RebelAtHeart

Central in a shutout... rain might help Gibbs a bit. CHS 35 Gibbs 0

GAME DAY! Me thinks them Ship-Drivin-Cheese-N-Wine-Lovers is taking home field advantage to a whole new level... Good thing them Hawks can fly!

Ha! You are virtually funny.

Apology accepted. Agree freedom affords your right to say whatever... but I hate to think our forefathers and patriots bled to secure nonsensical ravings of crazed lunatics over petty, avoidable arguments. But I reckon that first amendment protects you and Rebs to throw verbal feces back and forth as well as any other free speeching. #merica I do hope you hang around... when you aren’t screaming (virtually) at some jack wagon that crossed you the wrong way... you seem to know a lot about the glorious game of football. Who you got in this one tomorrow?

Hey Grey and Rebs... how bout you two man up and get the heck off this thread! This is how Rome collapsed... rhetoric and jabs are one thing but you BOTH go too far! Civility has become a dying art in this day and age... grow up and get out! HVA 24 FHS 21

Which blue? Navy or Columbia?

Don't go sleeping on Crockett and Knox Central... two tough teams that will be interesting in post-season too!

In other news... Ads and Hawks have a game this Friday!

A favorite quote of mine... "Hard work beats talent when talent refuses to work hard" - Tim Tebow. On paper these two match up closely... believe it is going to come down to who wants it more! 3 more days to work... Offensive Line - Advantage Farragut (fairly big and aggressive front) QB Play - Teams look even - though with very different styles (FHS gunslinger vs HVA dual threat) Running Game - Teams look even (FHS pound and ground vs HVA big play speed) Passing Game - Teams look even (FHS top talent vs HVA multi-threat) Defensive Line/Backers - Advantage HVA (able to slow down DB #30 and shutdown BHS #1 and dial up pressure on QB's) Defensive Secondary - Advantage Farragut (HVA secondary decent on run support but vulnerable to deep ball) Special Teams - Advantage HVA (HVA's return specialist dangerous while both teams have great kickers) Throw in what looks to be a wet ball night, who knows the impact from refs, and one team coming off bye with another off a couple major wins... This one could be sloppy and back and forth, but it should be a great one! Either way it looks like they'll have an opportunity to meet again in two weeks if they both win their respective first round games. That's why they play! #anygivenfridaynight

I see what you mean now... I was thinking it dropped back to head to head once Gallatin dropped out due to overall record. Related... I agree that overall record should not penalize playoff seeding and conference finishing place. Self-defeating to do this and encourages good teams from scheduling good games. 1-6A is a very tight conference where 6 to 7 teams could all be fighting for the top 4 spots any given year. If I were scheduling in that conference I would lean toward setting up cupcake out of conference games to make sure I am not flipping a coin to guarantee final placement. Obviously winning is the best solution to guarantee your playoff seat.

Hawks peaking at the right time. Dominant win over Bearden Friday. Opportunity for HVA to make history with their first ever District Title in football. Farragut coming off a week of rest, motivated by their Bearden loss, and hungry for the title and 1-seed too! Who you got?

As I read it... head to head is the top tier decider if otherwise tied. Who won between Beech and Hillsboro?

Wow... such a dominant win Friday! Now on to the Ads and a chance to bring home the first ever district title for HVA football!

Well I got half my prediction right! Nice win Bobcats!

I think it closes after this year... new school is West Ridge. But I like it!

I agree depth is very important. I do not agree the strength and depth of a team directly correlates to the student enrollment numbers. 6A is a perfect example... last 5 years the gold ball went to a team with less than 1800 students (granted 3 of those years were the same school). Catholic won a gold ball last year with just over 600 students in the 5A bracket. Sure it may be easier to field a team with 1000 more kids in the school, but I am not buying into this being why some get gold and some just get cold in December! #excuses My proposal... Start later with only 1 game in August. Trim it back to 4 divisions or 5 divisions at most. Play 11 or 12 regular season games. Only the top teams in each region advance to fight it out for the gold in November/December. Cut a check to T$$AA from proceeds from all games and take their focus off the post-season fortune building.

I respectfully disagree... most high school teams in TN have 1 or 2 top tier athletes at best. Dynasty teams are not about star athletes. You take 11 guys sold out and disciplined with some level of skill and strength and you can win most downs in a game. Once you get above 2A winning becomes more about coaches, boosters, and community support. Look who wins the gold balls - it is not a numbers game. IMHO.

Last time I checked there are only 11 players on the field during a play. Double that to keep O and D fresh and you get 22. Now double to get your reserves and you land at 44. Throw in the specialists and depth guys where 3-deep is necessary and you move toward 50-something. NFL teams play with 53-men rosters. My point is that this is all political bantering and sophisticated whining. If you can't field a group of 50 able-bodied warriors to strap on school colors and represent family and community playing the best game on the planet 10 times a year (minimum) in front of the largest crowd for high school sports in likely the best environment for competitive sports (FNL) out of 1000 or more students... well then shuterdown and focus on roundball or chess club or something anybody can do. I agree that a 150 student 1A program playing a 400 student program seems to be a disadvantage. But saying a 1000 student school is at a disadvantage to 2000 students is excuse-making at its best. Alcoa, Greenback, and others have proven time and again that student body numbers do not determine the outcome of a program. If that were the case, then all of the privates with multipliers could never win. T$$AA should do the right thing and drop back to 5 divisions (or even 4) and make football a competitive sport again in post-season. Stop with the participation trophy mentality and help the schools out that have to drive all over the state. Unfortunately the class system and championship path is no longer about tradition, betterment of programs, or teaching our youngins about healthy competition - at least not primarily. It is clear that money drives so many of these decisions. The consideration of Super 32 makes me think the next item of importance is who whines the loudest. Every other sport in TN works through a district and region system that seems to work just fine with only 3 divisions. I played at Sullivan South county school with about 1400 students and we played big ole DB and Science Hill every year - some years competitively - and I loved it! Stop screwing with this failed system in hopes of appeasing loud-mouth, perennial losers. If you want to be a champion - WIN! #makepostseasongreatagain

After the HVA game Friday we talked to several kids and parents from DB that we did life with and knew while living in Kingsport for about 5 years (and a handful that I knew when I grew up there). There was an obvious frustration with the new coaching staff, the way they came into power, and the untraditional product that they were producing. I heard a couple of them debating about what they will do next year. The senior parents were frustrated that their kids were missing out on some college opportunities because of the debacle. One dad mentioned how Clark had a similar team and similar schedule last year with very different results. Unprovoked they all complained about the halftime-band-parent-evacuation. Though I presume many of the football parents use the facilities and hit the concession stand at halftime, I would also assume it isn't to demean the band. Most of them appear to appreciate, respect, and support the band... doesn't seem unreasonable for the band peeps to return the favor by sticking around until the 4th quarter. I know I piled on after the game this week, but as the dust has settled and HVA moves on... I am actually sad to see this bastion of tradition and dominance crumble in to ruins. I am mostly sad for all the families and kids impacted by what appears to be an avoidable mess. The one common theme we heard Friday was that the current state of trouble started with the AD and the "search" committee and went down hill from there. DB has huge linemen, great running backs, a top-notch QB, plenty of capable athletes to spread on both sides of the ball, facilities to be envied, proud tradition, and a community that used to worship them - some still do. The major problem I witnessed Friday night is that this coaching staff seems to operate on about a 5th grade to middle school level when it comes to play calling, game-time adjustments, and creativity. I say fire them all... install Waco, Batman, and even Blazer in there as interim staff. Guaranteed they at least know what the problems are to be fixed. #cleanhouse

Hurry and win this one before they announce the final score of the Science Hill v Jeff Co game! DB should win this by a couple dozen - if they want to.

Matches... you can go back and see that I was aligned with you regarding BHS vs. SD earlier in the season. I too saw their potential and I admit this one scares me for the Hawks this week. But to be the man... you gotta beat the man! I assume your comment about digging to win must refer to the Jeff Co game. HVA's first half after a bye week looked like Jeff Co's field that night... flat, slow, and sloppy as they spotted Jeff Co a 21-7 halftime lead. Second half was a totally different team and they whipped them Patriots 31-14 to ultimately win the game. I've said this from early in the season... this HVA team is volatile, unpredictable, and packed with potential. So if the Hawks play team ball for 48 minutes, I think this will be one heck of a game! However, if that 1st-quarter-Jeff-Co-game-team shows up Friday night at the Nest - it could end up the beat down you predict. Looking at head to heads... BHS vs West ends 9-0 where Hawks win 15-12. BHS vs. DB (at DB) ends 33-30 where Hawks win 35-17 (also at DB). Both lost to Science Hill (BHS 28-21 and HVA 17-3). And then they both beat Jeff Co (BHS 28-0 and HVA 38-35) but I already splained this one. I hope you are wrong cause I would like to see a closer game plus I am rooting for them Hawks to win it! My ciphering puts this one as an instant classic, but we shall see. That's why they play! #anygivenfridaynight

BHS and HVA both have physical QB's that seem to prefer to run but can beat you in the air too. Both have dangerous running backs that can make big plays. Both have strong defenses that have kept them in the hunt all year. Both have upset Farragut in their last outings (HVA end of last year). In the series, HVA leads 5 to 3. Only HVA has been able to win the road game (twice) in this series even though they are only about 7 miles apart. So with an even match and a district title on the line for both, I give the home field advantage as the difference in this one. HVA 27 BHS 24

SD has had a fairly cupcake schedule all year. Not sure the Kees have seen an aggressive D like Central's other than the Bearden game - and you saw how that turned out. Wish I could see this one in person, should be a doozy! I think Central pulls this one out late, but SD will probably keep it close most of the night. CHS 35 SD 21