Coop

East Ridge vs. Loudon - Field #2 at 8:30 ERHS vs. Jefferson Co. - Field #2 at 10:10 ERHS vs. Pigeon Forge - Field #3 at 1:30 Long day. Good luck to all.

Is the schedule out yet? Are the 1st round matches played at the higher seed, then they play the semis and finals at Boyd? What days? Any times? There look to be some good match-ups starting with Mc vs.WV.

Yep, ER won 2-1. BOTH goals were off PKs by Michael Stewart. The last one was in the final minute. There was a very close no-call in the East Ridge box that would have given RB a PK with about 20 seconds left. Our guys didn't play their best, but earned the win. btw, Red Bank has got to be one of the best teams around with a losing record. They played hard all night. My hat's off the them.

Region 3 in A/AA is nuts next year. They are adding Notre Dame to District 6 and moving CSAS to District 5. D5 is also getting Collegdale Academy and I think Brainerd is trying to put a team together. There will be 4 schools in D6 with soccer and up to 10 teams in D5. How fair is that? It will be hard for D5 to play all their district matches, much less tournaments and rivalries. I guess we're at the mercy of volleyball, golf, and tennis. BOWLING even has their own alignment. It wouldn't be that hard to even things out for us. Oh well, they didn't ask me. . .

Last night Jake Heath of McMinn Central buried a shot against us that was pretty good. It was a free kick about 10 steps from the sideline and 2 steps from midfield. I guess it was about 60 yards on a line to the far top corner of the goal. Our keeper had no chance. To prove it was no fluke, he almost did it again in the 2nd half but got post instead. Dude is dangerous. I'm sure there are others, but that's the best I've seen this year.

Great soccer played on both sides. The final score was a pretty honest show of the way the match went. Grace was the more complete team for those 80 minutes. CSAS is a really good team, but did look a little flat. For the players, what did you think of playing with 3 refs? Did it make much difference? Does Grace usually pay for 3 refs? I noticed only 1 off-sides call and I don't think they even made a call when Carlos got kicked. The hand ball WAS a hand ball in the box. That's a PK no matter what the intent, I believe. There were several yellow cards. Your thoughts?

In general, a charter school is an independant public school. They are not required to follow all the rules and guidelines of the local school board, but must meet all the accountability requirements. So, if you think of a better way to teach kids, you can apply for a charter. If granted, you get 3-5 years to prove that your way is better by scoring well on tests and having good attendance and discipline records. There is usually open enrollment so you have to be selected by the school to attend or teach there. It is very similar to a private school that gets public (tax) money. The schools you mentioned are probably using some different curriculum to target their student population/community. Just my limited knowledge. Let's start a Soccer Academy. We'll use soccer to teach all our classes (math, science, language, etc.). And we'll be able to play year around because it will be homework, not practice.

You guys have a tough stretch coming up. The weather has not been good to any of us. Have you played a match since the ER match on the 17th? How are you staying sharp? Just wondering. . .

What about Georgia, South Carolina, and Alabama? They play both girls and boys in the Spring. NC plays boys in Fall and girls in Spring. That's all I checked, but it looks like there is no standard. It would be murder on the coaches like me who coach both boys and girls to have both at once and no paid assistant. "1289", do you know something we don't, or are you speculating?

Hey, guys, Who is still playing tonight? Please, do not post unless you are a coach that can make the decision or he/she has given you the word. This will be a good way to get the news out to everyone. East Ridge vs. Grace is on for 5:00. It will be soupy and cold, but we're playing. Both coaching staffs have agreed. See you there.

Refs around here get $50 a match. If you want to pay $150 instead of $100, you can have 3 at your matches. Think of the schools where you see 3. . . It comes down to finances.

McCallie 3, Soddy-Daisy 0 Hixson 3, Central 0 Baylor 1, CSAS 0 Details at chattanoogan.com links toward the bottom of the page

Any scores for the day? Did all the teams have wait around to see who would be playing in the 2:45 match? It looks like a good format.

As meaningless as they are, here's what I got: East Ridge - 0, Oneida - 0 East Ridge - 2, Olliver Springs - 0 East Ridge - 1, Knox Central - 2 (2 goals in 5 min. on back-up keeper and D) Lenoir City - 0, Boyd - 0 Lenoir Cty - 1, Hixson - 0 (might have changed, I didn't see the end) Anderson Co. - 2, Hixson - 0 McMinn Central - 2, Anderson Co. - 0 Knox. Central won over Tellico (not positive of score) It was a great day of soccer. Didn't see or hear of any major injuries. The wind was a major factor all day, especially if the refs didn't switch the field at 20 min. So, all that adds up to . . . Let's start all over next week. Good luck to all. Coop

Ouch, blue. We're just trying to get better, playing the best competition we can. McCallie has an excellant team and they are a high class bunch of guys. I learned a lot from the match, and we'll be better because of it.