Readthefield

It is surprising to me to see Baylor with a preseason ranking like this. Unless they took on some new players that are something new and different I think that they will have a similar season as last year. When did they go from a team that didn't make the state playoffs to a national powerhouse? That sounds like a stretch to me unless some big time boarders were brought in. Let's hear from some Baylor players as to what is the big change.

Notre Dame is my pick as having the best Soph. class in the state. I know that they have probably the best at least in the Chattanooga area. Drew Hollenbeck, Ben Daugherty, Ian Brown, Casey Johnston( when past his knee injury), and Blake Pelton will show some great stuff in the next three years. McCallie has a good class but not as many.

I would have to say that at least in the Chattanooga area that Robbie Miller is the #1 keeper. ND will have a good chance to win or at least not lose every time he is there to play. The other two that I would watch are Carlos S. at Grace and Alex C. at McCallie. Carlos probably has the best positioning of any keeper in town and moves very well. Both Robbie and Alex are intimidating as Robbie is tall and Alex is built like a linebacker. It will be fun to see how thier teams do this year.

It will be tough to beat Farragut. Losing 3-1 and 8-1 already against them I doubt that it will be close.

Great win USN. I don't know how you did it but pulling it all together at the end is what it's all about.

In one thread someone said that CBHS had many of their best players suspended for the USN game, is there any truth to that? If so I would expect that Catholic will have an easy time of it. I thought that CBHS would have been deeper than what they showed. USN is still very suspect in my mind. ECS and MUS should be a good game.

Fastest and best is to go through Ala. Go I-24 to S. Pitts. Take 72 from there to Huntsville. At Huntsville 72 goes north but stay straight onto I-565. Take I-565 through Huntsville and it runs into Alt. 72. This will take you over the river and turns right just over the bridge. Continue on Alt. 72 and it runs into 72 somewhere in mid northern Ala. Continue on 72 until just before the Memphis/Germantown area and turn L onto 385 which used to be called Nonconnah Pkwy. The fields are on the left of 385 if you take Forrest Hills exit.

Even if CBHS is missing a bunch of kids I think that USN will have a tough time. Looking at the USN schedule and scores I would expect a 5or 6-0 score with CBHS the victor.

I think after looking the teams going to the DII state tournament that there is at least one team that isn't one of the top 8 teams in the state. I think that there should be a better way at picking the top 8. Maybe the two that make it to the regional finals have won their chance to go to the state tournament but I'm not so sure that just because the middle and west regions are bigger that means that they each have 3 teams that should go to the state tourney. If the regional finalists and the next two teams in the state ranking were included as those who could compete for the title I would think this would be more equitable. There is one team going to the state this year that is very weak, had a losing year and also played a relatively weak schedule. I don't think that they will be able to compete with the other teams there. We will see in the next few days.

Baylor has some real strengths yet real weaknesses. Just ask anyone from their team. They probably won't tell you about the weaknesses however until the end of the season. If McCallie would have exploited the weaknesses and played to their strengths it would probably turned out different. Good job Baylor! Let's hope to see Bayor and McCallie both at the state tournament! blu, I would have to agree with you that the coach is the one that must take the responsibility for the poor showing for the last half of the year by the McCallie team. They have not progressed any in the last few weeks. However there is something to be said if the team doesn't put forth the effort to, as RJL said, get the job done. I think that this team has the players on it to do well at the state level but they will have to decide to play smart and as a team, forsaking individual stats for team wins.

I would have to agree with imthathard 3-1 McCallie. The space on McCallie's field will help them dominate the possesion even more than they did at ND. Hopefully they will finish better this time around and it will be more like 5-1 but we'll just have to see.

gameball, The difference that I see between Catholic and McCallie is that Catholic knows how to win the close ones and up to this point McCallie hasn't figured that out yet. I think that with a little tweaking McCallie should be able to do what it needs to do to get the job done. They probably have one of the smartest teams in the state but up to this point haven't played to their strengths and also to their opponents' weaknesses. I really believe that all they need to do is play soccer like they know how to play it from their select teams and all of the problems will be gone. Playing the ball to space, spreading the defenses, shooting short shots, attacking from the wings, not out running the support, and supporting one another, in other words, all the basics of good soccer is all they need to put into play and they will make it to state for sure and do well there if they just execute like I have seen them earlier in the year. 'Tis just my opinion of course.

I would say that if McCallie begins to play like they did in the Parkview tournament that they will fly through the Region without any problems. This is a big if however as the last half of the season has been less than beauteous. I think that even though they have lost the physical play of Larkin M. for the rest of the season to a knee injury, they will benefit from the touches that they will get from Nouri in the middle and the distribution that they get from him also. If Chris P. is finally healthy it could also make a big difference. Keeping the ball on the ground and out of the air during their posessions will also be a key as they seem to be smaller than any team that they have played this year. They also must work on their finishing as the last game they had lots of chances that could have been finished but were not. Short low shots are the shots that will score, not 30 and 40 yarders. I really think that this year's team is better than last year's group in general but they just haven't put it all together yet. Let's hope that they next few week is when this will happen.

Why in the world did so many games get scheduled in such a short period of time for the Owls? As I see it it looks like five or six days in a row.

McCallie won 3-1. Who scored? What was the play like?

I would say that the best back line in the state is Pollock, Catanese, Hertzog, and Leatham from McCallie. If they all stay healthy and Trey Meyer stays healthy in goal they may not be scored on again this year.

In the Chattanooga area: Jake Dougher is a really strong midfielder from Baylor, Trey Meyer is a goalie from McCallie that's big, strong, very active and has very good hands. Drew Courtney is a very strong midfielder from Chattanooga Christian. Chris Love and John Templeton are very strong midfielders from McCallie. Davy Pollock is probably the best and brightest defensive back in the state and he plays for McCallie.

McCallie plays two teams in their region this week and hopefully will play well. Any info on these teams?

AAA: Farragut A/AA: Chattanooga Christian DII: McCallie

Told you!

Give me a break! Grissom lost to Parkview and McCallie last weekend and I thought that they should have lost to Hendersonville but Hendersonville just had a bad game. I think that the competition they see in AL is not up to what BGA is used to. BGA should win. They are well coached and play a well controlled offense but can be beaten over the top and with a more indirect style of play also. LOL

Heard the defense was sloppy.

The drive is much better for me too.

Nope, but herd that it was a bit sloppy.

TackerDad: You need to do something about this this this this