Highlanders, even though I expected them to beat Gibbs, I was surprised that they dominated the game on both sides of the ball as they did. I have been particularly impressed so far by Scott's defense. On paper, these two teams appear pretty evenly matched, but I really like Scott's chances if they continue to play the kind of ball they played in the first two games.

For those who say the officials were terrible, I'd like to see you point out how many touchdowns these bad calls cost Hampton and how many they gave Oneida.

I don't think there is any doubt that Oneida's offense has improved this season. I'm not sure it is quite to the point YET that it needs to be to accomplish the things Oneida wants to accomplish, but as you said, Rockwood and Hampton have very good defenses. The defensive competition doesn't get any easier next week, either.

The game went pretty much as I expected. Hampton is an excellent football team, but I guarantee you that they flat knew they had been in a football game when they walked off Dr. M.E. Thompson Field tonight. I believe Hampton's fans will have a little more respect for Oneida once they've made the long trek back to upper East TN tonight than they had when they headed down this afternoon. Maybe we'll get the chance to see a rematch in the postseason once Oneida has gotten their special teams figured out a little better. I'm disappointed that Oneida lost, but I'm proud of their effort, and hats are off to Hampton for doing what they had to do to win the football game.

There will be a JFG mayonnaise jar at the gate tonight for donations to PAY Hampton to call off the dogs if it starts getting close to being that ugly, because TheAnswer9 walking naked down the street is certainly not going to be a sight we want to see. Seriously, though, I expect Hampton to be the better team (yes, shame on me) and I figure they should earn the win. I'm hoping the Indians will make me eat those words, but regardless of what happens, I think those who are expecting a Hampton cakewalk by 30 or 40 points will be in for a surprise tonight.

Heck, I guess Oneida can just take off Friday night and go to the fair. This one is apparently already decided.

Oooh, so you're a college scout now, huh? ROTFLOL. Well, they say anyone can be anybody they want to be with the Internet's anonymity.

Hey I was keeping count and I only had Puleo with four fouls also, and I pride myself on my accuracy. OK, that last part was a joke, but I was surprised when she fouled out. HOWEVER, let's point out that WB's bookkeeper signaled four fouls on the foul preceding the final foul to Coach Fowler and as YDKM observed, Fowler yelled to her to be careful because she had four fouls. So let's be careful trying to cast the blame on bias from Oneida parties or third parties, hmm?

Puleo was pretty much a non-factor in the first half. She got warmed up in the third quarter, but fouled out early in the fourth quarter. She finished with 14 points. Sampley and Kelley both fouled out shortly thereafter for WB. Two big things I noticed about Oneida last night. One, they rebounded the ball well. They outrebounded WB 33-24. Two, improved free throw shooting. They were 20 of 25 from the line.

They have a couple of junior post players, one of whom missed all of last season due to an injury and one of whom decided to return to the team this year. Both will give Scott's girls added size inside. As for next season, I guess we'll just have to wait and see, Jacket Dad.

Eight wins? I'd be shocked if Scott is limited to eight wins. They won nine games last year in Coach Marcum's first year, and lose only one starter and two seniors total from that team. I don't think there's ever been a Marcum team anywhere that didn't improve significantly from year one to year two. Scott has a couple of post players this year that weren't on the roster last year. Those girls should help the inside game tremendously. I look for the Lady Highlanders to make some noise in the district this year. Win it? Probably not. But they snapped the district losing streak last year. This year, the district wins should be more plentiful. By next year, this team will be competing for the district championship, IMO.

No surprises for me. It turned out pretty much as I expected. I expected Coalfield, Harriman and Midway to win with ease and Oneida to give Hampton a real good game before losing. I have only the scores from the Harriman/Unaka and Midway/Cosby games to go by, but it would seem that they won fairly easily. Oneida played Hampton MUCH closer than the final score indicated. I'll take Coalfield and Harriman this week. Coalfield/Midway should be another classic. Frankly, I'd be surprised if Harriman doesn't beat Hampton by at least a couple of scores.