keyboardmaniac

Tennessean tried to a few years ago. Had writers in all the surrounding counties (except Wilson for some reason). Higher ups decided they wanted more money for themselves, cut the prep sports budget drastically and axed all the local guys. The one in Sumner County had three guys there for a while, then two, then down to one. All of a sudden this thing called Main Street comes along and steals all his freelancers, takes all the ideas they have and claims them for their own. Now, Gannett doesn't have a local guy there and folks are left with Main Street - and the writing is horrible. Sad, really, that there isn't competition to make them better.

This game is up for the Midstate Preps Plus Game of the Week, and you can vote for it on Twitter (@615_Preps) until 7 p.m. Tuesday.

It's also for multi-sport purposes, as the diagram that Beech tweeted out also showed lines for a soccer field as well. Not to mention lacrosse, which is set to become a TSSAA-sanctioned sport in spring of 2022.

Still rises a bit.

Well, Dana won't get to do that at Murfreesboro this year. Also, congrats!

Agreed. I can see both getting back to state this year. If that happens, Dana might want to stay a little closer to the coaching box this year. MC really needs to win the rematch, simply to get that monkey off their backs. Current roster has been on the floor for at least 8 of those last 15 losses to Upperman. That weighs on a young athlete's mind, no matter what anyone tells you. Shooting as poorly as they did at Baxter and keeping within eight tells me that round two might be a little different. MC needs that secondary scoring and when they get it, they're tough to beat. It's when they have nights like they did at Upperman that they are especially vulnerable. As competitive as 8AA is at the top, AA as a whole is still wide open. At least 12-14 teams have a very realistic chance to get to Murfreesboro and most of them can win it. The tourney is shaping up to be a great one.

The Gallatin News is a joke, and will keep being a joke until they can get somebody with some talent in there. They could have had some talent, but the guy who runs it couldn't recognize talent if it hit him in the face.

Trying to get yet another trip to Marion County, perhaps. Masochism is the new norm in Westmoreland.

What happened was a very well-rested and prepared Upperman team took away Carlisle just enough to win. They were the better team and deserved it. Macon may very well have been looking ahead just a bit.

There's a lot more to account for in the past three weeks the way Carlisle has spread the ball around. They're throwing it better than they have all year and I don't think Upperman will have any answers. Probably will be closer than it should be because they may try to get starters out as soon as possible with it being a non-region game. But DeKalb tried to hang in and got 62 hung on them, which really should have been 70 or more. So...who knows. Still think Macon wins comfortably.

Agreed, though that was Week 1. Far different team since then and Smith wouldn't touch them now, IMO.

Gotta second Carlisle. Not sure any one player means as much to his team as Carlisle does to MC.

I think Macon would be a little more favored at home if they win the region. They're playing their best football right now and putting teams away instead of struggling like they did the first three games. Next three weeks will be telling. Nolensville would be a tough test in round 1, though. Can't count a Will Hester-coached team out, though the inexperience plays a factor along with the road trip.

Pretty solid take there. Commandos have a stud in Hughes and to have him not getting 25 touches a game is really costing them points. Kincaid is solid and Dalton has really come on this year, but it's got to get to #3 to have the most effect. Gallatin made a good QB swap to Sloan and putting Minor out wide. Both can still make plays and it's helped take some pressure off of Porter and Stewart in the backfield. And that defense has been nearly lights out. Hendersonville does have the best offense the Wave will have seen to this point (until next week), but unless the Commandos commit to their top guys, it could be a tough night. I like Gallatin by a field goal, but I won't be shocked if Hendersonville wins and it certainly wouldn't be an upset. Don't think either team gets out of the 20s in this one.

Anything before 1964 won't likely be found because Gallatin lost a lot of archived stuff in a fire some time ago.

It was 2013, when Hendersonville was 6A. Moved down to 5A in 2015, then back up to 6A this season.

Portland's defense has been pretty good lately, but it hasn't faced as dynamic a playmaker as Carlisle. He'll be the best QB they've seen so far and probably will all year. Depending on if they hit a big throw or two, it could be anywhere from 21 to 35 points in Macon's favor. And don't think they haven't forgotten about the last time they played at Portland, when the Panthers stuffed a meaningless touchdown in as time expired. Combined with putting the Tigers as the homecoming opponent, which wasn't smart, Macon doesn't need any more motivation. This could be ugly.

Not one of your non-region opponents is a 2A school. Whitwell and Gordonsville are 1A schools. Lebanon has essentially played like a 1A school for the last three years and Friendship Christian was a Class 1A team before going to Division II. Three of the four non-region opponents are schools with smaller enrollments. Come up with a better argument than that, because there's no truth to it other than region games, which you're obligated to play. TC called Macon to play, not the other way around. Next year will be different, I agree, but nobody cares about next year until they get there. TC should go at least to the quarterfinals because they're the best team in that region. But best of luck the rest of the year. You will most certainly need it when you face Marion County in round 3.

Probably true, but they also could've put up another score in the final seconds, like Smith County chose to do to Macon in Week 1, but didn't do so. Payback may be heck, but make sure it's not for the wrong reasons.

Not a valid excuse. The News Examiner did that with one guy last year. It's gone way downhill since he left. You have to at least mention them. Even if it's just a mention, you have to acknowledge their existence.

Sounds about right. It's also the same media company that was going to be banned from Station Camp High School's campus if they did not fire their sports writer last year after all the hoopla surrounding the basketball team.

Westmoreland folks, quick question: Do you all ever notice how the Gallatin News (not the News Examiner) never mentions the Eagles in any content during the week? They call their sports package "Sumner Gameday," yet Westmoreland is not among the teams. It's certainly not fair, but do you all notice?

I'm not saying you'll settle for third, but Beech is a state contender with a ton of experience coming back and Hillsboro will still have a ton of talent. I've seen too many games with those teams to believe that the narrative is going to change. It's going to be terribly hard to replace Ponchez's production and it won't happen with one guy. And with four 6A teams on it, that schedule's not easy except for the non-Hillsboro Metro teams. 5-5 is a real possibility, best case is beating Hillsboro and/or Beech and getting to 7-3 or 8-2. The good news is that Region 6 should fare very well in the postseason. Columbia Central and Lincoln County are the top dogs in Region 5 and they're not the juggernauts they used to be.

Minor's the starter until further notice. And no, they won't be a pushover, but with Hillsboro and Beech in front, they also won't be any better than third in that region. Plus, if you're judging a run-first team's potential based on 7-on-7s, you're going to be extremely disappointed come playoff time.

Gallatin doesn't throw the ball well at all. Extremely run-oriented offense. Carlisle is a much better QB than Gallatin's starter. There's a lot of concern about the WR group being able to get open, and getting protection up front as well. Anything serviceable and Carlisle should throw for 2,000 and run for 1,000.