RHS82

Which used to be the high school by the river- hence the name…

Very small. About 8 rows. If memory serves, visitors used to sit on one side of the home stands. When Peabody came there in 2019 it was as crowded as I have ever seen it. People were standing all around the field. Great atmosphere. Of all the Peabody (and Riverside) games I have seen , that was my favorite.

Just to clarify, Peabody’s championships were as a 2A team. The last three in region 7 . They are now in region 6 . Both 7 and 8 are Memphis regions now. Peabody is just not as talented as they have been.AND Milan is 2A at least for the next two years and Riverside is having their time to shine. This is just not Peabody’s year..Small towns can’t just reload every year. They will be back in a couple of years. They may still shock somebody if they quit shooting themselves in the foot…

Peabody has basically out-talented everybody over the last 5 years; Winning three gold balls and coming close in 2021. The talent level now is just not what it was-- in virtually every aspect of the game. This will be a test for the coaches to come up with ways to win.. The Peabody team will have to be different in approach if they hope to be very competitive this year. Every small town football team goes through this. Talent cycles through every few years and this is just a down cycle for talent. Maybe they can coach them up. We'll see. It may just be the year for the River Rats to take it all.

The 2019 Peabody team was very dominant. The 2018-2020 years at Peabody was as good a run as anybody has had anywhere , but 2019 was probably the best of them. I think they at least need to be in the discussion.

Peabody had two kickers last year. One for kickoffs, punts and long field-goals, the other for extra points and short field goals. They both were solid and both are gone. People forget that Peabody won games with field position and special teams play over the last few years. When they lost(especially against McKenzie) it could be argued that it was due to some questionable punt fakes (using Driggers) and gimmick onside kicks that gave McKenzie great field position. Driggers is supposed to punt, but I doubt he will now. Too much risk. The kid punting now is a running back and we'll see how that works out tomorrow night. Hopefully Peabody will not need to punt and will score a lot of TD's....

The game will be played at Decatur Co Middle School, which is the old Riverside building and field. the Panthers still use the old stadium. As an alumni of RHS, and being from Decaturville, we used to bristle when some announcers called it "Parsons Riverside" back in the day.. The field is located almost exactly halfway between Parsons and Decaturville, by the Beech river, hence the name.. Now the new high school is in Decaturville; or just outside the city limits, Anyway, I am very proud of the Panthers going to the Semi's two times in three years. I am also very proud of my new home town's team, Peabody, with a chance to go 4 straight. Roll Tide and Go Panther's!

I think it would be a great opportunity for the kids. Extremely Tough game for Peabody ( Lipscomb is ranked #2 in one poll's Tennessee top 25) , but given the Covid situation it is a chance for a very big game on a big stage. Win or lose, it would be a very memorable experience for both teams.

I think the first thing to do is find out what sizes of pads and helmets they need. Then put out some kind of mass email to all coaches in TN ( high school and college) asking for donations. Then get some volunteers to drive around and collect the donations. Hopefully one could get white or black pants and some practice jerseys . Helmets can be painted. That would be the quickest way unless there is a distributor that can donate the equipment.

Peabody uses “sky kicks”, directional kicks , squibs, you name it. The one time the kicker kicked it down the middle it landed inside the 5 and rolled into the end zone. The two really short kicks were squibs that hit the up guy….it just happens sometimes…there was no way in heck Milan was going to get a returnable ball. See what happened to Milan when they let Peabody return a kick…. Special teams won that game.