MSURacer

Great city, great environment. Horrible location.

Oh no doubt. I would not at all be shocked with 5-5 next year. It's a young team. If leadership fails to establish itself it could be even worse. But I think Coach Counce is good enough to keep it afloat.

I mean, no s**t. The early 2000s kinda proves this. It was literally my point. Didn't you just say HC has a ton of "advantages" a couple posts up?

Now why you gotta do me like that? I honestly don’t have a problem with Wilco, I just felt like grilling MidStateFan. He’s like the only Williamson County homer on this site and I wanted to clap back at his dig at HC. It’s nothing personal, I actually live in Williamson County. As for Clarksville, I do talk a lot of smack, but it’s mainly due to all the lost potential over there. But competitively? I love those guys. Probably the single biggest enhancement factor of HC’s all-time record.

We all understand how population works. That isn’t the issue. The issue is that you are pretending that population, money, and location does not play a role in the Wilco schools’ record against Henry County, when anyone with eyes and a fraction of sense realizes it does. And yes, the Wilco publics have been largely underwhelming given their location, money, and population. They do offer up some parity, but not much else.

A population of 250,000 people, money, and access to one of the fastest growing metro areas in the country is what I'm talking about. But yes, a football period and some indoor weights make all the difference I am sure. Some of the issues you mention actually do explain the lack of dominance from that area though.

I did, but I don't really care. I would definitely agree that Wilco has had Henry's number (as they should, given their resources and generally larger schools). But at the end of the day, it's not something I give much thought. Personally, I find Wilco to be a pretty underachieving school district athletically. Never understood why the Franklin, Brentwood, Centennial, and Page types haven't been more consistent contenders. Ravenwood, Indy, and Summit have had some high flyers through the years, but there's never been a truly dominant program from that area.

Congrats to all the seniors who signed football scholarships. 8 in total. 5 to Bethel, 1 to Lindsey Wilson, and then of course Damron to UT and Brown to Arkansas. Most I can remember from one class since the 2011 group. Awesome job and best of luck!

The 90’s produced some of the best teams in state history between Cleveland, Riverdale, Brentwood Academy, Oakland, and I believe even Pearl Cohn had an all-time great team in there as well. I was in college the year we defeated Oakland and didn’t witness that one, but it would no doubt be tougher sledding nowadays.

True. The '96 team was very solid, and we did beat NE that year. Lost in the 2nd round of the playoffs to Whitehaven.

Northeast won both of those meetings. '94 was a 41-0 thumping. '95 was a more respectable 24-14. But it's hard to overstate how good NE was that year. I remember that team well. It was before the public-private split, and they lost to Brentwood Academy in the semifinals by a score of like 7-3. They might have legitimately been the best public school team in the state that year besides Riverdale.

Blast from the past for any old timers. I came across this on YouTube looking at old Travis Stephens UT videos. 1995 Northeast @ Henry County. It's just highlights. It was a loss for the Big Red but NE was a giant that year. HC was pretty dang good too. This was probably the last "really good" team we had before Gaddis. #34 for the Eagles is Vol legend Travis Stephens, whose YouTube channel this appears to be. The '94 game is on there as well.

Only won 4, but they also have like 9 runner ups. They used to be in the title game pretty much every year. That’s probably why it seems like they have more.

Not surprised at all that Oakland won, but I am a bit surprised by the score. Was thinking maybe 28-10, not a mercy rule. They really are just on a whole different level. Still think a game between them and Knox West would be interesting.

Congrats to the Knox West Rebels. They clobbered a really good football team tonight. They were easily the class of 5A this year and I honestly wish I could see them face Oakland or Beech.

Idk how long he’s been teaching, but I don’t see Counce retiring any time soon. He’s not very old, and he’s only been a head coach for 8 years. He could easily coach another 15 years if he wants to.

Agreed completely, but I like how the schedule shakes out overall. It's a pretty good mix of competition. Brighton and Ridgeway should provide a taste of the Memphis football that we would see in the playoffs. I actually like that we are keeping a Clarksville school on the schedule, especially with it being a longtime region foe like Northeast. Brentwood and Riverdale are schedule enhancers. Those are "iron sharpens iron" kind of games. Beech, Hendersonville, and Springfield speak for themselves. Depending on how long this region stays together, those three and us should be a pretty consistent quartet of playoff teams, no disrespect to Portland or Hunters Lane.

Kinda surprised Haywood didn’t make it back onto the schedule. Though it seems both sides enjoy having that as a preseason matchup.

It's been several years since I've gone into an offseason with this little insight into how the following year's team will look. I agree there is talent and potential in the underclasses. The uncertainty is honestly intriguing and a little bit exciting, simply because there are so many unknowns. One thing is for sure, whatever ends up coming together as a team next fall will be coached up pretty well. It's gonna be a tougher region, and the non-region scheduling is probably gonna be no picnic either. I look forward to seeing what Counce and company can do with this upcoming group.

I think Oakland takes this. It’ll be interesting for a while, maybe even come down to the 4th QTR, but I think Oakland prevails.

I like West in this game. Not sure by how much, but I think they pull it out. Those boys just seem to be on a mission.

Hate to see it end for this group, but they’ve had an impressive run. 3 straight semifinal appearances hasn’t been achieved by the program since ‘06-‘08. I really wanted these seniors to have a shot at a gold or silver ball, but overall nothing to hang their heads about. Page was a better team and is a worthy representative from the west.

Page is really tough yet again. But, so are we. I just want this team to make it to the big game. Whatever happens there, happens, but I want these seniors to have the chance to go the full 15 rounds. They've come up short in the semifinals each of the last 2 years. Huge game for them and the program. I do like us at home, with the revenge factor on the line. It lines up well. Here's to hoping we can make the most of it.

As long as they get their 50%

Oh, it's weather without a doubt. They don't call it "fairweather fan" for nothing. Streaming definitely does play a role, but I still say its benefits outweigh its negatives (military, long distance fans, disabled folks, etc.)