Catfish03

Merrol Hyde to play Signal Mt. in the finals with Merrol Hyde winning it all.

Why?  What is the issue?

800 is way too many for the first split, there are schools out there with less than 250 that would have to compete with schools with 800.  They would never do they to football.  What is single a split in football?

Will they ever go to 3 divisions for soccer (A, AA, AAA instead of A-AA and AAA)? 

The officiating in this tournament has been all over the board.  I've seen games where any challenge from behind was called and I've seen players get away with muggings, not consistent at all.  

I thought 10 was far worse than 2.  2 looked to me to be the best and it wasn't good.  10 was like playing in the parking lot.

Yes. Absolutely. It seems as if they are trying to pull and NCAA and put teams in districts and regions to spread out the talent. I believe this is wrong. Region should be based upon location and size of school only. Merrol Hyde and Goodpasture do not belong in District 8 based upon their location. Likewise, Jackson County doesn't belong in District 7 with the Chattanooga schools. It is gerrymandering in order to allow certain teams a better chance at attaining a region birth.

The districts are a mess but they also need to do something about A-AA.  It needs to be 3 divisions.

I haven't seen a Pele' or Beckham come out of TN yet.  Very few DI players actually.  Be realistic and as parents know that going in.  You're going to spend some money on coaches and travel, but the odds of your kid getting a D1 scholarship are next to nil.  

 

Your kids will take invaluable lessons about winning and losing though.  If it all about getting little Johnny and Suzie into college…take the money you're spending on select sports and invest it in a college fund and hire an ACT trainer.  A 35 or 36 on the ACT is worth way more than than the MVP in a HS tournament.

I couldn't have said it any better.  I have seen so many parents pay big money to for little Johnnie to play at the highest level of club soccer only to have him get burned out and want to go to some college that doesn't even have a soccer program.

I will also say the ref in signal game did a poor job in the game, never knew what, if any, would be called and let them play too much. after CAK scored 2nd goal they should have stopped the clock, because there was some sort of delay for about a minute or 2, and ref said he would keep time, but he ended it when scoreboard did even though there should have been another minute or so.

I thought Signal would equalize too but number 10 for Signal had a really time getting past the outside defender for CAK.  I've seen him play before and he can usually beat the defender and turn the corner and get into the box but last night he pretty much got shut down.  I agree with Knightsfan about the ref.  The ref in the Hume Fogg game called it very close but he was very consistant and the one in the Signal game was the exact opposite and CAK pushed the limit, and most of the time it wasn't called.

Its not so much the fact that the school is recruiting or has extra special athletic talent, but that those school generally have access to USSF/TSSA approved travel squads. The technical training that these players receive on those squads gives them an extreme advantage when playing against county schools away from major cities. It truly is a David/ Goliath scenario, even if the Magnet school is smaller than the county school. Its all about resources. Many county schools don't have the tools compete strategically against the city schools. They stay competitive in some cases because of their raw athletic talent, but can't break through the district or region level because of a lack of training.

That has nothing to do with it being a Magnet School, that has to do with location and in the same vane the magnet schools in those locations also have larger public and private schools that take the best club players.  Do you think that CPA and Father Ryan do not get players that could go to Hume Fogg or that Hendersonville, Station Camp and JPII don't take players away from Merrol Hyde.  Maybe the county schools should concentrate more on coaching up  the athletes that they do have.

Anyone who thinks that magnet schools have an advantage by being county wide have never been in one.  Kids DO NOT go to a magnet school to play sports. There are some good athletes but they are usually few and far between, especially in the smaller schools like Merrol Hyde who only have 50 in the graduating class.

How do they determine the seeding for the state tournament?

There are several fields in Middle Tennessee that have the same problem.  It is called winter kill and as stated in a previous post it looks much worse that it is.  If it has a good subsurface it i not a bad pitch to play on, same as playing on brown Bermuda in early April. If the ares are large it will take some significant work to get it back for the girls season.

It wasn't one of my fans, I don't have a dog in the hunt. I'm just a high school soccer fan and watch a lot of Sumner Co. teams. I've seen Station Camp, Hendersonville, White House, W. H. Heritage (Robertson Co.), Gallatin, Merrol Hyde, and Portland all play this year. I've known both Coach Lamberth and Coach Kirby for many years and respect both of them very much as well as both of their assistants who I think are great. I did't get to see the game last night but I was really surprised by the score. Not sure how Sycamore could score 5 against them. I knew White house would have trouble scoring as they have all season but their defense is usually rock solid. Heritage handles Sycamore in the regular season so hopefully you can finish up strong in the tournament. Good luck.

WHH has not had anyone with a red card this year. Can WH say the same thing? I don't think so.

I've seen both White House and W.H.H. play this year and this should be Heritage's best chance to beat White House in several years but I'm not sure they can get it done.  White House has trouble scoring but their defense is still really strong and as for the keeper getting a red card, there are not many on this board that would not have gotten one if put in the same position.  The Sycamore player knocked him down in the box and then laid on him to keep him from getting up.  He threw the Sycamore player off him and the Sycamore player got up and started throwing punches with both fists as fast as he could and got off 8 to 10 before the White House keeper was able to get hold of him and tackle him to the ground basically protecting himself.  I've been watching soccer for almost 20 years and I have never seen a player do what the Sycamore player did. It was very disturbing to watch.

For all the Chattanooga area fans, who do you see advancing to the finals in District 7 and who do you think wins it?

Merrol Hyde Magnet should get some consideration, they are 10-2-1 and they beat WH Heritage and played Central Magnet even only loosing by one on a PK.

Why did Cannon Co. forfeit?

Cannon County will not beat Central Magnet.  Central Magnet can play as physical as they need to.

Big game tonight in district 8 A-AA, Murfreesboro Central Magnet beat Merrol Hyde Magnet 3-2.  Central Magnet is favorite for winning regular season but my see Merrol Hyde again in the district tournament.  It was a very good game with Central Magnet getting the winning goal late in the second half.

They have several players club players on White House, a few of the seniors have been playing together since they were 8 and their club team won a DIV lll state championship and a DIV ll runner up and qualified for state at the DIV l level and they have been to the high school state tournament the last 3 years so they have played a lot of high level soccer.  Most of the younger players are also club players.  Heritage has a few good club players too and their coach and assistant coach are doing a really good job this year. Having club players makes a huge difference, they typically have had much more time with the ball at their feet and they see the field so much better.

Station Camp has soccer players all over the field, not just athletes, but they are really young. They are well coached and play as a team but we all know that a couple lucky long balls in high school soccer can win a game, but I still think they are pretty good, not quite as good as Hendersonville but better than Beech and Gallatin.  I have not seen Wilson Central or Mt. Juliet yet.

It would be interesting to see how they would come out if TSSAA would separate soccer into 3 divisions instead of lumping A and AA together.  They just don't have the numbers to be able to rely on12 to 14 seniors and juniors like some of the larger AA schools do.  They have a good group of seniors but they also have to rely on a lot of underclassmen.

Lost one to a broken leg, he is heading to Transylvania to play next year.  Not sure about the other two, just know they are not playing.  One was the leading scorer last year.

You are right.  I saw White House play this weekend and while they are still strong in the back they are having trouble scoring, surprised me a little.  They have lost 3 big scoring threats in addition to the seniors they lost from last year.  I still think they will be the team to beat but they definitely have some holes to fill.