Tuffnut

One cannot choose who is in their district or region, but the other matches that a team chooses to play says a great deal about a coach and what they are trying to accomplish. Some coaches pad records and stats for appearance; others prepare for the championships. Over the past several years Notre Dame and their coaches have been the second sort. They always seek the highest level of competition, and their end of the season success reflects this. I absolutely respect teams and coaches who travel the tougher road. Those roads often lead to the best places.

Congratulations to Bradley. The Chattanooga are has been dominate for a long time, but not since the early 90s. The state duals were split, DI and DII, in 1998. Prior to that Region III was dominate (There were only 4 regions at that time.) with Ryan and Overton going 1 and 2 in the finals for several years. From 1998- 2001 the teams were Bradley over Brentwood, Bradley over Clarksville, Clarksville over Bradley and Bradley over Clarksville. What happened to Clarksville? When a team rises or falls, it is usually due to a feeder program or a coaching change. During that time frame Clarksville had no feeder program, and yes, there was a coaching change. Most areas are not as fortunate as Bradley, where you can replace a Steve Logsden, but you have that ability. You have a great talent pool of wrestlers and coaches. You have a great community that still appreciates wrestling. You have truly been blessed. My only advice to you is to be thankful for your blessings. Be proud of your accomplishments and too humble to boast about them. The difference between confidence and arrogance is the difference between people that we love to listen to and people we cannot bear to hear.

I agree that 15, 18 or even 22 are numbers that represent what team means in soccer. Forty-five is not one of those numbers. If there are truly 45 quality girls in AAA, and I don't know of a single girl on the list who is not worthy of nomination, then a first team and a second team seem to be the idea. News papers and college conferences do exactly that. I realize that who decides on the first team will always be the concern. I simply hate to see the honor (in AAA) cheapened.

You did miss my point. The three girls that did make the team are quite qualified and deserving of nomination. The point is that as a member of both organizations, as I am, I can nominate as many girls as I want to be voted on for the All-State team. The problem is the only actual vote is not for All-State: it is for All-American. In my experience over the years, every single player that I have nominated from our team or others has made the All-State team. I haven't even looked at the final list, but I know that the girls that I nominated are there, all of them. My point is that if you have fifty All-State players or a hundred or two hundred, at some point this prestigious award simply becomes a participation award. I don't really have a solution. When voting on All-American, I didn't know more than two-thirds of the players, and knowing where we have traveled, I probably knew more than most. I didn't feel very confident or competent in choosing the top players. Picking a team would be much more difficult. The list probably should be screened or voted on by a committee, like the Senior All-Star Match. Otherwise,I think that the list of All-State players will continue to grow each year until it simply becomes an honorable mention.

Station Camp has an exceptional sophomore class. Ensworth finished State Runner-up and had a young team. I have never seen the year that Franklin didn't have extremely talented young players. However, the fact that these players made the coaches all-state team only proves one thing- that their coaches were members of NSCAA. We really need to find a better way to select all-state. I fear that the creditability of the honor will soon become too diluted and too biased to be of any relevance.

My guess would be that those two Knoxville teams are geographically the closest to their new district teams. Rutherford County and Williamson County both had teams split out and mored to new districts to balance district numbers. In both of those cases the northern most schools were moved to the districts to their north. Montgomery County is now in the same region as northwestern Memphis; that is a 200 mile drive for region semis and finals and also for sectionals. In my experience old rivalries don't disappear just because a district is split, but new ones do develop.

Actually, they would have to beat one of those teams in sectionals to make it to state.

I have seen many girls dive this season. A few earned penalties, many were awarded free kicks. Most were spotted by officials who weren't so easily sold and told the player to get up. What I never saw was a diving player being given a yellow card. The question is why officials simply choose to not enforce the rule. One thing is guaranteed, next year will see more players taking the plunge. With much to gain and nothing to lose, I guess we should all work a little on dramatic flopping.

I agree that there were some questionable calls. Is there ever a contested match when there is not. If you are implying the #24 should have been carded for diving every time she lost the ball in the box, I would say maybe. Sure, the center blew her whistle too early when Clarksville had a breakaway to goal. Later, the Franklin fans lobbied her to change her original call of clean tackle and Franklin throw in, to a foul and a yellow card on the Clarksville player, even though she was fifteen steps away and the overruling side judge was forty yards behind the tackle. In the first half a Franklin shot hit the tire on the goal a yard out of play and came back in to a Franklin player and play continued. Both the side and the center missed it. What can you say, officials are human. We all make mistakes, even the more experienced ones. The center was young. She didn't ruin the match nor alter the outcome. She didn't intrude on the match. If we don't give the young officials a chance to officiate the big matches, we will soon have no qualified officials for big events. If they don't make mistakes in big matches, they will not get better and will never have the confidence not to be swayed by crowds, coaches or older officials. She did fine and I bet that next time she will do even better.

Ironically, the two finalists are the only two teams to defeat Houston over the past four years.

We all know them. Who are the best whiners? Those who complain about every single call. Those who scream in unison for a hand ball whenever the ball touches an opponent above their ankle. Coaches, fans, players? It seems that we have played several. I was just wondering if we had just been lucky in our opponents.

And first was Brentwood who, I think, gets an automatic spot in the region, leaving Franklin, Independence and Ravenwood fighting for the other spot. Does anyone know the match ups, times and site?

They are both very talented. And I guess that 17 or 18 is still young enough.

Aren't they both seniors?

Looks like Franklin removed all preseason results.

Did Ensworth beat Franklin in preseason or not? If so, why has it been removed from the Eurosport Scoreboard?

I also agree that Coach Badon is a fine person and a competent coach, but that was the secondary question. The question is what is the problem with Clarksville wrestling. A feeder program is very important, but Clarksville High has never had much happening there. Artie Manning was definitely valuable to the program, but Artie was doing his part long before Clarksville won their first region title and was still there for three years after they stopped winning titles. Injuries? Who doesn't have injuries. Apathetic kids? Why did kids suddenly become apathetic after twenty years of not being so? Too successful for too long? I will just say Father Ryan. I think that if you really want to know the truth, you should ask your fiercest rivals. Ask Soddy, Bradley, Cleveland, Ravenwood or Independence. They can probably tell you what has changed and what the problem is better than anyone else. I once was at a meeting where the coaches were asking for the districts to be realigned based on splitting up the powerhouses. The TSSAA director said no. He said that schools are not inherently superior or inferior to one another. He said that the TSSAA would never base divisions on separating the powers because the powers always seem to follow certain coaches. Where those coaches go, there goes the power. There are certain coaches who can do things with and for teams that others simply cannot. Tradition and feeder programs are important but rarely can they alone carry the day. Father Ryan certainly has both of these, but I don't think anyone would venture that Ryan would have won a fraction of their titles without Coach Simpson. Father Ryan seems to know something that others may have missed. If you ever get your paws on an extraordinary coach, never let him go.

Congratulations to Greeneville. It is always inspiring when someone does something that most deem impossible.

It doesn't appear that their is much interest in AAA on this site, or maybe everyone has already been burned before. Here are my predictions for round one. Hardin Valley vs Clarksville Too close to call, probably whoever is healthier. Collierville vs Cookeville Collierville Houston vs Hendersonville Houston, but it will be much closer than the 5-0 rout in September. Lincoln County vs Maryville Maryville, based solely on their competitive schedule. I know nothing about Lincoln County.

What it takes to be a state title contender is probably a little different for each state classification. In the top classifications a large number of players with club backgrounds, preferably division 1 club players. Depth is important. A special player or two is a plus. And a great coach who can think on his/her feet can help to even up some of the other unbalanced factors. Is money a factor? Yes, only because more affluent areas tend to have more clubs and consequently, more club players. Great fields, facilities, uniforms, and riding chartered buses all are nice to have, but they have no real impact on championships. There is another factor, though a bit less apparent- emotion. Heart, passion, desire, team unity- these also can be great equalizers. On a side but related note. This is the first time that I can ever remember an AAA state bracket that will not have a Williamson County team included. That is absolutely astonishing.

Eurosport Top Ten District Results 1. Houston 16-0. We will assume that they won their district. 2. Independence Lost in the final minute to Brentwood, a team that they beat 6-1 a few weeks ago. Lost in the semis, but qualified for their first region tournament as regular season champs. 3. Franklin Lost 2-0 in the district final to Brentwood. Eliminated 4. Ravenwood Lost 2-0 to Franklin in the semis. Eliminated 5. Bearden Lost 1-0 to Maryville in the semis (beat Maryville 4-1 earlier). Eliminated 6. Farragut Lost 2-1 to Hardin Valley in the semis (beat Hardin Valley 3-1 earlier0. Eliminated 7. Collierville No info. Will assume that they won district. Did play houston to a 1-0 loss last week. 8. Clarksville Won district 4-0 over Henry County. 9. Oakland Plays Siegal in championship Friday Night (I think). 10. Hardin Valley Won district 1-0 over Maryville. The second ten faired much better. I guess the moral to the story is that it is tough to be the favorite.

I know that some matches were rained out tonight (Monday), but some matches haven't been posted. Does anyone have District 11 AAA results, schedules and sites? I haven't seen or heard anything.

I understand how you ended up with a softer schedule than you would have liked. Mass email is always a shot in the dark. Hopefully, more quality teams will seek to schedule you in the future.

Everyone has a few of those matches. Brentwood lost to Independence, last week, then put up 16 goals against Dickson County. Last year, Ravenwood put up17 on the same district whipping boy, CP had 7 or 10 goals in that match and everyone seemed ok with it. Everyone has some of those district matches that aren't worth paying officials or charging admission. The question in those matches is how can the coach make the match fun and beneficial to the team without hummiliating the other team. Too many goals, playing under manned, obvious possession, even restrictions can still be embarrassing. However, this is not the case in the Ensworth situation. Much can be learned about a coach's goals by the teams and tournaments that he/she chooses to play. I think that much can be leaned by looking at the teams that they don't have to play but choose to play. Congratulations to you and to Clarksville for choosing to play each other. It will make both teams better. When I look at the other teams you chose, I wonder why you chose them. The easiest answer to the "how to manage the Overton match" is don't play them. Don't play the Sycamore Tournament or any such competition. Find better opportunities for your girls to get better. Your stats won't be so impressive but your team will be much better in the big picture.

Does the winner of the regular season championship between Franklin and Independence still get an automatic berth in the region? Hendersonville and Beech is also for first in their district.