NETNSportsFan

On 11/18/2023 at 9:09 AM, blazer1set said:

Do you think that will ever become a reality?    Have not heard anything about it in a couple of years, maybe the covid put a damper on things

Yes, Jeremy Boksins was hired as Athletic Director at TCCA and they went 8-2 in their 8 man football this year. Moving to 11 man soon. Their basketball program is killing it right now, already seeing players coming just for bball and they had a sell-out crowd for their game against Oak Hill last week.  I hear they have a goal to be a sports school and compete with other private schools in that aspect. They'll be in their new 90 million facility and be TSSAA in 2025. 

29 minutes ago, blazer1set said:

Boone has a lot of good things going but just can't seem to put it all together in the same season, or when they do like last year you have a Knox West team that could play with the Vols.    Our coaches are good guys and like I said earlier a lot of what we Tri fans do is take out our frustrations on the T here that we can't ever get past Knox County.         The other Tri teams generally have good pieces & parts too but as you stated they don't have the whole package like Eliz & Greeneville

I never said they weren't good guys- but Coach Quarles is a "good guy" too. Does't make him a good coach.  And let's see how ETSU handles that situation. 

East TN school administrators need to decide if football is as important to them as it is in Knox and make decisions accordingly. If they're good with status quo... then go ahead and pat each other on the back for beating your conference rival and call it a season. But it'll be the same story year after year come playoffs. 

Former Blazer is spot on with #1.  Eddie and Shawn live and breath football all year long. They are involved in the pee-wee program and they invite those young players to be a part of Friday nights. Those little ones idolize the HS players and can't wait to be one.  It's a completely different attitude from birth in those cities and it shows in every aspect and that's why they are champions- because they have a champion mentality. 

Both those programs have incredible community support as well, as does smaller programs like Hampton.  Most JC or Kpt residents could care-less about their high school football program and it really shows on Fridays. 

Boone actually has a great fan base- but their good-old boy coaching system has been running the same thing for 20 years.  You've said it before BlazerSet... Run, Run, pass (penalty), punt. Even when they work on a great play all week the coaches often are too scared to run it on Friday night. Too conservative and too stubborn to try something new.  And their pee wee program struggles as well. I think they had one age group that did go to the championship this year- but Elizabethton swept 3 of the age groups in the end.

If NE TN really wants to start competing in football it would take a changing of the coaching staff at most of the schools and then duplicating what Eliz and Greeneville does with the pee wee program and creating a championship mindset and in about 10 years you'll have some great teams that might get past the 1st round.

Last year would have been Boone's year if the QB wasn't hurt. As someone on the team said, they were even good enough to overcome bad coaching- but this year's team wasn't nearly as talented and those coaching calls and ill-prepared defenses were glaring.  

On 10/17/2023 at 8:45 AM, Pioneers1982 said:

Crockett down to their 4th string quarterback so it’ll be ugly. 

What happened to the 3rd string guy? 

West Ridge and Lakeway Christian's game was cancelled and is not being made up- money was refunded- you don't hear Lakeway belly-aching like the Cyclones. 

On 9/10/2023 at 12:07 PM, formerblazer said:

I agree, other teams rescheduled so it shouldn’t be that hard.

you can feel that way but it isn’t going to happen.  I’m betting next year both Boone and West will be going to Greeneville and Elizabethton for home games for both.

TSSAA isn’t going to suspend two teams that had to work out a schedule so they could make up a conference game.  It’s done, it’s over.

That's actually a good idea to change next's year's game to be home again for Elizabethton vs Boone. Won't help this year, but will make up for that lost revenue that Elizabethton missed out on this year. 

13 hours ago, pressboxhero1979 said:

Just saw where Greeneville will play Morristown west on Tuesday.

 

Yes- that is Mo. West's bye week so they agreed to add it without having to play again on Friday. Greeneville does play Volunteer on that Friday- but that isn't going to be a difficult game. Glad it worked out for them to get the game in.  That will be tough for Mo West to prepare for Greeneville only having Th-Monday to practice.  I agree it wasn't fair to either Elizabethton or Greeneville for their games to be cancelled but can't control weather. Penalizing a team sets a dangerous precedent come basketball season when weather cancellations are commonplace. 

4 hours ago, blazer1set said:

Actually the NC team we played last week was just average, as bad as I hate to say it Boone is just not that good this year.... although I expect improvement this week against West Ridge

Actually Ewrin returned 7 of their 8 top tacklers on defense, and it's a school that's a few hundred students bigger than Boone from the city of Asheville. So you've got to assume they have some athletes to choose from. I think Ewrin's offense was less than average but I think their defense will prove to have been pretty solid and a great 1st game for the Blazers to see where their weakness are. 

Greeneville's QB is good, (not top 3 in the state, lol) but many of those yards came from wide-open receivers who ran the distance. How well will he do when he has to make a drive down the field connecting on 3rd r 4th downs?

Tennessee was picked to win the 5a, but those 1st games are never a good indicator of how good a team is until you have some same-opponents, apples to apples comparisons.  Like last year everyone thought West Ridge was so great when they blew out Volunteer. Turns out those were two terrible teams with Volunteer just being more terrible than WR.

On 8/12/2023 at 7:13 AM, blazer1set said:

These 2 have not played in over 10 years, so not much recent history to draw from.     I know that when Boone has played SG the last couple of time we should have stomped them and didn't.      I'm picking Crockett but it could go either way.

So last year's 30-0 score with starters coming out in 3rd q wasn't a stomping? 

Boone has a lot to work on for sure, but Boone's starting QB wasn't there. Freshman at QB. Also missing starting center and linebacker Henry Hamlin. 

20 hours ago, Swipes said:

Wonder what happened?  Didn't Gib's brother transfer from DB to Betsy to get him a State Championship ring a few years ago?

Believe that's a different family.  

On 1/1/2023 at 3:09 PM, blazer1set said:

I don't disagree about the numbers, but a school with 3x the population should statistically have that many more athletes roaming the halls.           As far as the QB, I can't imagine why a guy would not want to play at Elizabethton, they have way more probability of winning a state title.

Yes, Gib Maupin transferred from Eliz to DB. 

Boone losing about 19 seniors, but not their QB, RB or defensive player of the year. If they can get the linemen in tune I think it'll be a reloading year. 2nd string got lots of playtime in many of the games. If all the Jrs come back they should have another strong senior class of about 15.  

West was really, really good. And I've been told good sports too... no extra shoves or after the whistle activity etc. Good luck to West the rest of the way.  Was surprised how inefficient Boone was without starting QB.  

20 minutes ago, blazer1set said:

Boone has struggled to move the ball off and on all season.    The bread-n-butter is for the defense to set up short fields.    Boone's offense is not terrible but I don't know, it's just like they can't have a complete game where there is consistency.

Ya, we've heard you all year long. I believe the first post this year was something you heard from the coaches about the QB not being any good?  Boone's offense on the "struggle bus" is another of your famous quotes.   Jenkins is #8 for passing yards for Class 5A in the state. Aiden Riner is #16 for rushing and that's with missing 2 games.  Seems to me they move the ball just fine- and more than enough to have the best record the school has ever had.  Short fields have helped but it didn't stop them from getting the yards when they needed to. 

After this week no one is in the mood for anyone who doesn't believe in those boys. They may get stomped tonight but until the buzzer sounds true fans are going to bet on the blazers. 

Players are far more concerned with winning this game and who's the next man up than any locker room drama. As I mentioned before- no familiar faces are missing due to punishment so the team isn't giving it much thought.  I was told backup QB looking good at practice. I'm hoping West is assuming Boone will be one-dimensional and the Blazers come out and shock everyone.   

@blazer1set I thought it was only the 2nd time in school history to go to the 3rd round? 

Sounds like they think a torn ACL for Luke. Don't count out the Blazers just yet though. Brogan stepped in and although didn't do much through the air he scored 3 TDs running. Also defense, special teams still rockin'

Brogan was the team's QB all through middle school and freshman year until Luke came to the school. Give him a week of taking reps and Boone can give West a game. 

I guess more than 1 is technically "multiple"... but the media over exaggerates everything. 99% of the team wasn't involved and isn't thinking about this at all. You won't see any familiar faces missing tonight.  Play on. 

18 hours ago, madhatter2269 said:

central beat Boone last year in round 2. I think it was 41-7.

From the looks of the film, this year's Central is a completely different team from last year- in players and skill. As for Boone- all but 3 starters from last's year team are back but with much more experience. 

Got to Bet on the Blazers at least once more. 

On 11/4/2022 at 8:38 AM, ILB1999WHS said:

Those don't even make any sense to me.  The kid from Catholic is 7/7 on fg's and not nominated, but the boone kid is and he's 5/8.  The kid from Lausanne is 6/11 and I think he's the favorite.  The worst part is you could pick this apart at every classification too.  Other than Bishop, I don't think theres a clear favorite.  Feel like the writers just nominate the local kids they know with no rhyme or reason.

Boone's kicker does it all- kickoffs, extra points AND Punts. It's really his punts that sets him apart. Boone is at - what- 3/4 safeties and 1 or 2 defensive touchdowns because of his punts pinning them back inside the 4. He's also perfect on extra points. And oh he just kicked a state record 54 yard field goal last night.  His nomination is spot on. 

Boone will win this one. They are banged up and Hampton was a wake-up call so they'll be refocused this week- plus they are back at home. 

On 10/27/2022 at 10:07 PM, IPOPU2022 said:

Boone’s Kids rush the field like Clemson doing it after beating “Syracuse” by 6. . SERIOUSLY 

The Boone student section comes on the field after every win.  The coach waits for them to all gather around before he makes his speech.  

By the end of the game Boone had lost a total of 5 starters to injuries.  Defense really struggled against Hampton's run game and offense seemed to be in a bit of a shock to come out on the field being down 8 points for the first time all season and just couldn't make plays. QB uncharacteristically turned the ball over more than once. 

Second half more like the way Boone's been playing all year. Big plays, big stops. TBD if they'll be healed enough to make a run in the playoffs.