EagleEye7777

GRACE 2 SODDY 1 Good game! Back and forth early with Soddy seeming to posses a little more but Grace got on the board first off a beautiful shot by Junior MF to upper 90 corner. #20 for Soddy worked her butt off firing shots from everywhere and making good passes in the box but Grace defense and keeper was generally on top of it. Soddy scored on a one touch shot in the box off nice cross from #20 that careened in the corner off near post. 1-1 at half. Grace started to figure out SD defense in second half creating more opportunities and finally scored again off another nice upper 90 shot by same Grace MF. #20 for SD kept firing but Grace defense was solid limiting open shots and keeper made a number of nice saves including a highlight full layout to far post corner. Pop was proud! Soddy has a bunch of young players and limited support for their veterans but don't count them out. As they mature, they should be formidable and can still contend for their district. Never saw Summer play but little Lanter looks like she could be another star in the making. Grace continues to improve and impress but still some cracks to tighten up. CCS next week will be another telling test... Bald Eagle

Cannon - Is that a real objective question...or are you just viewing the world through Pope colored glasses?

I would have to agree with your assessment MVM. Even from someone "on the inside" at Grace they still need to prove themselves against the big dogs. I really like the way the team is looking so far this year and also lining up for years to come with a pretty even distribution of select players from top to bottom. In addition to a solid sophomore and freshman class, they have two 8th graders who play like seniors and have pushed the rest of the upper class to get even sharper! (Back off Baylor and GPS and don't be getting any ideas!!!) If they can replace their Senior keeper and another Senior Captain after this year, they could well be making a move to become one of the top programs in the area. That being said, they still have yet to face Soddy, CCS and Cleveland before the end of the regular season which will be very telling as to what they're really made of. They faced Cleveland in a pre-season play day and held their own losing just 1-0 in a 30 min period with Cleveland's lone goal coming in the 30th minute. Oh...and they have had their leading scorer from the last two years on the DL all season but get her back next week for the Soddy Game. Will be interesting to see how coach works her back into the mix. She's used to being the primary offensive threat but it's a whole new ball game this year with a bunch of the young talent really stepping up and scoring coming from everywhere. It's just a solid TEAM with good depth, no real big egos and great chemistry. Has been fun to follow. True test of mental toughness starts next week... Anyway...that's my eagle eye view. Best wishes to all and a great rest of the season!

Champ/Booger, Good arguments regarding ND ranking over EH and probably need to use my mulligan. Looking forward to see the result of the ND - CAK game today. A win would be a no brainer to catapult ND to a #3 or even #2 spot. Thanks for keeping me honest. May the road rise up to meet you...and the Lord bless you.

Good to see all the chatter ramped up now that the season is finally here. After preseason play-days and a week of games here's my birds' eye view... 1. GPS. Cuz...they got a whole lotta LOVE. 2. McMinn (County). Cuz AAA probably coached them all as kids. 3. Baylor Cuz their WICKs can burn at both ends of the candle 4. East Hamilton - Well coached and experienced continuing to build a solid program. 5. Soddy - Sr up front has a cannon for a leg, runs like a deer and can score from anywhere. 6. Irish - Youngsters from 2011 State Championship team maturing and are little Boogerettes. 7. CCS - Big shoes to fill at keeper and a little young overall but very strong in the middle and can never count out their program. 8. Cleveland - Cuz more than one "player to watch" and the BARNES can always catch fire. 9. Grace - Big infusion of young talent this year could be missing pieces up front to complement top drawer D until leading scorer returns in a couple weeks. Keeper not too Shabbey either. 10. Signal Mountain - Have some of the best talent in Chatty but have to keep their noses clean. Others to watch: Bradley Central, CSAS

East Hamilton - Grace Baptist Scrimmage tomorrow night. Rematch of last years Region Semi. Not as much chatter this pre-season as last. Guess it will be much quieter without some of the old Irish faithful who graduated seniors last year...

No love for the lady Eagles? I still think they can take EH if their D can hold them off til PK's and avenge last year's Region final! Beware the sleeper...

Think she did play club ball but not sure who she played for. Only senior on the team and also plays basketball and softball. Was centerfielder on State Champ softball team in the spring.

Also agree with your assessment Cody and understand that certain tackles are "legal" but I've watched enough soccer to have a good idea of the difference and that sure appeared obvious to me and just about every other spectator I've talked with since. I plan to go back and watch film on the game to review the play in question. Perhaps without the emotion of the moment, I can try to check myself to filter any bias. #4 suffered an ankle sprain in the game and didn't practice yesterday but she is tough as nails and one of Grace's fiercest competitors. With 4 days rest, I'm confident she will be back for the EH game and still be a factor. She's still going to need some help regardless and it's time for some of our younger/2nd tier players to step up if Grace is going to make any kind of run from here out this year. Being such a relatively small school, we have little to no depth (15 total on the roster!) and are playing 4 freshman and an 8th grader. They're all good athletes and have gotten great experience over the season but IMHO, they've got to stop just sitting back and reacting or waiting for others to create opportunities and start asserting themselves more to make things happen. Once they get that, the offense should start to ignite again. I know they can do it. In the first half of the regular season Boyd game, they were amazing and looked like a college team. It's puzzling why they haven't seemed to be able to get back to that but I'm certainly not one to claim an understanding of a teenage female brain so better leave that up to coach H. CHAMP - Senior has been back for a few games but also still nursing her initial ankle injury and not sure she's 100% yet physically or mentally. However, when she get's her fuse lit, she can be a very explosive player and is a one of the stongest and fastest athletes I've seen on the pitch including club ball. She's battled a bunch of injuries in her career and has never really been able to showcase her full talent so I'm hoping being faced with potentially the last game of her HS career, she will dig down and finally have a coming out party. She's definitely a diamond in the rough and sure hope she pursues a college career. Even if she walks on, she is going to be a pleasant suprise for some college coach. Wish everyone the best for a great rest of the post season. My hope is to just see some good hard and clean soccer and let iron sharpen iron (hopefully Bogger will appreciate the Scriptural reference) to raise everyones level of play and bring the State Title back to Chattanooga (Lower E. Tenn for the MC faithful . Eagle out...

This game could have gone either way expecially if ref has enough guts to call obvioius foul in MC box at end of game... but I have to say MC certainly earned the win. Their 10 seniors played like veterans and out hustled Grace's much younger mid-field and front line most of the contest. Kept it down Grace's throat and out shot them probably 3 or 4 to 1 giving the Grace D a workout. Sure the Grace keeper had well over 20 saves and forced MC to make a nice combo pass to score on a back post deflection despite getting a hand on it as well...but MC was relentless. I'd say they are the team to beat in District 5/6 this year but questionable if they can get past ND/CCS into State. Tough to tell how their defense would hold up against experienced front line.

EH only beat Grace 1-0 in regular season but Grace was without their lone senior who is an impact player. The canes may have improved also but I predict a good game and like Grace's chances if they can get to PKs. If Grace pulls it off and ND handles their biz against Smith, the Reformation game is only a game away like it was last year. Regardless, Grace's front line is still very young and if they get that far the season will be a huge success regardless of the outcome against ND. Still love to see it...if for nothing more than to say we played this year and silence the all the whining about Senior, Grandparents, Second Cousin Once removed day...and all water should be served in paper cups to put everyone at ease.

Becoming way to commonplace. Refs are basically law enforcement on the field and it they don't start to pay closer attention and control this, it's going to continue to send a very bad message to these young ladies and only escalate to motivate more and even worse bad behavior...not to mention the fallout when they grow up to become moms and adults in the workplace. Thanks for sharing CHAMP and bringing this issue to light!

Depends on what your devoted too...

Congrats on the big win last night and finally taking a close one against CCS! Of course, no disrespect to District 8, but I'm guessing you will likely see them again in the Region final as in years past. Sure to be another great battle...

Easy there Cannon...if Catholics were immune to sin then why have a confessional? Of course, if you are without, then I guess you can feel free to keep throwing stones... FYI, Grandpa has been to all games since and has been a perfect gentlemen. Believe the lesson's been learned so in the spirit of the "Grace" we have ALL received through Christ, can we just forgive and forget?

See Champ...all you need is a little faith. God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28) Now don't you feel bad about all your belly-acheing over the Grace cancellation? Might need to get to confession and say a few Hail Marys and Our Fathers. Congrats on the win and to your senior for chance to play at least a couple more. Good luck...er...best wishes (we protestants dont believe in luck for another great game against CCS. May the best team win and hope to see you all down the road. A Grace/ND match up could still happen! )

District 5A-AA Grace 7 Polk 0

Yeah, that would be justice...penalize the kids for a couple out of control parents. C'mon man...just let it go! I know the grandparent that started it all has a has already written letters of apology to both schools...

Wasn't pretty but turned out much better than it could have. Started when a frustrated grandfather having a bad day lobbed a water bottle on the field after the game (waay over the line and totally un called for - mistake 1) regarding some poor officiating. One questionable call gave Silverdale their free kick right in front of the Grace goal which led to the tying goal. The "near-melee" occurred when said grandfather was confronted by one of the opposing team fathers (mistake 2) leading to a pushing and shoving match. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and the tension was diffused avoiding making a bad situation much worse. Following all that, what the paper didn't cover was that both teams and coaches showed a bunch of class and huddled together for a group prayer...a good lesson for all parents! Guess the moral is that "all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God" but thank God for "grace" 0:-)

GRACE 1 SIGNAL 0

Would have liked to have seen an ND-Grace match-up last year due to family connection (yeah we're an eclectic bunch of Baptists and Catholics) and was a PK away from seeing it in sub-state but apparently wasn't meant to be. Obviously we had Hixson yesterday and Signal on schedule for Thursday but no game tonight for Grace. Have no idea what was up on the reschedule this year but have a feeling it was more of an administrative issue than dogging a tough competitor. Otherwise, why would we have played CCS or Signal which are both non-district games??

Not so fast there champ...actual score was: GRACE 3 HIXSON 0 Perhaps Grace and ND will still get to play this season...

Check that...actual was GRACE 3 HIXSON 0

Grace 1 Boyd Buc 0