thefox

I still like Springfield in this one even though Portland beat Station Camp. I've got Springfield +10.

I'm not feeling as good about MJ's chances as I was before the Station Camp game. I think it will be a shootout in the West. There seems to be a lot of ways it could sort out in the East as well. Knox West's region is much more competitive than the upper East Daniel Boone/Davy Crockett etc., I give that Upper East region one round before Knox West's region is back to playing each other. With Powell I agree with @osunut2 a team like Rhea Co could put them out in the quarters or Walker Valley and Mcminn could put them out earlier like last year. On that side it will be some combination of Rhea or Powell and then on the other side it will be West or Central if they all survive the first two rounds.

I've got the Red Devils +10. Central has three cupcake wins over Cocke Co, Heritage, and Hardin Valley. I know they beat the South Doyle media darlings but they're overhyped in my opinion. Halls is only a few touchdowns away from being undefeated, their record is misleading.

2 minutes ago, Knoxemdown said:

You're counting sophomores that transferred to another school in their Jr. year?  Hilarious.

They don't win some of those games in 2019 without them. So yes it is hilarious. I don't get in the habit of minimizing teenagers' contributions to their teams though.

Lamar has certainly had bigger talent. In a four year span Cummings had a kicker go to UT (Bullock), a linebacker PWO at UT (Underwood) - didn't last & transferred to the revamped ETSU, an OLB go to Air Force (2014) - transferred to D2, and an RB go to Georgia Tech, boy was he fast! (Cottrell) Lamar on the other side of that in a four year period Drake Peer (WKU) (2017), Edwards & Francis MTSU (2019) Shannon Blair, Jai Hundley, and Elijiah Rodgers will all play FBS. Lamar has had more period and more at one time on the same team than Cummings had total!

6 minutes ago, Knoxemdown said:

I think your use of the word Dominant is interesting.  I'd consider Alcoa and Maryville currently dominant.  You could argue Fulton for a while or Greeneville for a while, but not currently.  I wouldn't howeve consider Central of the last five or 6 years dominant.  Would you?

I would agree on the Central part. They have had some pitch battles in region that go back and forth. I didn't mean dominant in terms of state championships but in terms of region play outside of when they played Maryville of course.. I should have specified.

18 hours ago, Knoxemdown said:

You think the region was tougher then than now?  Let's look at the state finals since.  I think we'd see the 3/4 5a Regions are more competitive now if we're being truthful.

 

Maryville moved to 6a in 2009. In the list below I'll put when someone from Region 3 or 4 made the finals or where champion.

 

2009-  none (And remember Maryville moved to 6a this year)

2010-  none

2011-  Powell-Finalist

2012- None

2013- West -Finalist

2014- West champion

2015- Sevier County- Finalist

2016- Farragut- Champion

2017- Catholic- Champion

2018-  Central- Champion

2019 - Central- Champion

2020-  OR- Finalist

 

West didn't battle through powerhouses to win in 2014.  There was no dominant program after Maryville left.  Since West won in 2015  5/7 champions have come from the two knoxvile 5a regions.  It's clearly more competitive now.

 

 

 

 

I can't speak much on the region in the early 2000's. Were Cocke Co and Heritage in the region then? Having those two teams alone is like getting two extra bye weeks. They played Maryville, Fulton, Farragut, and Austin East who were no pushovers on and off during the 2010's. Scott Cummings and his staff made West the dominant team to create a talent disparity to their opponents. You could make the case that the regions are more competitive but that is on the coaches. I think Lamar is well aware of this and that is why he got Kevin Lane back. He was one of Cummings's most trusted assistants/called the defense. That makes me think Lamar is trying to tap into what made West so dominant in the 2010s.

25 minutes ago, Knoxemdown said:

I don't get it.  You're singing Cumming's praises, took him 8 seasons.  New coach has 3 or 4 seasons and you're bad mouthing him.

I retired to Farragut in 2010 and watched a lot of West from there on. I loved their stingy style of defense but to me after Cummings's run it was a just add water program. More than a foundation had been laid. They were consistently whipping people. I've got respect for what they've done since Lamar got there but right now West is 14 points away from being 3-4. They've won some tight games over three teams that don't have the athletes the West zone has.

Happy birthday to the man, the myth, the legend.

4 minutes ago, HTV said:

I'm not arguing that they have not underachieved, with the exception of the 2010/2012 run.  Everybody in Powell will tell you that has been the case.  But there's not a school in the Knox County area not named Maryville or Alcoa that wouldn't have been proud of that 37-4 run, including final and semi final appearances back to back.  Still lots of regret for not winning it one of those years, however.  

And I have never said that Powell was "elite" or belongs in the same breath as the teams that have won gold balls from this area recently. 

But they are trying to get there and the fact that fingers keep being pointed at them without anything other than three fingers pointing back at the accusers tells you that somebody is worried about where they are.  

 

 

For what it's worth from an outsider things in Knoxville seem semi wide open in regards to recruiting. This is what this thread has gotten me thinking about. When I retired to Knoxville in 2010, Powell had lost in the second round to Anderson Co but they were on the verge of doing something special. In that same time West had surprised people, Knox Central was in the doldrums, Farragut was solid but riding the fence between 5 and 6A. Powell had the Mobley back and things were looking up in a big way they played some great games against West but now ten years on, West has been to two and won one, Sevier County went and lost to a good Independence team, Farragut dropped down and won one, Knox Central won two back to back, and now even Oak Ridge went to one. It seems like in this golden era of East TN 5A that we may very well be at the end of the team that helped kick it off is the only one to not get their taste. Powell is a proud community it's hard to imagine how they process that. They seem like the kind of people who expect to win the last game of the season.

9 minutes ago, HTV said:

First of all, I have no "obsession" with Powell.  Like Nut said, my son played there, my daughter graduated from there, and I was the radio play by play guy at Powell from 2001-2013.  I have lived in the Powell community since 1976.  It's home.   I was at Powell during the tenures of Clark Duncan, Larry Stephens, Matt's first time around, Derek Rang's year, and Toby Kilgore's year. I left after Powell hired John Allen, who might be the worst football hire in Knox County history.   

I have been a lot more places than Powell as a radio guy.  I started my broadcasting career as a color guy for Webb School of Knoxville radio broadcasts, then did play by play in Blount County for a game of the week (alternated between Heritage, William Blount, Maryville, and Alcoa), did play by play for South-Doyle, and ended my career as a radio guy at Maryville with a 3 year run, retiring because of glaucoma issues after the 2017 state championship game.  

I also covered high school sports for print and electronic media during that time, which brought me in contact with a lot of coaches at schools all over East Tennessee and statewide.  

And I don't think that makes me any "better" than anybody else.  Just factual that I have been around for a long time and have been close to high school football for a reason.  

If you think I am "obsessed" then you are wrong.  My issue is that all of the fingers being pointed at Powell right now are being pointed by schools that have played on the edges of the margins for years, and now don't like that Matt is currently outworking them at their own game.  It's people from those schools that I have challenged to talk specifics on what Matt and Powell are allegedly doing that is illegal.  But it's telling that not one of them will answer the question.   

Yep. The ineligible player thing was a violation.  And Powell admitted to it and took their medicine.  Cost them a potential deep playoff run that year.  That was a really good football team.  

Since then there have been multiple fingers pointed, multiple investigations, and no findings of improprieties.  That's just reality and some can't stand it and still point fingers, but can't give any legitimate specifics.  

And why are you asking Nut about me?  I am here and have never shied away from answering your questions.   Nut is a good guy and a friend.  Don't put him in the middle of something he shouldn't be put in the middle of.  

Can't speak on any of the accusations you mentioned but in my time in East TN it looks like Powell's real crime is choking. Went to the big dance and got beat by a good HC team in 2011. Then Powell had to say bye to the King of Emory Road for a while. Turned around with Rang and lost in the semis to a good Columbia team. Then come the time of troubles you mentioned. Then the King of Emory Road returns and whatever happened in 2018 happened. In 2019 they fought to the death with West twice just to get to see who would lose to a good Knox Central. Finally, in 2020 Powell got bested in the first round by Walker Valley. Correct me if I'm wrong but is that not a pattern? To me Powell is like Georgia, they have all the juice and they've usually got the right pieces but what do they really have to show for it?

25 minutes ago, FilmCzar said:

I like Henry Co this year as 5A State Runner Up. Lose to an East TN School. Maybe Knoxville West wins first title Since 2014.

Czar how does the West sort out in your opinion? I'm a biased MJ immigrant living in Farragut btw.

Just now, oridgecat said:

CC beat Clinton not OR.  

A thousand pardons.

It seemed like OR had high hopes coming into the season after they had such a good year last year. What is the issue with them? Does the CC loss take the air out of the Clinton hype?

@KnoxVil may give me a hard time about this but the strength and conditioning aspect has such a huge impact on how teams perform. School systems not taking advantage of a full time strength coach are dinosaurs. Coach Grah does a great job with the strength and conditioning program at MJ.

Elizabethton over Rhea

AC over Gibbs

Central over SD

Greeneville by a mile

1 minute ago, KnoxVil said:

Yeah, they played this past Friday and CC won.

Wow. That would explain the frustration from some of the OR faithful

Don't really have a dog in this fight. I know Clinton's stock is up this year and OR has been struggling. Any score predictions? I think this could be a good game.

Outside of the extra stuff, this was on of the best games I had seen all year. Would be cool to see these two teams play each other again.

On 10/1/2021 at 10:45 AM, middletn said:

Great win for SC, could not be more happy for that community. If you’ve yet to play MJ and have them scheduled, beware of late hits, face masks, and outright blatant dirty hits after whistles. It was bad. In all my years never watched that many dirty hits with no penalties. Multiple people have said stuff on here about it so it’s not a new thing. 

I'm an MJ fan and I'd have to agree. It was upsetting to see.

On 9/25/2021 at 12:15 AM, CoachT said:

To explain more about what I do: I just set the database to pick the combined record of this week's opponents at 66% and it picked 31. That is too many. Set it for 67% and got 19 games so that is what we have this coming week.

How do I add a profile picture? Thank you for all you do.

On 10/2/2021 at 6:54 PM, MJGOLDENBEARS said:

@RollRed how’s that loss tasting ?

17 hours ago, FilmCzar said:

Unreasonable defending of let's just call it "recruiters" in the greater Knoxville area.

Recruiting or no recruiting it seems like anytime Powell plays someone well coached with at least average talent they go down in flames. Going back to last year West handled them and WV spoiled their season, this year they played a tight one to open with AC and should have gone to OT with Halls, and their performance in the Jamboree stuck out to me. Bearden had the Panthers spitting blood in one quarter of action. That tells me there could be some larger foundational issues within the program. One has to wonder if the King of Emory Road has his eye on the ball.

33 minutes ago, PostingGawd39 said:

I am thinking he'd probably be 50-90 yards a game less. Roughly 600 yards less for the season. Consider that Morristown West and Farragut played 5A just before going up to 6A and scored 15 and 11 points more per game than they have in 6A ball. There is a GULF between the classifications IMO

Wouldn't he have a 6A offensive line to run behind as well?

4 minutes ago, Knoxemdown said:

No question.  Will this game be streamed?

It should be on NFHS