WhiteC

Absolutely correct, mjuhb. Tullahoma at #3 is not defendable at this point in the season. Franklin should be ranked higher - but they stumbled and didn't make it to the Elite Eight last year and they have to work themselves back to the top of the rankings. As you say, close wins over Siegel and Shelbyville, despite the number of CoachT posts from fans of those two teams, probably don't impress the coaches from the Knoxville and Memphis regions, especially when Franklin's other win is a convincing one over Germantown. Let's all see how Katie Hunter develops.

Totally agree. No, it's not a Riverdale parent - it is the WCHS coach stirring things up, trying to drag White County and Tullahoma into a situation they had no play in, and distracting the remaining region teams as they advance. Maybe he has a legitimate beef with TSSAA, and I would agree IF I could be sure that things went down as he reports.

OK, since Tullahoma and the Tullahoma coach had nothing to do with this except receive some phone calls from TSSAA and some misguided ref assignor, why don't we let this thread die? I doubt TSSAA is going to provide the explanations on CoachT. Please take this up with TSSAA through your AD. Good luck to Tullahoma, Blackman, Shelbyville and Cookeville in the Region tournament and beyond. Soccer players, concentrate on the last few weeks of the school year and the games taking place on the soccer field and don't be distracted by this unfortunate series of events.

Always lots of excitement in D7 AAA soccer, I guess, but who saw this coming? Give credit to the Riverdale coach for 'fessing up. I'm sure he had no idea what would happen, but he took responsibility - powerful lesson there. White County probably WAS left out of things unfairly. Unfair to Cookeville as well, to be thinking they were out of it and have to rapidly jump back into soccer both physically and mentally - they were given much less than a day to prepare for a major soccer game. Some of those guys might have had other plans for Thursday evening. Blackman also had to make some mental adjustments to prepare for a different opponent. Was TSSAA's decision "arbitrary"? I'm not so sure: they had to do something. Somebody posted earlier that all TSSAA should care about was that the best teams get to the State Tournament, which is a really sad statement - I sure hope TSSAA has other concerns - about how sports are played and whether there is any character growth going on and whether rules are being followed and and and - we're talking about higher objectives than learning how to hammer a ball through a two-dimension opening, I hope. I think TSSAA must have involvement in District Tournaments; they shirk their duty if they don't. Supposedly TSSAA and the referee assignor called the Tullahoma coach? I've only read that in this forum. If it happened, that's wrong as well. TSSAA should have informed ADs and coaches of all parties potentially involved (White County, especially), but I have no idea how or why the referee assignor got involved. (or how Whitey knows this, either). Like mjuhb, just an observer. Play on!

Whitey (and all others) - please do not take this wrongly, I am truly searching for information . Is the points system you refer to unique to this district or is it applicable statewide to all districts and where is it documented? and this is just a comment - Seems like Blackman is the clear leader in this district, but that isn't reflected in theses point standings, possibly because not all matches have been played and so forth?

I guess you need less info, actually. Let me restate: 4. Can a referee award a PK without calling a rules infraction?

Here's a #4 for you: 4. Can a referee award a PK after stopping play (to take care of a goal-keeper injury) without calling a rules infraction?

Well stated "jc"! I'm glad to see you realize Tullahoma can't count on any "easy games" for the rest of the season - keep your focus. You should win, but also realize FCHS will play up or down to the level of their competition and will make a game of any match with nearly any opponent.

I can't comment on the McCallie situation, but I understand the Notre Dame tie. The "loss" came in the CCS Tournament, where ties are settled with an MLS-style shootout. Since the MLS-style shootout is not recognized by TSSAA (or NFHS), the game stands as a tie. This is the way SoccerInfoSystems has recorded results from the CCS Tournament for several years now. - there may be some disagreement about how these are counted, but there is a convention established and it has been consistently followed.

I agree with both of you. The two-man system is inadequate for HS soccer in TN. As much as I hear coaches and ADs bemoan the added cost of the third official, the root of the problem is NOT financial - it is the lack of officials. I'm sure most assignors would agree - there are simply not enough available officials to cover the contests. This also isn't about quality - that is an entirely different subject. But, IMHO, the referee + AR + AR system is a much better training ground for referees, IF the center has some experience and is willing to do some mentoring of his/her ARs. ARs willing to observe and learn can work their way into the center position over time, but if an inexperienced official (or two!) shows up to find they are running a 2-man system everyone suffers. Too many refs go directly from doing U12 rec games to HS without adequate seasoning. The game is different, the coaches are different, the rules are different (and let's not even talk about the hokey HS signals!) and the speed and intensity of play are far different. All of this hinges on training, good assigning, personal conditioning, etc. There are problems there as well. However, a larger pool of referess would again alleviate the problems. OBTW, if we were blessed with a wealth of competent referees, the 3-whistle system contained in the NFHS handbook could be implemented. This would do the most for fair, clean, safe play - players hate it, particularly less talented male players, because there are three people observing the action, any one of which can stop play, call fouls and issue cards at any time.

Franklin County has some very good individual talent, but hasn't become a soccer team yet. They are off to a rocky 0-3-0 start. Beware their outside speed and their willingness to make a game of it at whatever level of competition they are up against. I think Tullahoma travels to Lincoln County today and Shelbyville, Lawrence County, Coffee and Columbia have two District matches this week, etc. Everyone is busy in District 8. By the end of the week we should have an idea who the contenders are [probably Columbia and Tullahoma....again]

Siegal 2 Franklin County 1 Should have been 3-1....... The Challenge Cup goes to Tullahoma. Remember that neither Columbia nor Blackman played in the Challenge Cup, so no one is sure where they stack up in the Region, but I think they'll be definite contenders.

My advice - someone in Warren County should read Section 14 of the TSSAA Handbook.