Bellsburg2

Don’t let Peabody Pride hear your say that. Their JV had a “running clock” on us and he’s convinced the Bruins can’t sniff their jocks. In reality, Peabody was 1-2 scores better than USJ this year.

If anyone has a point of reference between A and AA it would be USJ because we have played both in the last 3 years. We were always very competitive in AA but were in somewhat of a rebuild in our last year before moving down. The argumentative ones on this thread have made such genius accusations as "you guys lost because you got behind and can't throw the ball" which makes perfect sense given that 70% of our offense yesterday was in the air and we had a receiver with 150 yards and 3 TDs. So I guess I won't put much stock in the rest of their opinions. I don't know the future for Swinea, but he is a fantastic high school RB and he was the best to tote the rock in Cookeville yesterday. The big Brockman kid is a mauler and he can grade a path or plug a hole at any level of HSFB and he'll do it on Saturdays in a couple of years. This DA team would not have beaten the 2018 versions of Lausanne or CPA, but neither would any team in the three matchups yesterday. Some weak spots like special teams might have cost them in a dogfight, but they would have been competitive with either AA finalist. They lose the meat of the team next year and may even be looking for a coach, but to judge this team based on next year's foreseeable struggles is foolish. As for the USJ/DA match yesterday, it was Deja Vu all over again. The Bruins can go toe to toe with almost anyone for a half, but lack of depth (or lack of use of depth) has come back to bite them in every one of these matchups in the last 2 years. There was no stopping the downhill attack in the second half, but if USJ had avoided a couple of mistakes and built the halftime lead that they should have, then it would have been a battle in the 4th quarter. You might can overcome 4 turnovers OR a 285 yard rusher, but you just can't overcome both. Looking to next year.... USJ will have as good a chance of making it back to Cookeville as anyone. Line will be big and experienced. Losing a 4 year 2-way starter is never easy, but the rest of the line returns and there is an abundance of beef waiting to step up. The QB replacement is talented and will do fine. Playmakers will have to grow up, but they always do. As much as I hated in-region road trips to Nashville the last 2 years, it will be much tougher to see where we stand without the usual NCS/DA matchups in the regular season. Signing off on the saddest day of the year... man August is a long way away. Here's to hoping we can get basketball and baseball played this season.

Question for the Milan people... I have only seen bits and pieces of you guys playing until tonight. The tandem of Easley & Williamson ran the ball like studs all night. QB had some well timed keepers. Seemed like Anthony Brown was an afterthought with very few touches. I'm certainly not questioning the offensive game plan as it was obviously what you guys needed to do to win, but was this a big departure from what you guys have been doing all year? Passing the ball was an uphill battle against those corners from PC, so you guys put the load on those big boys in the trenches and rode them all night.

I agree with much of this. The gazillion illegal procedure calls were correct and mind-boggling all at the same time. The only way I could make sense of it was I assumed there was some change of cadence, game plan, or personnel. The Milan crowd was loud and the band was often ill-timed, so that probably compounded the situation. The refs hanging out in the PC huddle and calling a penalty in the timeout was very strange. Most of the personal fouls had some validity, but the same ref on the PC sideline seemed to make every call, and it was always 50 yards from the play. Some of the later ones were understandably frustation type penalties.

In a repeat of last year's championship game, Davidson Academy and USJ will meet again in Cookeville. All involved are thankful for the 3:00 time slot this year. Davidson looks to bring home a 3rd consecutive gold ball and cap off an undefeated season that included a regular season win over USJ 31-9. They say it's hard to beat a good team twice, but Davidson found a way last year. Each of the last 3 meetings have seen the Bruins jump out to a first half lead, but the Bears have stayed their course and gone on to win each contest. USJ looked to have a good game plan early on in the October meeting, but seemed to lose their compass after a couple of injuries and never could regain the momentum. Both teams have great size and experience in the trenches, both have balanced offensive attacks. The RB Swinea, certain to be named Mr. Football, has undoubtedly been the difference in the last 2 contests. Will USJ find an answer to contain the ground game? Will we see some new wrinkles from the Bruins offense?

Much to the shock and awe of the coachT members, the radio broadcast team, and the general public, the USJ Bruins were able to field a full 11 man football team tonight. Listening to the broadcast on my way in, I began to wonder if we would even have the courage to take the field. A very well balanced offensive attack transformed to ground and pound in the second half with the Bruin hogs leaning on the Wildcats in the trenches and wearing them down. Mayo for USJ had his best game of the season with good burst on the ground and a couple of nice catches out of the backfield as well. #13 was every bit as good as advertised, taking one to the house on the first play from scrimmage, but eventually USJ figured a way to corral him. The DCA program has come a long way in the last few years and will only continue to improve. I look forward to future battles. I know you guys have had a brutal 2020, but the campus is on the mend and the overall football facility was great. LED lights were very nice (although I wasn't a fan of the flashing, mostly because it meant we gave up a TD) and the playing surface was amazing for late November. Now 13 days to prepare for one enemy (DA) and avoid the other (COVID).

Game day is nearly here. Time for a walk down memory lane. I don't know if there are any DCA lifers on here, but as a young lad I was a ball boy for my HS team when we played against DCA in 1989. To this day, I have never seen a man run the ball angrier than Scooter Edwards. He didn't try to run by you, he wanted to run you over and step on your face. I played against Jeremy Lyon (another DCA legend) in every sport and he was fantastic, but he was no Scooter. Edwards won back to back Mr. Football awards and led DCA to 2 title games, bringing home one gold ball. Any idea where he went after HS?

I completely agree about doing away with a separate lineman award. It's apples to oranges and I really wish they would bring it back. I also think, particularly in smaller divisions where it is much more common, two-way players should be heavily weighted. It's hard to argue that a kid with 1500 yards and 100 tackles isn't at least as important to his team as one with 2000 yards who sits half the game.

I think this is a much improved NCS compared to what we saw the first few weeks of the season. For this reason, I think this contest will be more competitive than the earlier one. I still think DA a slight talent advantage and a bigger advantage in coaching. It'll be a one score game at the half, but my guess is DA 34, NCS 14 final.

Finally got my hands on some DCA film. No doubt #13 is a stud and has some big strong guys blocking for him. One of USJ's biggest strengths is the line play as well. This will be a great battle in the trenches. Without sounding too cliche, the team that wins the line of scrimmage will win this game. The Bruins will have to game plan to contain #13 and make DCA beat them throwing the ball, which they are more than capable of doing. The DCA run defense appears to be a particular strength, so the Bruins will likely seek to air it out a bit as well. USJ will have an advantage in the kicking game, which does not appear to be a strong suit for DCA. The Wildcats' punter must be the most boring job in football as they certainly don't get much action. USJ historically plays well on the road, maybe less distractions. I think both teams will put up a decent amount of points and I expect this to be a close one into the fourth quarter. Here's to hoping both teams stay healthy til Friday. I'm quickly tiring of seeing teams' seasons end anywhere other than on the field!

The second USC penalty was strictly for jawing after several warnings between the two penalties. Most officials will try to call something other than a second USC in that circumstance. There’s no disputing what happened, I just personally feel like that second/ejection call should be something egregious like throwing a punch, coming off the sideline, etc. but once the call is made it can’t be undone and I doubt there is any recourse.

USJ will travel to meet undefeated DCA with a trip to Cookeville on the line. This will be only the third all time meeting between the Bruins and the Wildcats, with DCA holding the 2-0 series record. The last meeting was when DCA came to Jackson and upset an undefeated USJ squad in the first round of the playoffs in 2012. The kids don’t remember, but that one still stings for us old timers. This should be a great matchup. The only common opponent is TCA, both games with similar outcome. There is some uncertainly around #1 for USJ, a key figure in all three phases of the game, as he will miss part or all of the game following an ejection last night. Bruins should otherwise be at full strength. I’ll have a better idea what this may look like once I can see the Wildcats on film, but looking forward to the battle. Someone with some insight, tell me a little about DCA.

I haven't gotten my hands on any DCA film, so all I have are guesses for the matchup with TCA. I do know that the TCA line has improved greatly and I am certain their game plan will be to pound the rock and control the clock. If they can keep the game close into the second half, anything can happen. If USJ and TCA can win Friday, then we all get to stay in Jackson next week and that would be perfectly fine with me. As for NCS/TKA, both have size but NCS has meanness and size. Big boy for TKA will be tapping his helmet in the second quarter. Both teams have plenty of weapons to put up points, but I think NCS gets a few stops and pulls away to win by 2-3 scores in the second half. To address some previous comments, Emmitt Gooden graduated before the UT camp that was held at USJ. Greg Emerson (Northside) was there and may be who you were thinking about. The only matchup I recall between Trey (c/o 17) and Gooden (c/o 16) was in the 2015 Jamboree and I think it's fair to say that Gooden came out on top that day as did the Tomcats. It may be a lot of years before we see 3 SEC hosses like that come out of the greater Jackson area in a 3 year span. All of them were fun to watch for sure.

East vs West.... TCA wins comfortably against GCF JCS tops FCS in a Big 12 shootout NCS handles Webb as expected WEST 3, COVID 1, EAST 0 The higher seeds join the party next week and the fun continues.

Good win for TCA tonight. Freeman sealed the deal with that pick-6. I caught portions of the broadcast but was bummed there was no video stream. Next week will obviously be a bigger challenge, but hopefully you guys will get back to full strength and give the Wildcats a run for their money.

The split happened here initially (and then definitively) when publics didn’t like losing to privates because the “recruiting” makes it an non-level playing field. This in spite of multipliers and numerous other rules attempting to make it so. Of course the perennial powerhouse public programs are all above board and would never use shady tactics to gain an advantage on their competitors.

The film I have seen is from the last 2 games (Webb and MJC) and the #22 they have running the ball is fast and slippery. He is a freshman according to their roster and I assume the replacement for the injured RB mentioned, but he was their best weapon in both games. They also have a couple of good sized WRs that can go up and get the ball. We have been keeping our D linemen in cages and feeding them raw meat during these bye weeks, so the MTCS QB may not have a ton of time to air out the long ball. I think the FCS/JCS matchup looks good on paper, but their seasons are on very different trajectories and I wouldn't be shocked to see the Commanders run away with it. JCS has a lot of weapons and can score points in bunches if they get clicking, they just haven't done that since September. Here's hoping for a shootout. The TCA/GCF game should be a good one too. It's also about 200 miles closer to me, so if I make it to a game, that'll be the one.

Middle Tennessee Christian gets a COVID win over Columbia Academy and the table is set for a quarterfinal matchup at USJ. This will be the first ever meeting between the Cougars and the Bruins. Both teams finished in a second-place tie in their respective regions in what has been a wild year in high school football across the state. The Bruins had a total of 4 games cancelled due to COVID, were able to replace 2 of them early in the season, but no such luck as the season wore on. Adding in a playoff bye week means when they take the field on 11/13, it will be for the first time in 28 days. We did hold a formal Blue & White game last friday to get some full speed action for the boys, but rust could definitely still be an issue. On the bright side, most of our injured troops should be back to full strength. I have watched a little film on MTCS, but don't have a great feel for the team yet. Anyone on here have any insight?

Region 5 will sweep the Jackson teams and I doubt the games will be close

I watched film of FRA against Davidson Academy. They've got good size up front and seemed to hold their own against a pretty fierce DA front 7. QB is a big kid, strong arm, not terribly mobile. They've got a quick, shifty little RB that can be a problem in space. Offense mostly RPO type stuff with a fairly balanced attack of air and ground. They can a couple of well timed screens when DA really pinned their ears back. Receivers run good routes and have pretty good hands, but not terribly impressive size or speed. Probably some of the same guys were playing DB and got worked over pretty good as the game went on. DA was playing without their stud RB and their TE who is a favorite passing target, so the relatively close final score may have been a little deceptive. However, if not for a pick-6 and a sack-fumble inside their own 20, FRA might have won the game.

DCA really ran away with this one late. Did TKA just wear down? Or was the close first half more of a fluke? I saw the mention of points off turnovers

Bruins came out swinging and looked to have a good game plan early, but a couple of tough breaks shifted the momentum and DA never looked back. USJ offense just could not find a rhythm after the first quarter. Swinea was exactly what we thought he was and really worked over our banged-up LBs as the game went on. I thought Vetetoe had his best outing of the year tonight, punishing USJ with his legs and his arm in a creative and balanced attack. Good luck to the Bears over the coming weeks. Hopefully the Bruins will get some favorable injury reports and regroup to finish strong down the home stretch.

The timing of the forecast has pushed back a little, now calling for light rain and showers in the afternoon and through midnight. As long as its not a frog strangler like last year, I am ok with that. I've been swimming before and gotten less wet than I did watching that game! Even though both teams probably pass the ball more than last year, they are both still run-first teams and I don't think that will change Friday night. This won't be a barn-burner with 2 stout defenses, but I do expect some points to be scored. Sonny Moore predicts Davidson -4 on the road and The Tennessean predicts DA 28, USJ 17.

I agree with Davidson having an edge. The champ is the champ until someone says otherwise. Swinea is a great RB. I’m sure USJ will do their best to plan for him, but certainly had no answers in Cookeville last year. DA has some really good options at WR/TE too, so the Bruins can’t just pack the box. USJ should have the advantage in special teams and a big play there could make a big difference in what I expect to be a close game for 4 quarters. Both teams have some studs in the trenches and USJ will be back at full strength after one of our veteran hogs missed the last 2 games to quarantine.

In a rematch of last year's title game, Davidson Academy will travel to Jackson to take on the Bruins. This will represent the 6th all-time meeting of the two teams, with DA winning both battles last year during their state title run. Prior to that, the last meeting was in 2014 and Davidson holds the series lead 3-2 with all games decided by 10 points or less. The Bears bring a 17 game win streak to Hub City, dating back to early in the 2019 season. USJ's only blemish came on a close loss to JC in week 5. Both teams have been prolific on offense and stingy on defense with USJ outscoring opponents 35-9 and Davidson outscoring theirs by a margin of 47-7. The Bruins did have the advantage of a bye week to prepare. I think both squads realize the implications of this game and will come in expecting a dogfight (or maybe a bearfight?). Both teams have been excellent at turning their opponents' miscues into points, so I expect the team that makes the least mistakes will come away with the W. Thoughts?