sportsnerd

Not Matt, but the baseball team had its best season in school history last year making the semis (I think, maybe finals) and should be really good this year.

Let's see. CPA is a 2 player team and one is not impressive. But they beat the #2 AAA team in Tenn.. That doesn't say much for that team. Seriously, as a CPA fan I leave some games thinking Blackwell seems to go through the motions and is overrated but then I look at the box score and see over 20 points, over 10 rebounds, 5-6 assists and some steals, and that is against some good competition this year. At crunch time against good teams he comes through and plays hard even though it doesn't look like it. How many juniors score 28 against Southwinds? One thing for sure - he is a very versatile ball handling 6-8 player and only a junior. I see big upside.

Blackwell -28 points and Campbell 24. Hard to imagine an 8th grader can put up 24 on the #2 team in AAA. With Malik Hicks back at JSS, I see a CPA/JSS finals in the forecast.

How do you know they didn't? The teams that were there all had great resumes in terms of championships, wins, tradition, plus they had Mitchell and they wanted out-of-state teams there. It is a treat for these out of state teams and families to come to Nashville, not so much for in-state teams. Also, they got to know Mentor at the Arby's, Ballard invites them every year to the Bluegrass, etc.. It has a lot to do with who the coaches like and get along with, and who is not already committed to a tourney. As far a Southwinds, CPA plays them in Memphis this year. I would like to see the Nashville Sports Council expand this idea, bring in the national elite teams, Montverde, Oak Hill, Huntington, etc.. and hold it at Belmont or Vandy in conjunction with the Music City Bowl week events and cross market the two events.

Sprained his ankle ( I think) in the Bluegrass Holiday tourney. Didn't practice or play until tonight, and didn't start. Should be OK by next week.

Ballard was too athletic for CPA, and shot lights out, while CPA shot very poorly especially in the 1st half when the game got out of hand. Campbell didn't start but did play about 1/2 the game. Could tell he was out of synch and didn't play well. Amazing what he can do as a 8th grader though. MVP of tourney from Ballard was 8-11 3's and had 41 points. Ballard was the better team but CPA did make a run in the 3rd qtr. to cut lead to 15 then missed a layup off of a steal with Ballard going the other way to score and that was the closest CPA got. I saw Ballard play all three games and they played the best against CPA, andCPA shot the worst against them. Mitchell looked good. Martin is a very good player.

Ballard / CPA should be a good game. Rumor is that Tyger Campbell (who has not played yet in the tourney) is going to play. If so, will be a great game - if not, I think Ballard wins.

CPA just came from behind to win for the 2nd day in a row to make the semis in the King of the Bluegrass Ky. tourney. They are now 10-0 in this tourney in their 3rd appearance in 4 years.

????? HYPE?? AA Mr. Basketball 2012 Bradshaw at Belmont was one of the top scorers in the nation before he got hurt last week. AA Mr. Basketball 2013 Lindsey is the 6th man (and has 5th most playing time) as a freshman on a very good Providence team. AA Mr. Basketball 2014 Blackwell is rated top 30 in the nation in his class. Hubbs could be the exception, not the rule, and he isn't done yet.

Here is your one and only response: 1. What part of " but no one would accept the story as truth, so I won't waste my time getting into that." do you not understand? 2. I have no obligation to have a conversation with anyone I choose not to. Refusing to answer does not mean I cannot answer. Hopefully, you will not like to converse with me either. Merry Christmas.

Thanks, you guys should be tough next year. Still wish we could set up a "home and away" with CAK. Your BB guys played tough the first quarter last night. Weatherly played his first game for us and Howell and Johnson should be back on the court this week. With 10 fouls to give up front with Howell and Johnson, it will be hard to score in the paint against CPA.

Hey, nobody tied you up and made you read this thread. I found it interesting and posted it. if you don't find it interesting, that's OK, so stop reading the thread. Prior to the game, I suggested that CPA load the box, stop the run and play man coverage on the wides. I also suggested that they shadow Tyson with Hockaday. These stats suggest I may have been pretty prophetic. And after all, I agree I am a "sportsnerd".

Another interesting stat. Hockaday had 27 carries for 124 yards, but he also played basically every snap on defense. He had 17 tackles, but get this - 12 of those tackles were on 12 of Tyson's 27 carries, and on those carries Tyson only got 31 yards (2.5 yards per carry).

Understand please I am not taking anything away from Tyson. He is a great back that carried the team the last two years and won the ring for them against us last year. It is hard to win a game with just one weapon against a good team with great coaches. All the yards on both sides were hard earned.

Some interesting stats on the game: Rushes less than 4 yards CPA - 25 Alcoa - 19 Hockaday- 11 Tyson - 14 Rushes of 4-5 yards CPA - 10 Alcoa - 7 Hockaday - 7 Tyson - 5 Rushes of 6-10 yards CPA - 14 Alcoa -9 Hockaday- 7 Tyson - 6 Rushes of 11+ yards CPA - 5 Alcoa - 2 Hockaday - 2 Tyson - 2 CPA defense held Tyson to 3 yards or less on 14 of 27 carries. Tyson had 57 yards on 2 long runs. He averaged 3.6 yards on the other 25 runs.

I also know the 8th grader BB player's real story FIRSTHAND of why he came to CPA, but no one would accept the story as truth, so I won't waste my time getting into that.

LOL, Good one, Jacketman. Don't know where he will end up, but Brentwood High seems to get a lot of the NFL connections.

Here's a good one to get everyone's response now that the games are over. For those of you who think CPA can recruit any good athlete to build their program, I know FOR A FACT, FIRSTHAND, that one of the best projected football 6th graders in Middle Tennessee (a former NFL player's son) applied to CPA before this year and wanted to go there, but did not qualify and his application was not approved. If CPA was all about building their sports programs, HOW COULD THIS BE?

I was wondering how long it would take before the Alcoa faithful would start making excuses rather than giving CPA the credit for beating them with smashmouth play. Hey, SmallDave, CPA had their 2nd best receiver and starting DB out for the game and Mr. Football winner only playing one way due to injury. Face it - you got outplayed, outcoached and beat. Show some class in the loss, unlike your coach.

Real men have the wisdom to know the things they can change, the things theycan't change, and the difference between the two. You may be right, and things may change in a few years. I'm OK with that, but in the meantime the gold ball is still in our case and the boys and coaches deserved it.

By the way - someone earlier in thread questioned CPA Howell's contribution to game as a Mr. Football winner. Just FYI, Howell had a knee injury earlier in playoffs, missed the last 2 games and worked hard to rehab enough so he could at least play in the game. Most players would not have played at all. He does play both ways normally but the coaches knew he did not have his normal speed with the injury to play against Alcoa's fast offense.

A contrast in coaches in post game interviews: Losing coach blames players' penalties, his QB, and a subtle jab at private schools. Winning coach thanks the 3 coaches in 4 years (including losing coach) that have beaten his team for being great coaches and for helping them understand how to win.

Like last year, I think the inaccurate weather forecast scared some people away from the drive. The weather turned out great. I thought the CPA crowd was really good for the size of our school. I really like to see the coaches and teams that didn't get there come as a group. If I was a 3A coach, I would make every effort to have my returning players go as a team to the game, and set a goal that day to be there on the field next year. As far as CPA being better next year, they have some big shoes to fill losing Johnson, Howell, Hockaday and Osborne. Those are not typical HS players. They will be stout in skill positions with Weatherly and Richard back as well as 2 of their 3 RB's. Coaching is always the key and developing the younger players.

Gerry, congrats. New baby and pick em contest winner!!

Coach Martin: "It's really not about winning the state championship, it's about doing your best every time you get a chance," he said. "We want to do things that ultimately mean something. They are hopefully going to do the right things... and I hope they all learn something in this process, again, that will help them be better husbands and fathers someday. That's what high school sports should be about."