Manzikert

Did you ever see Ricky play? I did. Take my word for it, he would have started for any high school football, basketball or baseball team in the state from 1960 until now. And contrary to your no knowledge assertion, virtually, every kid I know who who has played for him in the last 20 years would tell you that playing for Ricky was one of the great growing experiences of their lives. They learn hard work and excellence and teamwork, as well as how to be better than they ever dreamed they could be. My son played for him at MBA -- didn't play much, but wouldn't trade the experience for anything. Neither would I. Sorry you won't be watching any more D2 games. You'll miss some very good games. Nobody will miss you.

This is all an interesting discussion-- and it is tough to beat a good team twice, but, for whatever it's worth, Father Ryan's undefeated 1997 state championship team beat MBA twice. 21-20 in the regular season and 10-7 in the Clinic Bowl. Saw both games. Ryan a stocky D lineman whose first name was , I think, Zack. I don't think MBA blocked him once in two games. Good luck to both teams on Friday.

94 team (Ricky's first) lost in the 1st round to Jackson Central Merry , led by Al Wilson-- 42-14 or something like that. 95 team played BA in the first round, got smacked 35-10 96 team played BA in the quarter finals and lost in double OT. Great, great game. MBA was probably the 2d best team in the state that year. 97 was the first year of DII. MBA played Ryan in the finals. Ryan won. 98 team was the team that lost to BA in the regular season but then beat them in the finals. Barton Simmons deflected a pass and COle Barfield intercepted it on the goal line in the last minute. 99 team was Ricky's best -- undefeated. Only close game was against Bolles. Ingle Martin. I would have guessed that MBA had a draftee between Bill Wade and Johm Markham, but myabe not.

I second everything KWoodruff says. This is just so, so sad. A fine man, a great dad, a fantastic coach and educator. Really one of the best men I've ever known. I'm praying for him and his family. And I hope the community, with the passage of some time, can once again let him do what he does so well-- he's got a lot to offer. A bad decsion, but a good man. As one of the other commenters said, there but for the grace of God go I. Stay strong David.

I second that. Everything in KWoodruff's last post was dead on accurate (no surprise there) and I can't improve on it so I won't try. As for sandlot5's statement that 100% of Ensworth's financial aid goes to athletes, there is no gentle way to put this-- that's simply a lie. sandlot5 you don't have solid proof, you don't know what you're talking about and to claim otherwise is a further lie. Go away. You have nothing useful to say and no one should pay any attention to you.

Ensworth won 40-0

I beg to differ with you on Bowers' coaching. 3 state titles with teams that differed greatly in their strengths and weaknesses. Beat BA for the title when they had David Harrison (7 footer, future NBA player)-- and that MBA team didn't have anybody over 6'5"-- maybe 6'4", I can't remember. The Ensworth state title team a few years ago had good talent, but not much size --- and every one of those players improved hugely in their time at Ensworth. For example, Miles Asafo Adjae was no college prospect when he started Ensworth, but he got some decent minutes on an NCAA tournament team as a freshman at Cornell last year and will probably start for them this year.He would tell you that he's a much better player as a result of Ricky's coaching. 2 or 3 of the starters (and at least 4 maybe 5 guys who play serious minutes) on this years Ensworth team entered Ensworth at age 5 and live within 2 miles of the Ensworth lower school. Not the age or the neighborhood where a "great recruiter" would be likely to focus much attention. Again, I think all of those players would tell you that Ricky is a great teacher and has been a major factor in their growth as players. It's not surprising that Ricky is such a good teacher of the game of basketball--- after all he played 4 years for Don Meyer-- one of the most renowned teachers of basketball in the world-- and was an NAIA All American in the bargain. Over the years his players have consistently gotten better while playing for him and he has consistently gotten the best out whatever talent his teams have had. His teams have always spread the ball, and the scoring around-- he's never had one stud who did all the scoring-- instead he's had unselfish, well drilled teams that play together on offense and play great defense. His teams often out rebound much bigger teams-- because they blockout on defense and crash the boards on offense. If there's a better description of a well coached basketball team, I don't know what it is. Watch the game a little more carefully the next time you see Ensworth play and you'll see what I'm talking about-- that is if you have the faintest idea what to look for.

Ensworth wins 20-19. Quite finish. BA led the whole way and had it 1st & Goal on the Ensworth 5 leading 16-13 with about 5 or 6 minutes to go. Ensworth pushed them back to 4th & goal on the 25. BA kicked a 42 yard FG to go ahead 19-13. Enswworth couldn't move it and punted. BA couldn't move and punted. Ensworth moved to the 50 , then took a big sack and had a penalty to make it 3d &33 on their own 8. Parker completed a 40 yard pass to Dingess, then a 30 yard pass to McDermott and a 12 yard TD pass to Batey. Kick was good putting Ensworth up 20-19 with 30 seconds to go. BA had a couple of gains, then got a big holding penalty. Time ran out, Ensworth wwins 20-19. Ensworth vs Baylor for the title.

I didn't see the game, but read in the paper that Ensworth won a close one over MBA last night 71-68. I was talking with an Ensworth mom who was at the game and she told me, in fairly hysterical terms, about a couple of incidents that led to two MBA players being ejected from the game, including Brad Bars (who is a big kid, Penn State football signee) "picking up an Ensworth player and body slamming him to the court, giving him a concussion , and he (the Ensworth kid) may not be able to play for the rest of the season". Frankly, that sounds like an unbelievable story to me, and this woman, while nice, really knows nothing about basketball and can be prone to "over enthusiastic" story telling. So--- can anybody else who was at the game shed any light on the accuracy of what I was told? If anything close to what she described actually happened, I would be astonished and it would amount to by far the most unsportsmanlike act I've ever heard associated with MBA (and I've been watching MBA athletic contests for nearly 50 years) --- about as far from "Gentleman Scholar Athlete" as it could be. I know that being ejected from a game means you can't play in the next one or two games, I don't remember which, but I'd be very disappointed --- again, if the story I heard is true, if Kevin Anglin didn't kick Brad Bars off the team for the rest of the season. There is simply no excuse for anyone doing what was descibed to me--- frankly, if it's true, Joe Paterno ought to think about whether he's just signed a major head case/discipline risk. I hope it's not true and that my friend just got carried away with her story telling--- I hope someone who was there will respond and give a realistic account of what really went down.

David Coppeans was a big lineman on that 94 team that went to play at vandy...I also think that at least 1 or 2 of the lineman from the 07 team will get in. As far as the first 3 i am not so sure that they wont go old school I would love for someone who saw Ricky ROper play on here...when i played at RIVERDALE his number was the only number retired (5) David Coppeans was a 2 way starter on the 93 state runner up team and the 94 team that won the Warrior's first state championship. He turned down offers from Tennessee and Alabama among others to go to Vanderbilt where he started some games as a true freshman, lettered and started all 4 years, made Academic All SEC twice, graduated in four years, and has, I heard, since gotten an MBA from Vanderbilt. I was at the 94 Clinic Bowl and while everybody remembers Alvin Duke's spectacular run as the play the won the game, it might not have mattered if Coppeans hadn't led an amazing goal line stand right before that that ended with a 4th and 1 effort by Germantown where Coppeans tackled the runner in the backfield on about the 4 yard line. Also, after Duke's run, Germantown drove into Riverdale territory and Coppeans deflected a pass that Corey Carney intercepted. The Warriors then ran out the clock by running about 7 straight plays behind Coppeans and making two first downs. He led the the Warrior O Line and D Line like that all season. He definitely deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, in my opinion.

A couple of people have mentioned what a great game #53 played for Hillsboro. That's Marvin Hughes and he's been a force on defense for the Burros all year. But he really stepped up and played his best game in the biggest game of the year tonight. Maryville really had no answer for him and he made plays all over the field. He's a great kid and he had a big hand in this great win. Congratulations to Marvin, and to all the Burros on a great team effort and a truly historic win.

I agree with both parts of this post. It was a very well played, exciting game. BA was clearly the better team for the first 28 minutes or so, and then, led by an amazingly gutsy performance by Tavarres Jefferson, Ensworth was the better team for the last 20 minutes or so--- so the score turned out about right. BA dominated the line of scrimmage thru the first half, but Ensworth seemed to make some adjustments, or maybe just started playing better on the line midway thru the third quarter. The great big holes for BA's backs weren't there anymore, they stopped gaining 3 yards after contact on every carry and they had to punt on their last 3 possessions (having scored on their first four), and Ensworth's backs got some running room. Giving Tavarres room to run, even hobbled with a bad ankle, is dangerous, as shown by his 60 yard TD run when practically every BA defender had a shot at him and he scored even though he looked like he had to drag his bad leg the last 20 yards. I'm not sure what Darkwa's problem was , but I got a pretty good, close look at him walking off the field at half time and he looked fine, so I wasn't surprised he got back in the game in the 2d half. He played well, gained more than 100 yards, and looked fine after the game. BA has some outstanding linemen--- it wouldn't surprise me if 3 of them wind up in the SEC. When they needed a big stop on 4th and 1 with a minute to go and Ensworth driving, they got it (by 3 inches, which was a good as a mile), and that was the ball game. Cody Nelson played a very solid, pretty much error free game at QB, and their backs ran very hard and were explosive-- especially Caro. I had a hard time believing they'd lost four games. If they show up and play like that next week, MUS will have a real fight on their hands--- it sounds like the MBA score was a little deceiving, given the turn overs etc. BA made very few mistakes on Friday, and if they can repeat that performance, I think they've got a great shot at keeping the gold ball in Middle Tennessee. Congratulations to the Eagles on a solid performance and a great win, and good luck in the Championship Game. KW, I hope that helps. And kids, you really don't impress anybody when you talk like jerks-- I'll guarantee you that none of the players on either team would talk that way-- they've all got too much respect for the way they all knocked the fool out of each other for 48 minutes last night-- you could learn a lesson from that. End of old guy speech.

Who won? How was the game? What kind of team was Country Day? I think they're supposed to be one of the better private school teams in NC.

Ensworth was awfully impressive, building a 47-7 lead late in the 2d quarter. Back ups finished the 1st half and played the whole 2d half. Final was 54-28. The game wasn't nearly that close. The Tigers showed lots of speed. Tavarres Jefferson was effective at QB both running and passing. Orleans Opu Darkwa looked like the real deal at RB. Ensworth's starting lines dominated both sides of the ball. Not sure how good CPA is, they lost lots of talent from last year, although the still have Z Mason who is a big time athlete. QB (Roman, I think) had a good arm.

Actually the only issue is the level of need. While most independent schools that I know about require every family to pay something, the level of need is figured by an outside, independent organization in Princeton, NJ and if a family's finances demonstrate need for a full ride, then a full ride would be perfectly ok under the rules applicable to D2.