LaughingGoat

Good games last night for sure! I will be interested in how the final break down of the district works out. Good luck to all teams!

I take DeKalb over Smith. DeKalb has too much offense. Smith will score 1 or 2, but I feel DeKalb will punch in at least 3-4 goals. Central will more than likely best Merrol Hyde. I just don't see anyone shaking Central this year. The planets would have to align for them come unglued in District 8. As far as Region and State goes, who knows. What happened with Livingston's player? Double yellow to red or straight red?

Smith is a surprise for sure. I'm not sure I'd say they are "the team to beat in the east." I think that is still DeKalb. What was the "little incident" you speak of between Watertown and Central?

I was just thinking the same thing...

What's the word from DeKalbsCoachK?

It was a good game. Smith County has had a terrific season. Leave the negativity where it belongs! A bad coach does not win 14 straight games...

How about enforcing the independent rule strictly, and if the girls leave for ENCL, so be it? The dropping of the rule or the movement of the season are both things that benefit schools of privilege (the schools in Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga, and Knoxville areas.) Consequently, these are the schools that have the most travel players. Rural county school athletes have very few of the privileges available to these urban areas. The suggestion to move the season based upon the needs of these urban schools to keep their players is ludicrous!

Smith vs. Livingston should a be a good game. I'm not sure how LA tied York. Macon vs. DeKalb depends on injuries with DeKalb (I assume you have your players healthy again...) Also, if Macon can find a way to score, the match could be interesting. They definitely have the athletes, and their goalkeeper was solid against Smith Co. (It was really a 1-0 game.)

Looking at scores from the west, the 1 and 2 in the West will be Central Magnet or Merrol Hyde. I am going to guess Central takes this one. Goodpasture will lock up 3 followed by Cannon 4 and Watertown 5. Looking at the odds, I would say the 2 seed in the East will be punished for doing well by having to take on Central in the second round. The 3 seed in the West would have an outside shot at Merrol Hyde and would get a rematch with Smith County.

Yes, and Macon had a very good showing at Smith County last night. Smith is a very good possession team for a rural school. Macon had some opportunities to convert, but just couldn't finish. Smith had a goal given to them by a referee at the end of the first half. Smith County fans and players even said it wasn't a goal. So the score should read 1-0. Second half, Macon ran out of steam, and just was not able to threaten Smith with much. District standings so far for the east: Smith 3-0 DeKalb 1-1-1 Macon 1-1 Livingston 0-0-2 York 0-3-1 That seals Smith as District east winner. The game between Macon and DeKalb determines 2nd place. DeKalb can finish no lower than 3rd, and Macon could finish 2nd, 3rd, or 4th depending on its games. Livingston can finish 2nd, 3rd, or 4th depending on its result with Macon and Smith. I'm not sure what this does for seeding for the tournament. I don't know how the District tourney is set up.

I see Macon defeated York by a score of 4-2. I heard it wasn't really close though. Macon dominated the entire game, until they subbed in JV players for the last 20 minutes when York got its 2 goals. One of my friends said they played in the middle of the day in front of the students at York. Macon scored in the opening minutes and never looked back.

I would say its way more complicated. Teams always lose or tie to teams they should beat. My guess is that Smith may drop one to LA or DeKalb, but one of those two will drop a tie or loss to York or Macon.

So are you going with the following? 1. Smith 2. Livingston/DeKalb 3. Livingston/ DeKalb 4. Macon/ York 5. Macon/ York

Absolutely! They are a fantastic mix of talent. I was just agreeing with your assessment about their attack. They will certainly be above the average high school team this year, but you are also right that it will take more than physical / athletic plays to defeat the upper echelon teams in Middle Tennessee.

I agree your assessment of Heritage. The attack is almost vertical, and when they do complete an occasional overlay run and cross, it is not executed well. When they play defensively sound teams, they will have a hard time scoring.

"The Schedule Strength column (left) ranks teams based on the average win percentage of their scheduled opponents. The Strength + Success column (right) combines the opponent win percentage from the left with the team's own win percentage. Teams that perform better against opponents that perform better will rank higher. These rankings are updated every morning and are based only on scores reported to CoachT.com. " So by their metric, a team that has won 0 games can still be "ranked" higher than a team that has beat them handily. Even if the team that beat them has not lost a match. This heavily weights the strength of schedule, and does not take win/loss record seriously.

Can anyone explain this? I am fine with a strength & success ranking, but it needs to make sense.

Anyone else confused by the strength ranking of certain teams? How can a team that got blown out be ahead of the team that beat them? Just confusing.

I don't know. Since Red Boiling Springs does not have a soccer team, I would assume they could co-op to Macon County if they file the appropriate paper work with TSSAA.

I did see where Macon beat Jackson County 5-0 and Smith beat Jackson County 5-0. So maybe Macon is further along than you guessed. Then again its early, and Smith may have held back after they got up 5-0.

However, you are assuming that quality is the same....

I will take quality players no matter the field size and what the players are accustomed. It may influence the tempo and style of play in favor of teams that play defensively, but in the end even a very well coached defensive team can only hold off a goal for so long against a determined attack. I see it all the time with rural schools that play urban schools. They pack the defensive third of the field and play long ball to a lone striker to hopefully go ahead. Hardly ever works...

I agree with the Livingston/Smith game. I haven't seen York or Macon so I can't tell anything about those two other than what I noticed last year. I remember York's keeper from last year being strong. Macon had a really talented striker last year along with a decent keeper and center mid that was very quick. Should be an interesting year for District 8 at least in the East Division. I still say that the top two in the West sweep the East...

That is good news for York. What do you think of Smith, Macon, and Livingston?

The East is certainly more evenly distributed with talent than the West. However, the top tier programs of the West will most likely advance to Region in my opinion. Smith looks good on paper as does Livingston. The DeKalb/York score was a bit surprising. I figured DeKalb would hang a few more on the visiting dragons.