Tuffnut

Eurosport scores Franklin 2 Father Ryan 0 Franklin 4 Hendersonville 0 Oakland 1 Clarksville 0

Euosport Scores Ensworth 3 Rossview 1 Clarksville 5 Ravenwood 0

Franklin with a wonderful rec league, the most successful club in the state and a new but proven coach (back to back boys state championships) will always be a challenge for Clarksville who has very few players with much playing experience against top level competition. Still a legitimate rivalry has developed between the two teams. Over the past three seasons Franklin has 3-2 and 2-1 wins, while Clarksville has 2-1 and 4-1 victories. They have met up in the sectionals at Clarksville for the past three years. Franklin won one and Clarksville won two. To my knowledge those two years are the only years that Franklin hasn't been to state. Franklin always has a wealth of talent. With a young team, a storied soccer history and a quality coach, it would be unwise to overlook them. And Clarksville? Well, that sophisticated offense I saw last year probably takes a while to develop. Looking back to last year, Eurosport has Franklin winning in preseason 1-0. Kudos goes to both teams and coaches for seeking and playing quality competition in the preseason and regular season. Too often teams don't. I suspect that those two teams will reap the benefits latter in October.

Franklin 1 Clarksville 1

Independence 2 Brentwood Academy 0 Clarksville 7 Beech 0 eurosport scores

What are some of the big preseason matches over the next two weeks? Here are some that I know of: Father Ryan has Franklin and Oakland Franklin also has Clarksville and Hendersonville Oakland also has Clarksville and maybe Beech Clarksville also has Beech and Ravenwood Those are just a few of the more interesting scrimmages in Middle Tennessee.

D1 AAA 1) Houston - Only one loss in two years. Again they will have the most college caliber players and more depth than any high school should be allowed. 2) Ravenwood - State finalist and semifinalist the past two years where they lost to Houston both years. Again they will have the second most college caliber and second deepest team. Good coach. 3) Clarksville - Undefeated state champs in 2015. A couple of extraordinary players and play team ball better than others. Probably lack the depth to repeat but some how did it last year. 4) Franklin - A traditional power in a hot bed for soccer. Plenty of quality players and a new but proven (on the boys side) coach 5) Hardin Valley - The best of the east last year. They beat Ravenwood in regular season but lost in the state.

Unfortunately, the TSSAA has allowed fear to govern their policy. The fear of lawsuits seems to be the major motivation for an organization that once stood for fair play and the student athlete's best interests. The major soccer clubs that have begged and threatened for the right to play in yet another league, the region premier league and the national league not being enough; well, they haven't changed one bit. Their motivation has always been greed and vanity. Now these clubs have finally managed to find a way to make travel soccer even more expensive. They will be able to collect two to four additional months of fees for all their high school players. Oh yes, they will also be able to go and rub shoulders with those teams who beat them in other competitions but will be glad to do so one more time this year. Some will say that this new league will make soccer and especially Tennessee soccer better. These people must have a really poor high school coach ( there are a few out there who are better than most of these super clubs can offer), or they have never been on a team that has played in the region or national tournament. Even the most avid players come out of it struggling with burn-out. As dangerous as over-play is,and I agree it is the recipe for major injuries. The biggest career ender for high school age kids is burn-out. I would be willing to wager that many of these college bound players who are doubling up this fall will abandon soccer before the play in college. Neither the TSSAA nor the clubs are looking out for our players. I suppose it falls to the parents. Unfortunately, fear and vanity seem to be the primary factors for parents. Most parents seem to be afraid that their child will lose their place or position on the team. I am sure that the club coaches have stated or implied something to plant this seed. The other factor, vanity, is what seems to sustain club soccer. What else could drive parents to pay another $5,000 fees and travel on top of the $10,000 - $15,000 spent on the rest of the season? Considering that most of these players who do get scholarships will receive less than $5,000 per year to go to a place that wash't in their top three choices, the return is actually quite poor. Why do these wonderful players want to play wretched high school soccer? A few lucky kids play on great teams. Some have great coaches. The luckiest have both. However, most are not so blessed. So why do they want to play? Ask them. Most will tell you that it is because it is fun. It is fun to dress in their school colors and have someone other than parents and coaches watch them play. It is fun to hear their name or team's name on the announcements or to see it in the paper. As I recently heard one of these super club players say, "It is great to play with players I care about and for a coach that I actually like." With so much scholarship pressure and the encroachment of club soccer, most seem to have forgotten something called fun and the love of the game. With all of the flaws, so often stated on this site, of high school soccer, perhaps this is the one thing that high school soccer can teach these clubs: make soccer less of a job and more of a joy.

Best fields in Middle Tennessee 1. J P II (though I didn't see it this year) 2. Hendersonville 3. Franklin I think a more entertaining topic might be the worst fields you played on this season.

Clarksville played in Houston's Rivals Tournament for the second straight year. This year, they played Arlington, Baylor and St. Georges. Houston may have played one other team before defeating a tired Farragut team who was playing their third tough match. If Clarksville and Houston had played on Saturday, we might be talking about only one undefeated team. Also, I think Baylor would have preferred that, Clarksville would have felt better about the money spent seeking top competition and Farragut would have been able to compete on a much more level playing field. Though the draw is blind and Clarksville does seem in a fortunate position, Perhaps it is not luck but karma which has loaded the bottom bracket for Houston.

It seems like we have two new bullies on the block, two teams that should know better. Hardin Valley 17 Heritage 0 Siegel 13 LaVergne 0 I suppose a statement was being made during both rivalries though the statement may not be the one intended.

Hendersonville 3 Franklin 1 Clarksville 3 Hendersonville 1 Farragut 3 Clarksville1 Franklin 3 Farrragut 1 Some serious parity

Eurosport state top ten is out. Interesting that Franklin is 4th. Thier one tie is with #2 Oak Ridge. #3 Ravenwood has three ties.

Mid Tenn Top Ten 1 Franklin- They always have the most players (Great rec and club soccer opportunities). 2 Ravenwood- Quality wins over Clarksville 3-2 and Siegal 1-0. Three ties vs Knoxville's top 3. 3 Clarksville- Lost 3-2 to Ravenwood. Won 5-2 in final scrimmage at Brentwood and Centennial 6-1. 4 Ryan- Wins over Siegal and Hendersonville. Preseason loss to Ravenwood. 2-2 tie with Centennial. 5 Brentwood- Defending champs. 6 Hendersonville- Defeated Siegal. Lost to Ryan. 7 Harpeth Hall- Win over Independence 3-2. 8 Siegal- State Runner-up. 2-4 record but super tough schedule outside district. 9 Brentwood Academy- Scoring lots of goals, including 4-4 tie with Brentwood. 10 Independence- Another Williamson County team with several quality players. On the cusp: Ensworth, Beech

Impact Dad, Why don't you start a MidTen top ten? That should liven up things a bit.

Clarksville High has won the region every year since the creation of eight regions(97-98), the only team in the state to have done this. In 1996 and 1997, Clarksville finished third in the Middle Tennessee region (more of a sectional, considering that it consisted of over 60 teams). Both years, they lost close semifinal matches to Father Ryan. Father Ryan and Overton were the top two teams in the state both of those years.

Clarksville 2 Hendersonville 1 Clarksville defeats Hendersonville for the first time in women's soccer, wins their first women's region championship and becomes the first women's soccer team from district 10 to win region.

Clarksville 3 Beech 0

Clarksville 3 Henry County 0 Clarksville hosts Beech Hendersonville hosts Henry County

Does anyone have the details on the Franklin game? Did Franklin play at full strenghth and play to win? Did Indy pack it back? Or was it simply a great upset?

Clarksville 5 Henry County 1 Clarksville wins the regular season district and the right to host.

White House tied PJPII. PJPII beat Clarksville 2-1. Clarksville defeated Centennial 2-0 on Tuesday. Centennial recently shut out PJPII 2-0 and Oakland 1-0. What can you say ? On any given day one good team can have a positive result against another. Ranked or not, all of these teams are very good teams. White House is to be commended. Like Notre Dame, they are a team playing the competition to prepare themselves for a state run. White House was the only A-AA team playing in the platinum division and in the toughest bracket (Franklin's most lopsided victory was 4-0 over Bearden in the final). Rankings are usually fickle and sometimes political. Ranked or not, experience tells me that most of these teams will still be in the November conversations because all of the fore-mentioned teams are seeking to improve through quality competition.

Franklin 3 Clarksville 2

Soddy 3 - Siegel 2, Clarksville 2 - Indy 0, St. Benedicts 1 - USJ 0, Siegel 3 - Indy 1, Clarksville 1 - St. Benedicts 0

Clarksville 6 Warren County 1 (3 or 4 to 0 at half)