Glory

The Cherokees do lose their great RB and I think McMinn will be better next year and Central won't be as good, if that's possible. I still don't like seeing kids transfer but he's not exactly known as a team player.

His powerful speech doesn't surprise me. My nephew played for him at McMinn 25 years ago and would have run through a brick wall for him. You're right in what you said about him being as concerned about developing young men for life after football. He's a rare breed and I hope he can continue coaching as long as he wants.

Across the creek

I'm hearing the RB you're talking about is transferring to another school next year? He could be a lot better if he worked harder and made better decisions off the field. He just doesn't realize the God given abilities he has.

Coach Mullinax is one of the best coaches this area has ever seen. He gets more out of his players than anyone, and his players love him. I'm hearing various stories about his health. Does anyone know the truth?

Meigs had us over for Homecoming last night, so we'll be the patsy two weeks in a row. This game with Alcoa is one that many of our fans have wanted. That was pre-season talk. I told them to be careful what they wish for. Alcoa wins by 40+ points.

With your prediction, you might not want to quit your day job. Meigs put the challenge to the bigger school by inviting Central for Homecoming, then kicked the Charger's fannies and made them like it. Congratulations to Meigs coaches for having your team prepared and hungry, and congratulations to the players of Meigs County for your passion.

Looks like Meigs easily met the challenge. I'm too upset to comment on the game right now, other than to say Central has serious issues.

Who wins the Toilet Bowl?

Being friends with the coaches has nothing to do with calling them out. If the players on the field have no fire, that's on the coaches. If the players on the field don't care, that's on the coaches. If there's lack of discipline on the field, that's on the coaches. If we praise the coaches when the team plays well, then we can call them out for bad coaching. That doesn't mean they're not good people. Something is missing with this team and it's the coaches job to figure out what it is and correct it.

It's yet to be determined if we're good or not. We played one very good team in Rhea County, but I'm not sure you could called what we did as playing against them. After Rhea got ahead a couple touchdowns some of our guys just quit and others appeared to just be going through the motions, anxious for the slaughter to be over. Rhea could have easily scored over 80 on us if they wanted. I know Rhea is 5A, but our overall effort - or lack thereof - was pathetic. McMinn County High is not a tough team. Like last year, they'll not win more than 3 games. I'm not sure Central will either.

That still wouldn't be as bad as that 47-14 MUDD STOMPIN Rhea County put on your screech owls, would it?

McMinn Central fans, where are you? This time a year ago there would have been 20 or more Central fans posting before the second game. Don't let our upset loss to McMinn County make you give up on the team like fair weather fans do.

Off topic, but relating to McMinn Central. We ate in Athens last night so we decided to go by and watch the Chargers play the Cherokees in a JV game. We left at halftime with the Cherokee JV squad leading 28-0. I don't think Central even had a first down in the first half, yet it seemed McMinn Co. was having their way in everything they did. It was very disappointing and concerns me for the future. I thought our little league feeder programs had some good teams the last couple of years. Does anyone know?

I'll pick McMinn County to win over bradley COUNTY.

I think Rhea will win but it may be closer than many have predicted. Central has more firepower than they showed against McMinn and I'm sure our coaches will iron out many of the offensive and defensive problems that hurt us against the Cherokees.

Coming off great seasons in 2014 and expecting another great season in 2015, both the Eagles and Chargers opened 2015 with a loss. Both teams will be looking to rebound this week when they face off at Charger Stadium in Englewood. Who's your pick?

You're defining 'close' at a certain point of the game which isn't a reflection of the entire game. Tying the game in the 3rd qtr. would have only been good if they could have kept McMinn Co. from scoring again or matched them in scoring. But Central didn't score at that point and McMinn Co racked up two more touchdowns over the next 8 minutes or so which put them up by 20 points, then the Cherokees started unloading the bench in the last 4 minutes of the game. I'm sure the coaches are taking it hard. Being ranked in the top 10 of the state, and a clear-cut favorite to beat a young McMinn team, then losing by 20 points should sting. This will make them prepare better for future Region games that count, so all is not lost. I agree we should have passed more. McMinn's secondary was beat a few times and out of position on others. A few play action passes would have kept McMinn's defenders from pinning their ears back and bull rushing us. I thought #25 did an exceptional job at blocking, but he wasn't used nearly enough. I'm sure the coaches will catch that when reviewing the game film and will utilize him more. Time to prepare for a pretty good Rhea Co. team.

You were pretty close. I thought the Cherokees played well and were coached well. Other than the 3rd qtr. when Bo went conservative on offense too soon, the Cherokees controlled and dominated the game. The Cherokees will take their lumps this year playing in a pretty strong Region, but with all the youth I saw on the field last night they'll be a good team next year.

I'm friends with the coaches and I'm sure they would agree with a lot of what I said. Some of the coaches will read this and they know who I am. They know that I support them being our coaches, but they also know I'll comment on here about areas the team could improve on. Last night wasn't their finest hour as far as scheming and play-calling. That doesn't mean they won't correct the problems and do a better job. I don't think we were anywhere near close to doing it again. Other than our last long TD run toward the end of the game against McMinn's scrubs, we were down 20 points to a 4 win McMinn team that had dominated us for the most part. Some of it can be put on the players, but the coaches have to share some of the blame.

I was mystified by our coach's bonehead decisions tonight. Why did they wait until halftime to make a defensive adjustment? We had 4 down linemen and the next closest defensive player to them was at least 4 yards back from them. McMinn probably had 200 yards rushing in the first half, yet our coaches didn't make any adjustments? When we had it 4th and goal from the 2 in the 4th qtr. why wasn't our big running back in there? Even if he didn't carry the ball, he could have been blocking or used as a decoy. EVERYBODY in the stadium knew Jackson Guy was going to carry the ball, so we came away with 0 points at a crucial time. These are just some of the things that stood out to me and many others around me who played the game. Our coaches have to do better than they did tonight or it will be a very long season. I was very disappointed to lose soundly to a McMinn team who will probably only win 4 games this year.

I remember it well and I especially remember all the whining and excuses from the Alcoa coaches and fans about our cut blocking. Perfectly legal and probably one of our best coaching jobs in preparing for a game. I think it was Coach Gossett who came up with the idea? If we had played Notre Dame at Central with thousands of Central fans and no Notre Dame fans, we "might" have made it a touchdown closer final score. The athletes on the field were the difference. The Irish had more players that were better than we had, and this is in no way being critical to your son or any football player on our team. Facts are facts, Notre Dame was a much better team than we were, and Alcoa was a better team than Notre Dame. I knew we weren't a "very good" team when we struggled to beat McMinn, Polk, and Meigs. We could have just as easily lost to those teams. Meigs was a very average team (5-5), but McMinn (3-7) and Polk (0-10) were terrible teams. Then we got humiliated on our home field by Loudon, then got shutout at home 7-0 by a 4-loss Knox Carter team. The results of these games during the season defines and separates the "good" from the "very good" teams. It was still a good year for our Chargers and a much more enjoyable one for a change. Speaking of your son, what position will he be playing for UTC? Is he hoping to get some playing time this season? The Mocs are ranked #8 and poised to have a solid season. I'm going to attend a couple games there this year and will be pulling for your son to play some.

If we had played Alcoa last year we would have lost to them worse than we did to Notre Dame. The Chargers were good last year, but not in the same league as Alcoa or Notre Dame. If you recall we even lost to Loudon 35-7, and Loudon lost to Fulton 56-7. So while we were good, we were not very good. I'll take another good year though and be happy with it. I'm glad we're playing Alcoa too, but my expectations are realistic.

The McMinn Central Chargers have far too much offensive firepower for the McMinn Co. Cherokees in this one and will win again. McMinn has a young QB with zero experience and the Cherokees have had a lot of turnovers and penalties in preseason scrimmages.

I think McMinn Central takes this one in a close game like last year. The Chargers have a lot of offensive firepower to control the game. The Cherokees have speed but have a young QB and they've had a problem the past few weeks with turnovers and penalties. When was the last time McMinn Central beat McMinn Co. in back to back seasons? When was the last time McMinn Central won at McMinn Co.?