Riverdog7

Its not fair to cast all the blame at the coaches. The players have to make the inside game work. I know and have watched these guys play for awhile. Norman for his size is....soft. Sorry but thats a fact. Henson and Franklin are hard workers but they have trouble scoring. Hilton is a little undersized but gives it all he's got, and is the closest thing to a scorer they have down low. Carter is young, and in time will be a very good post, just maybe not this year. Same thing with the other soph post, Thomas. The other Jr post, Pirtle is a great athlete but at this point does not have the dedication required. Wilson, as he showed while coaching the girls, preaches the inside game. Its up to the guys to work at it and make it go. This team needs some leadership to step up on the court. Now as for the discipline problem, thats been coming on for awhile as Glee said. DN has been suspended a couple times this year already. That kid is such a talent, just maybe not quite as good as he thinks he is. Hopefully he will do some growing up the next two months and lead this team to the Regionals.

Trousdale 21 Hampton 0 at the half

Hampton finally stops Trousdale (with the help of three penalties). Trousdale fakes FG on fourth down and Hampton intercepts in the endzone. End of the half 21-0 Trousdale.

21-0 Trousdale. They just got another TD called back. Ball on Hampton 23 with two minutes to go in the half. Getting ugly for the dogs.

Hampton got one first down and then had to punt. On the first play Trousdale hit a long pass for a TD (58 yds). EP good. 7-0 Trousdale. On kickoff Roark returns to the 40. First down Hampton. Townsend for 5; 2-5 at the 45; Potter for 2; 3-3 at the 47: Townsend to midfield for a first down. Two downs with losses; then Potter tries a pooch kick on third down and kicks it into his own player. Trousdale in great field position on Hampton's side of the field. Two stops by Hampton, 3rd and 10. QB draw for 20 yds to the Hampton 25. Not looking too good right now.

WBEJ 1240 AM has the live broadcast on the radio. Getting ready to kickoff any minute. Dogs to receive the kickoff........

WOW. What a start by the elizabethton girls. Sounds like the new coach has them playing good team ball. Looking forward to seeing them next week in the Happy Valley tournament. Saw the boys play last night. They are better than last year but losing Charles hurt bigtime.

Oh you dont know either McD? Bite me. Did DL or JE get the seventh spot?

How many run at State? Who do the cyclones have running other than JJ and AG?

Region One favorite would be Greeneville even though they lost two outstanding players in Manuel and Lyons. Sleepers will be Tn High and Science Hill. both will be improved. Boone will be tough. Morristown West will be good. Jeff Co will be down, but they have one terrific player.

According to the schedule at school. Elizabethton is playing two hall of fame games at Kingston on 11/17 and 11/19, against Loudon and Kingston.

Region One has a different look to it internally. The Greene Co teams all moved to District 1. Unicoi Elizabethton So Greene Chucky Doak all should have good teams. Happy Valley will be strong inside with the Williams girl and may surprise some. Johnson Co, Sullivan North and West Greene will probably be the bottom three in District 1. District 2 looks to be either Pigeon Forge or Claiborne County. Rutledge could make a run. I know Claiborne and Rutledge return their starters pretty much intact but its hard to pick against PF. Elizabethton and Unicoi will both be young, but should have better depth. Will be interesting to see how Elizabethton's style changes with the new coach.

Cyclone coaches again muffed end game situation. Cyclones fight back from 14 point Halftime deficit to bring score to 14-13 in the fourth. Then, Kicker misses extra point that would have tied. Cyclones get ball back and move inside South 25,Cyclones get to fourth and five in moderate FG range but for obvious reasons go for first down (kicker has missed more EPs than he has made and has not made a FG all year). They dont get it. Thats OK, they hold South yet again and get ball back with two to go at midfield. First play is Int but on return hard hit causes fumble and Cyclones recover at South 30. Move ball to 10 where its first and goal with 40 some seconds left. Can you say Science Hill, over easy. First play dive to fullback who takes ball to the five. They line up and spike the ball with twenty seconds left and after a South timeout on third down, in the rain on a muddy field, entrust the game to the same kicker who just missed and EP and has not made a FG all year. Of course he misses it, badly. Coaches are scared to win. The kids left it all on the field and deserved better. With over 40 seconds left EHS runs one play. And never goes for the endzone when they had South on their heels, coming back from 14-0 halftime deficit. Coach Pless just doesnt have it folks. A great guy, a fine man, a great assistant coach and OC, but not a great, or good head coach. Let your players try and win the game coach. They deserved a chance at the endzone. You dont have a FG kicker this year like you had last year, or havent you noticed that coach. Cyclones now 0-4 at home this year. Been many decades since that has happened.

I hope Charles can come back. I heard it was a dislocated kneecap but there was some concern about a ligament injury as well. If the cyclones could put 11 Charles Peters' on the field we wouldnt be having this discussion. That kid has heart to go with his talent. Get well Charles and Zack.

With all that buildup, thats all you got?? Team came out absolutely FLAT and midway through the second quarter they were down 23-0. How can a team be so unmotivated on homecoming? It was a pathetic start. Granted they fought back and almost made a game of it, but the start was awlful. Bad tackling. Unforced turnovers. No fire whatsoever. The first 18 minutes of this game were an embaressment to the proud cyclone football tradtion. And thats a fact.

Pless better use the off week to rekindle the teams spirit. Coming out so flat against THS was the coaches fault. Losing the SH game was coaching too.......how can you have such a miscommunication right after you take a TO (another miscue). Jeffers should have never even had to look to the sideline for the spike signal after he didnt score on the sneak. The coaches should have covered that with him in the timeout. Obviously they didnt or Jeffers just forgot? Either way its coaching. Pless is a great man, and how he handles this team from here on out will determine if he is a good head coach. Last year he did it and they finished strong. Im hoping there's more magic like that coming.........

The senior QB needs to have a seat on the bench or be prepared to play another position. He hasnt been getting it done. The Science Hill game was lost due to miscommunication between he and the coaches, not once but twice in the last minute. TN High game was worse. 2 bad Ints. Only spark was when Jr QB was in. The cyclone JV team, both this year and last, showed what they can do. How bout giving some of the youngsters a chance Coach??? Team did not bounce back after tough loss to SH. Coaches must take responsibility.

it took two months to promote the girls coach!? Waz up with dat?