orangemoundwest

I don't know SEC1rules. It would really help if he does!

Orange Mound and my Golden Wildcats are anxiously awaiting this contest. Melrose is the big time underdog in this contest and the reasons are not hard to identify. Henry County is bringing an undefeated football team with an enormous amount of talent to da "Orange Bowl". They have dominated everybody who stepped on the gridiron with them this year. 21 points is the closest anyone has come to Henry County all year. Impressive! However, none of that means anything tonight. Melrose has been a staple in the Tennessee football playoffs for many years. The Golden Wildcats are always competitive. I find it very difficult to see things different tonight. It was refreshing to see a number of posts in this thread really look at facts when evaluating tonight's contest. Melrose and Orange Mound will show up tonight and be ready to play. There are very few high school football teams joined at the hip with their community like Melrose and Orange Mound. The atmosphere will surely be off the chain in the stadium. To my friends from Paris, come on to the Mound, enjoy great food, a rocking atmosphere, and some super high school football.

The lack of a Melrose kicking game (PAT, FG) keeps me on pins and needles. As in the past, this problem has come to haunt. I know there is no soccer program at Melrose, but I still find it hard to see why a kicker has not been developed over all these years. The Melrose passing game appears to be progressing well and the defense while not as good as some of the units we have seen, is pretty good. Whitehaven can match Melrose's speed and I think this contest will come down to turnovers and drive killer mistakes. I hope it does not come down to extra points. History has not been kind to my Golden Wildcats in games decided by 3 points or less. How is the Whitehaven kicking game?

Thanks to all you guys regarding the tragedy. many in the mound and beyond have stepped in to help the family. Melrose has the same coach for the past couple of years. This will be Coach Alexander's third year. He has a storied resume. He was the receivers coach for the Dallas Cowboys during the Super bowl runs of the '90s. KDub, my son is adjusting well to D1 college football and is says he likes it up there. Classes start Monday, so the real time management is about to start. It is also not cold yet. I am looking forward to catching some of the games. I don't know how I slept on Kingsbury. They should be good this year too. East is an unknown to me. They seemed to improve as the year progressed last year. OMW

The jury is out on Melrose this year. It looks like the defense will be really good but the offense has been revamped. After the struggles of the offense for much of last year, I have concerns as to how well the team deals with the adjustments. As some of you may know, there was a house fire in Orange Mound a few days ago that claimed the lives of seven. This was the family of one of the Melrose wide receivers, which received 2nd degree burns and is still in the hospital. The neighborhood and the team are really struggling as a result. The services for the 7 are going to be held at the school on Saturday, which is the same day as the Melrose vs. MUS football game. I don't know how the kids can concentrate on the game. Before it is all over, I think the demise of Melrose football is exaggerated. As long as the defense brings the wood as expected, they will have to be dealt with and can stay in games. Mitchell should be very good. Whitehaven lost a lot of ballers but has an abundant pool of players to choose from. They were always a sleeping giant and now appears to be waking up. Fairley will be strong again also. OrangeMoundWest. The jury is out on Melrose this year. It looks like the defense will be really good but the offense has been revamped. After the struggles of the offense for much of last year, I have concerns as to how well the team deals with the adjustments. As some of you may know, there was a house fire in Orange Mound a few days ago that claimed the lives of seven. This was the family of one of the Melrose wide receivers, which received 2nd degree burns and is still in the hospital. The neighborhood and the team are really struggling as a result. The services for the 7 are going to be held at the school on Saturday, which is the same day as the Melrose vs. MUS football game. I don't know how the kids can concentrate on the game. Before it is all over, I think the demise of Melrose football is exaggerated. As long as the defense brings the wood as expected, they will have to be dealt with and can stay in games. Mitchell should be very good. Whitehaven lost a lot of ballers but has an abundant pool of players to choose from. They were always a sleeping giant and now appears to be waking up. Fairley will be strong again also. OrangeMoundWest.

Well said TraderB. There is no question that Whitehaven is loaded. However, that has been then the case in previous years also. Melrose in a close game. quote name='TraderB' date='Sep 13 2007 - 11:04 PM' post='826540017'] Whitehaven's QB is good but, from what I observed last Friday (and during their Jamboree --scoreless tie vs Melrose), he is not as accurate as Mitchell's QB (who, btw, burned Melrose deep on several occasions), especially while on the run and/or under duress. Also, his arm also did not appear as strong as Mitchell's QB. Melrose has a great pass rush, but POOR pass coverage, particularly on the deep ball. Thus, I believe the key to this game will hinge upon whether Melrose can keep pressure on Whitehaven's QB. If so, then Melrose will eek out a low-scoring victory...something like 13 to 8. On the other hand, if Melrose is unable to keep WH's QB under duress, then Whitehaven will turn this game will turn into a track-meet! Whitehaven will outlast Melrose 26 to 20. Having seen both these teams play, I'm convinced that (although Melrose lost to Mitchell who lost to WH) Melrose has the better defense, overall. Whitehaven clearly has the better offense, as Melrose's offense still appears to be a major work-in-progress (poor OL blocking is not helping). Regardless, I ALWAYS give the nod to the team that has the better defense. Despite the fact that Melrose's secondary got burned deep by Mitchell's QB (2 TD's), they were the result of Mitchell's QB running for his life and managing to find on open receiver lurking behind the safety, who appeared unconvinced that the QB could get the ball to that WR. To me, that's moreso evidence of lack of discipline (correctable), not necessarily the lack of downfield-coverage ability (not easily corrected). Either way, Melrose's secondary must quickly employ more consistent discipline this game. Otherwise, they're gonna give up a lot of points and be handed another tough loss. Lack of discipline will get you beaten, especially in football....I think that Melrose will find the necessary discipline, however, and defeat Whitehaven -- again! Melrose 20 -- Whitehaven 14.

It sounds like highschoolking has taken a whippin from my Golden Wildcats in the past and gets really excited at the thought of another Melrose loss. I expect a much closer game.

First I would like to congratulate Mitchell on their win against my beloved Golden Wildcats. As of now all I have is second hand reports. The word is that our execution on offense has been really bad in both games this year. I really expected more from the passing game. Even good defenses can't be put in tough positions time and time again and be expected to keep teams out of the endzone. Everyone I talked to that went to the game gives kudos to the Mitchell QB. Hopefully we can get the train rolling and be the Melrose team many expect.

Fairley returns a number of players from last years breakout squad and in my opinion will battle Melrose for the region 8 title. Also, this is a big rivalry, so anything can happen. I am going with Whitehaven in a game that will be decided by no more than a touchdown. However, I would not be surprised if Fairley pulled off the upset OMW

Congratulations Maryville on the 3peat. Very impressive.

We have been blessed to have very good to excellent RBs for at least ten years. So I guess the law of averages had to expose that position sooner or later. There is probably a young fellow in or near the mound that will fill the gap. Our O Line has some opportunities also. When 10-2, and a sweet sisteen playoff appearance is a bad year, its hard to feel real bad. This was the year to beat us early.

The majority of this years Melrose team is back next year.. I expect us to be much better. Hopefully the coaching staff will stay together and we can develop. I will keep you posted on how we fare in the playoffs. The 5A and 4A teams are divided into two brackets with two eventual state champions because of the large number of teams. Two of the nation's top ten teams in Lufkin and SouthLake Carroll plus 3 additional teams ranked in the 5southwest's top 5 are in our bracket . In addition the team we play in the first round has lost only two games in the last 2 years. Thsnks for the well wishes as it will be a tough road.

TraderB, You called it earlier this year and you were right. I really wanted to keep hope alive but this Melrose team could not overcome their youth, player loss to graduation, coaching changes, and fighting off the bullseye that comes with being a Melrose team.Henry County brought a good team to the Mound I have not seen the game yet, but forom my brother's and other's eyewitness accounts, Henry County just plain beat us. Period. Once agin, hats off to Henry County for a well deserved victory. Since My beloved golden wildcats now officially spectators, on the Tennessee front, I will focus on the rest of the playoffs and remember how great this time of year is. Foutunately, my son's team here in Texas is in the playoffs for the first time and I can get to enjoy it for as long as it lasts.

Congratulations Henry County on your win. Good luck the rest of the way in the playoffs.

rhsplayer, Just thing about KDUB and #77's mom at the game together has to be one of the funniest visions I have seen in a while. Man that's LOL funny!!

The Weather Channel shows a chance of thunderstorms late Friday night. Hopefully it will hold off until after the game. I am happy to see all of the excitement generated over this matchup. All of Orange Mound and Melrose fans all over the country (and I mean that literally) are waiting and ready. The Orange Bowl will be rocking!!

KDUB, Man, now that is a night out on the town. You are my hero!!! With all this good football going on I wish I had a DirecTV season pass for High school football!! This Ridgeway/Wooddale matchup is beautiful and as good of a second round matchup as anywhere in the state. What a great time of year!!

KDUB, I know we will have our hands full. This will be a tough one. I am glad the game is at home. If we keep our assignments and don't get too agressive, I like our chances. I will email you later today when I get back to the office.. OMW

It's good to see that the Melrose offense is opening up. I have felt all year that there was more scoring potential that could be utilized and more pressure placed on opponents defenses. Looks like Coach Alexander's years of high level experience on the offensive side of the ball is being reflected on the field. Yes, this is a young team, but this is game 12 coming up. If we can curb our enthusiasm on defense a little, this could be a nice run. This Melrose team may not be as strong as some of the previous teams, but are 10-1 during a reloading year. I will take our chances. This is playoff time and just about every team can play at this stage. Henry County is no exception. Melrose will have to play good football to advance. So come on down to the Mound and buckle up you chin straps.

Tnanks for the input TraderB. My brother watched the game on the television replay and saw basically the same things you did. I am looking forward to seeing the tape. Ridgeway has potentially interesting rounds 1,2 and 3 playoff matchups.

It sounds like this game was a good one with some controversy. Congratulations White Station on your 21-20 win. The Commercial Appeal has an interesting account of the game in the link below: http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/preps/...5066105,00.html

Yes you did. The last few games are showing it. Sole possession of 3rd place in the region is within grasp.

It sure looks like that. The Wooddale matchup next week is HUGE!

Thanks TraderB. The region is starting to come into focus as the cream rises to the top. White Station got a big win over Germantown and Whitehaven is still in the hunt for a playoff birth. The Wooddale-White Station game next week is a big one followed by Germantown-Houston. Whitehaven and Collierville are in must win situations against each other. This is good stuff!

A big win for East tonight. Could it be that the reported demise of Memphis East football is a bit premature?