donathan5507

A buddy and I cannot remember the name of a former Marshall County player. He played tailback. Maybe 2000-03. Seemed like he was there for the better part of a decade. Extremely talented and very shifty. Wore #9 I believe and I think his first name was Mario. Can't remember his last name for the life of me. Anybody know who I'm talking about?

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...somebody wake me up when a West TN team beats a Williamson County team in the 5A semis. Congratulations to Franklin...going to be a great game in the 'Boro on Saturday.

This Franklin team is the best team to come out of the region since 2005. 2006 Ravenwood was good, but people forget that their defense wasn't much of anything after the first round of the playoffs--they gave up 28, 29, and 28 in wins against Antioch, Hunters Lane, and White Station before Smyrna dropped 35 on them in the title game. Franklin hasn't given up more than 14 points since October 3. They have an unbelievable amount of experience on both sides of the ball....their QB (a Mr. Football Finalist) has been playing for the better part of three years and has a lot of playoff games under his belt. He may not wow you with his statistics but he rarely makes mistakes and is extremely well coached. The receivers make plays when they need to and they have great chemistry with Nichols. The running game is scary. Lee and Ford are both juniors and both have had outstanding seasons in one of the state's toughest regions. I would say Franklin's biggest strength is line play on both sides of the ball. The O-Line is absolutely outstanding--one of the best I've seen and the defensive guys (led by JD Jervis) wreak havoc all game long. This team has no discernible weakness and has every tool necessary to bring home a gold ball. That said, there are a ton of variables in a football game. Although they have experience, Franklin hasn't made it this far under Clayton, so you don't know how they will react. However, I've watched them for the last four years and I felt like the quarterfinals were the big hump for them...they have gotten over that hump and there's no reason why they shouldn't move past White Station on Friday night. I'm an Independence fan, but my allegiance is solely to the Rebels right now. Good luck boys...represent 6-5A well!

You had better bring your 'A' game every Friday night. There isn't a single easy win to be had, plus the playoff race will be even more competitive. There will be one guaranteed 5A playoff team and two guaranteed 6A teams. Since the rest of the spots are decided by tiebreakers, I would expect a lot of teams across the state to find as many easy wins as possible...that will NOT be in the case in 11-AAA. All of the teams consistently play some of the toughest non-region schedules in the entire state. I very much look forward to district games next year...shouldn't be a bad game anywhere.

Brentwood Franklin Centennial Hendersonville

Indy 35-24. Good way for the Eagles to close out the season. They're going to have to work really hard in the offseason if they want to get back to the playoffs. With realignment, things will only get tougher. Congrats to the seniors who played in their final game--hard to imagine watching Independence football without Berry, Shephard, or Smith. Those kids have all been getting minutes since the first year of varsity football.

14-14 halftime.

Anybody have a final for this game?

Sparty, where have you been? I've been getting killed out here.

donathan5507@gmail.com Shoot me an e-mail.

The fact that you're even insinuating that I personally have done anything even remotely close to chipping away is extremely insulting to me. I have been there for this program every step of the way...from the 2004 scrimmages against Glencliff and Stewart County to last December's heartbreak in Murfreesboro. If you have a problem with something that I have said, give me a call or an e-mail. Those that truly know this program know exactly who I am and exactly how to reach me. If you do not know how to do so, then let me know and I'll give you all of the information which you need. Look forward to hearing from you.

Coach Henrie did that with the 2007 seniors on senior night against Columbia...

Clearly you haven't been reading these threads all season, because I have done nothing but support and defend this team and the coaching decisions. I was the one calling for Heckman to start over Smith last season and again this year. I'm the one that got in arguments with sleeper3773 and hsfbfan1 because of my opinion. I am not a dissenter...I love the Independence program and I wish everyone involved nothign but the best. I have seen several coaches in football (and in other sports) choose to give seniors the starting nod on senior night. They don't have to play more than the first series...I have always liked the gesture and I have thought it was a nice moment for those kids to get their time in the spotlight. I love Coach Eubanks and I know he will turn this thing around next season. The current group of juniors may be the best to come through the program. He will build this thing up to an extremely high level. That said, I don't think the world will come to end because you give the starting nod to a senior.

Okay, fine. EVERY senior should start. This is a meaningless game. This is their last chance to take the field at Eagles Stadium. They don't have to play the whole game, but I believe in giving each senior his chance to start in the season finale. I have my reasons? Have you paid ANY attention to any Indy threads all year? I've always backed Heckman. I have always thought that senior night is a special night and these kids deserve the opportunity.

Nick deserves to start against Columbia. He's a senior, I always support that kind of thing. He's put a lot into this program and this will be the last time he ever laces them up. Hard to believe that he is about to finish his career at Indy, when it seemed like just the other day when he was coming into the scrimmage against Glencliff as a freshman.

Teams in the region are down? You're insane. Top to bottom, this is the best that region has been since 2006...possibly 2005. Franklin and Brentwood are two teams with state championship potential. Centennial has the athletes and the speed to make a deep postseason run. Ravenwood has the best coach in the entire midstate. Indy isn't great but they have one of the four best players in the region on their team and if the offense gets going, they can be a problem to deal with. Columbia has some budding young stars and has played some teams close (only lost to Ravenwood by 5 after leading for most of the game). Heck, even Northeast has won four games this year...from 05-07 they won 3 games total. Dickson isn't very good but the power running game can cause major issues (ask Centennial).

Independence Class of 2007 Emory Martin--started at Lenoir-Rhyne, transferred to Samford and is ineligible this season. Class of 2008 Ryan Consiglio--UTC (walking on, hopes to be placed on scholarship in January...2 tackles in three games played this season). Jeff Veres--UTC (also walking on, has played in two games this season) Scott Pettigrew--Buffalo. (Started at ILB in their game last week against Army. Is the team's 9th leading tackler with 17 (11 solo, 6 assist).) Isaac Baugh--Buffalo (redshirting this year) Nate Stout--Campbellsville Rodney Coffey--Campbellsville Jonathan Robinson--Campbellsville

Brentwood by 17.

A lot of other young talent that hadn't quite developed yet. Most people around this region have felt the next couple Centennial teams had potential to be top-tier region teams. The only thing that hurt CHS for most of its existence was coaching, not talent. That problem appears to be fixed now. I don't think they are anywhere close to where they need to be defensively, but I believe that Centennial will be an absolute force to be reckoned with in the next couple of years.

Columbia could catch the Cougars looking ahead and play them close for a half, but Centennial is the better team and will ultimately prevail, setting up a huge matchup against Franklin. Centennial 27 Columbia 17

Pretty much. But not technically. If Dickson wins out (they'd have to beat Franklin and Ravenwood), they'd get in over Ravenwood. Same scenario goes for Northeast. Basically, any team with more than 3 region losses is out. Those two teams play one another this week, which would eliminate the loser. Northeast is almost certainly eliminated. DC would have to pull off a miracle. Ravenwood 3-2 (Northeast, Dickson) Dickson 1-3 (Northeast, Franklin, Ravenwood) Northeast 1-3 (Dickson, Ravenwood, Brentwood) Likely you'll get 1. Brentwood 2. Franklin 3. Centennial 4. Ravenwood Indy could really shake the region order up next week with a shocking upset against Brentwood, but I don't see that happening.

14-7. I listened via 104.5's website...Ravenwood scored first on a TD run. Indy hit a 20-yard TD pass to tie it up before RHS added what would be the game winning touchdown in the 2nd quarter on an 11-yard TD pass. The second half was extremely sloppy. I think there were five turnovers and very little offensive production. Indy got a huge 4th down stop midway through the fourth quarter and completed a 64-yard pass to the Ravenwood 15 but the receiver fumbled before going down (a call which the announcers questioned) and Ravenwood basically ran the clock out from there. IHS had one last chance with 40 seconds to go from its own 20 but ran a screen on first down that only gained 7 yards and the player was tackled in bounds...Indy didn't use its final timeout, ran two more incomplete passes and that was the game. The wet field obviously caused this game to be a pretty sloppy one...for Indy, they just need to focus on next week and trying to get some pass protection for Heckman. They are eliminated from the playoffs for this year and will need to make some vast improvements if they hope to compete in 09.

McCurdy and Mikrut were in that same class of 2005 that I was referring to with T.C. That was probably the best trio of QB's that we'll see for a long time...all I said was that Alex has a chance to become the best in this region since that group. In the post-T.C./McCurdy/Mikrut era, I'd rank the QBs as such: 1. Michael Becker 2. Graham Nichols 3. Chaz Scales 4. Alex Heckman However, Alex has the rest of this season and his entire senior year ahead of him to ascend that list. We will see what happens...Indy needs to get on the right track this week against Ravenwood.

Okay, I need a little help here. I believe this team's playmakers are #2, #3, #7, and #10. I think #8 will be a playmaker in the future and I think #5 may have the best hands on the team. So, They have a quarterback who--when all is said and done--may be the best in this region since T.C. Jennings graduated. He's already in the discussion as a junior. He can run, he continues to improve his passing, I don't know what else you want from him. He is one of the top five playmakers in the entire region--why shouldn't he get the ball in his hands on every play? Against Dickson, he had 21 completions to six different receivers. No single player had more than six catches. Nick Smith had 3 catches for 92 yards (the most on the team) and Jonathan Norman caught two touchdown passes. You claim that they deliberately give the ball to kids who cannot make plays...which kids? I'm interested into hearing your reponse. However, you were the "barrier" of bad news, so I'm not sure what to make of anything you say.

It's almost a certainty that they will be on the outside looking in come November. However, they weren't expected to do much this year. The current juniors may be the best class to come through the program and they will have an entire offseason to get better. I think this team has a real chance at something special next season but they need to find a tailback. They need to get back to work Monday and try to fix some things as they have a short week of practice before taking on Ravenwood on Thursday.