big red big blue

offense/defense, perhaps?

I'll be surprised if either side comes up with a big play....it's just not going to be there, even with all the offensive firepower on the field. These are 2 really, really good defenses. Both fly to the ball and tackle well.... I don't think Corn can run wild on this BA defense, and I don't think Stavers will have a bunch of open receivers against EHS....BA is more dynamic on offense, but Bowers is effective complementing Corn with the play-action game. Corn on defense also really affects opposing offenses....he basically owns the middle of the field, so you have to attack the sidelines. Stavers is good enough to challenge Corn over the middle....but Corn is good enough to make him pay with a long pick 6. Someone will have to grind out a scoring drive to win....a short field is your friend....special teams will be big. Going to be fun to watch, that's for sure.....

I have a feeling Ricky will keep it vanilla Friday night....stick with Corn, set up the play action with Bowers, trust his defense/special teams. That may be good enough to beat BA; maybe not...I don't think he will pull out all the stops to win this one....he's well aware of what it means to face a team twice in this league, especially with these 2 meeting up so late in the season. The new BA coach probably doesn't get that at this point. I think, deep down, Ricky would love to lose this game and use it as motivation for his team going into the play-offs. My guess is that two of his great coaching disappointments have been losing rematches in the play-offs, where he won the regular season game with clearly the better team....State title in '97 (lost to FRHS in Clinic Bowl); '09 (lost to MBA in play-offs). Last year his team throttled Baylor after losing to them in the regular season. My pick is BA 21, EHS 13...no way this is a high scoring game--both defenses are too good.....JMO.....

Bcportsfan showed up!!!! With pepvol!!! It's officially like the presidential debate, only the exact opposite!!

we certainly would have his resume on file, given how many times he's applied for the job.

okay, for the thousandth time.... Maryville (since this is a thread about Maryville) has no obligation or need to play private schools from Nashville. Maryville (as best I know) had no involvement in the creation of the public/private split in 1996. Maryville has no history or tradition (that I'm aware of) with any Nashville-area private schools. If Maryville for whatever reason wants to start playing Nashville-area private schools, they can at any time they want. If Maryville doesn't want to, then Maryville doesn't have to explain why, or defend itself. I believe most Maryville fans think this way, and don't care either way. As do most MBA/BA/EHS fans.

And I'm sure he's looking for a way out, same as he always has.....

well with Gary Rankin at the helm, you guys certainly are the experts on chickening out, so I trust your judgment on that one.

Is Pepvol rubbing off on the rest of you? Are all of you now making things up? I thought it was just Pepvol, but maybe not. Who anywhere has ever said that the BC schools don't play on the level of the privates? At a minimum, Alcoa beat McCallie at least once, maybe twice. And I have no doubt that Alcoa would still be playing and beating private schools, were a different individual head coach. I hope this go round the organizers of the BC Bowl are offering terms different from the last ones, because it's a non-starter if it's "come here twice without us coming to the Clinic Bowl." If you guys are going to shun Nashville, then don't be surprised when we respond in kind.

So, in other words it's worth $7000 to not come to Nashville and play in a game whose proceeds would go to charity? Maybe Ensworth could have used the $3500 for chlorine in the new natatorium I guess...

so, Clinic Bowl asks you for 1 game in 2005 in Nashville, you say no, and that's fine. You guys ask us for 2 trips to BC in consecutive years, with no return game ever in Nashville, we say no, and it's our fault that the teams haven't played. u geyes got som intresstin logik up thair fer shore, u and pepvol.

of course you care, Pepvol....it's a borderline obsession of yours, evidenced by the fact that in a thread that has absolutely nothing to do with private schools, you introduce the subject and proceed to take a bunch of gratuitous shots at us (I guess in some attempt to make yourself feel better) like "tiny little league" and "irrelevant to the big picture," etc. You haven't been posting on the D2 boards, either because you've been so beaten down over there you have decided to stay away, or because we are just talking about actual games, which doesn't interest you. As soon as someone writes "The BA-EHS winner is the best team in the state," you'll be back, all upset about how Maryville just lost another imaginary game.... As for D2 enthusiasm, there were between 8-10K at the MBA-EHS game last week; there will be at least that many for BA-EHS next week, which will be on ESPN (EHS' second such appearance this year). My guess is that there were 5-6k on hand at MBA for the Trinity game. We're doing just fine....and I expect the coming months are going to be tough on you, Pepvol, because EHS and BA are going to get a lot of attention, and you really struggle when someone other than Maryville gets attention. Of course, we could have begun something really special back in 2005, when Maryville was invited to play in the Clinic Bowl at Vanderbilt against D2 teams (either MBA or BA) and said no. Don't think that wasn't a factor in this latest attempt to get a series going. "Our terms" were to play home and home, and the Blount County teams wouldn't do it. Pure and simple. If you want to blame us for that, go ahead....but just let the record reflect that this could have been a great series for everyone had the Blount County teams agreed to come to Nashville and play at Vanderbilt.

meritage, you may not be familiar with Pepvol, so I wouldn't necessarily lump him in with the rest of the Maryville fans...he is usually the only one writing this stuff, and whenever he gets beaten over the head with facts, he just keeps chugging along with the same story...although, this one, I gotta admit, is some good stuff....I.e., we should have been "honored" to play them and therefore willing to accept their terms (i.e., play 2x in Blount County, with no return visit--FOR CHARITY--at the Clinic Bowl in Nashville).

LOL, and you people call US arrogant! "honored to play you?" that's something, even from you, Pepvol.....

pepvol, pepvol, pepvol......do we have to do this again?

It's sad to hear, because Ryan football used to really be important here....The Catholic community rallied around FRHS football; you'd see hundreds of kids over at the K of C fields on a Saturday playing in the parochial leagues, and everyone would be wearing Ryan gear, talking about the Ryan game from the night before. The MBA-Ryan game was the biggest event in town..... Personally I think Ryan lost something when it left Elliston Place. It was much more a part of Nashville back then, with St. Cecilia, Overbrook, Christ the King, St. Bernards, and St. Henry's all nearby...with its biggest rival right down the road...obviously the school/campus are much nicer now, so maybe it doesn't matter. But it all started to feel different when Ryan moved to its new campus.....JMO....

well I guess my #'s are too high....but the point is, these schools have in essence a bottomless pit of money to offer as financial aid....that opens the doors to a lot of people that maybe weren't candidates 15-20 years ago when FRHS was an elite program....the money goes to students of all kinds....some play sports, some don't....but the eligible applicant pool is much deeper for these schools than it was 20 years ago. That's a luxury these schools have. And when the TSSAA lifted the quota on the # of financial aid recipients that could play on a particular varsity team, it opened the doors even more. I recall when Kurt Page left FRHS 10 years ago he made several proposals on this subject that he felt FRHS needed to enact in order to stay competitive with the other D2 programs. Much of what he proposed centered on finding ways to make their financial aid awards go farther so that more Catholic families could attend the school....

you are right, but.......at MBA, BA, and EHS, there is more money to give....there's no limit to how many people can be on financial aid (awarded properly by a 3rd party)....my guess is that at all 3 places, the number is close to 50% receiving some sort of financial aid; a much higher % than when I was there 20+ years ago. At FRHS, there is a lot less to go around, as I understand it. I had lunch with a good FRHS-alum friend of mine recently who shared something interesting....he's a former player from my era, as frustrated with the program as the other FRHS posters on here about its current state. He said that there is one really, really wealthy Nashvillian who is Catholic (not an alum of the school) that could single-handedly cure a lot of FRHS' ills with his wallet....highly active in the church, engaged in all the local Catholic schools, big sports fan....but won't give a dime to FRHS and instead is kicking around the idea of creating an all-boys Catholic school in Nashville.....take that FWIW....

You're just not stopping corn. And even if you do, you are so worried about him you allow the other guys to make plays. Even when he wasn't breaking 70 yard runs like he has in the past he's getting 7-8 yards a carry. Teams played to a draw first half and looked basically even. First possession of 2nd half MBA commits a huge holding penalty that turns 2nd and short into 2nd and 20. That was huge. That and ricky's great call on the quick kick from mid field 2 possessions later. Little Bowers made them pay on a great throw to the corner of the end zone when everyone was thinking corn. Corn is just something special and I'm glad this is the last time we will see him.

There is no crowd factor either way because Ensworth drowns it out with the kidz bop soundtrack that my kids listen to every day.

Please Ensworth do what ever you want with tommy frists money but stop the piped in kids music and Lsu fight song every 5 seconds.

We are talking about Ricky Bowers here......he's going to play anyone who will agree to play him, anywhere. If they don't have the big non-D2 games right now, it isn't because he hasn't tried.

MBA obviously looks a lot better so far this year, but let's not kid ourselves here....BA destroyed MBA in the worst beat-down I have ever witnessed of an MBA team in person, going back 25 years, and it could have been worse had BA not called off the dogs. The main take-away from the Trinity game IMO was that MBA's rbs are hitting the holes hard and getting positivie yardage on just about every carry, and the OL is creating some holes. There were some long runs, and consistent 5-7 yard gains. There was nowhere to run against BA last year.

Amazing game. Amazing atmosphere. Great performance by MBA. Unfortunately, #17 was the best player on the field and was the difference with 2 long tds. MBA dominated the line of scrimmage all game. Night and day from last year. Great job to these coaches and players.

BA has the talent to compete in this one.....I think they can hang around and make it interesting...