the prophet

this game is reallly a trap game for Dickson, it is on the road and right before the Henry county game, Clarksville will have a stout defense, their offense struggles, but again, they will be at home, Dickson wins this game 4 out of 5 times but look out it may be that one. If they lose it and still beat HEnry County, they can still be district champs. I will say this, I hope that Dickson wins so that it will be undefeated versus undefeated (in district) next week for the outright title.

first of all springfield is not in the middle of a district title run, , Henry County will have to lose to Dickson and Rossview, I am sure the Dickson game will be tough and could go either way, however the Rossview game not likely and if HC lost both those games, they still own the tiebreaker with Springfield, IF HC loses its last two then Dickson is outright champs, HC 2nd and Springfield 3rd, If HC beats dickson then HC will be first, Dickson second, and springfield 3rd, no scenario gives springfield a district title. also there was a comment made that if SPringfield would have cut out the mistakes against Kenwood then they would have won by 14, Is that cutting out just springfields mistakes or those of Kenwood too. At somepoint the springfield fan base needs to learn to give credit to their opponents for some of their short comings. Most turnovers are forced some are not, I think 5 out of the six against Henry coutny were forced, one was a bad snap.

last week projection HC was in quadrant 4 which is west, this weeks projection HC was in quad 3 which is middle

Man o Man, listen to the excuses of springfield, refs and themselves, please do not give any credit to the teams creating those turnovers, and I am pretty sure that in the Henry County game, HC had more penalties called on them and they generally came from the SPringfield sideline (hint hint) I just had to old jacket fan. All this talk about the rule and Springfield not getting the ball back, well they had the ball probably 9 or 10 possessions against Henry County and their offense scored on two of them. The springfield fans assume that had they got the ball back that it was a foregone conclusion that they would score and win. Well, that was Henry County that you were playing and they were a big reason that you turned the ball over on five of the six turnovers, now the fumbled shotgun snap, HC can not take credit for that one unless our nose guard was whipping the center. Henry County is not a great team but they are one of the two best in the district, we will see in just a few weeks who is the best and guess what, SPringfield is not in the conversation.

HC is crap? If HC is crap and not outstanding, that is ok, however, over the last four seasons, HC is 40-6 comared to 8-28 of Springfield over the same stretch, That is simply 10 more playoff games than Springfield. If you just want to count the Meyeres era at Springfield then while SPringfield is a whopping 7-9, HC is 15-3, oh and 3-0 against springfield, one of the three contests was even competitive. As I was leaving the game after we beat you guys, your coaches were all spouting off in a classless manner, talking about the you guys would see us again in the playoffs, well you may but if I was 0-3 against someone I would not want to see them in the playoffs. As poorly as we played in Springfield, Springfield played much worse and as Springfield caused some of our mishaps, we caused many of SPringfields mishaps. We are simply the better team. Springield is on a streak, and that is a losing streak, but they will recover because they will play no one else that is worth a crap, until maybe the Patriots get to play the springfield mosquitos in the play offs in Paris, that will be the crap bowl.

Sutherland, you are smarter than you look, I guess while springfield was working on getting better in the offseason, Henry County was sitting stagnent allowing the subground dwelling yellow jackets to rise to our level of excellence, the difference in the Patriots losing a three semifinal games and Springfield losing to the patriots in 09 is this, Hillsboro thrashed us in 06, in 07 double overtime one point defeat to Maplewood, in 08 a 7 point defeat by hillsboro, 07 and 08 were both very competitive games, now for Springfield, 09 lost 37-14 in the regular season, 14 fourth quarter points made this one look closer than it was, the clock was running and the Patriots had their subs in. Round one 35-0 for a total of 72-14 and the difference in the two comparisons that you made is this game was not even competitive last year. Coach, I don not believe that you think you can beat us, and I do not think that your players believe that you can beat us, You may indeed win but I say that SPringfield might beat Henry county 1 out of 7 gmaes. We were once where you are and we have continued climbing, not declining and you guys are getting better but we have earned our right to be cocky, beat us convincingly and then put yourself on our level.

most of the good players under Gaddis got in trouble or did not graduate, six years and probably 300 players, i can not begin to name all the good ones that did not get in trouble or that graduated, but here is a start, Calvin McNairl, Babby Ashby, Lamar Theus, Josh Clark, Jay Travis, Joey Williams, Matt Scott, William Henry, Nick Smith, Robbie Gallimore, Dominique Allen, Marsalis Teague, Skylar Haley, Lennies McFerren, Will Jelks, Nick Russell, Tyrail Jackson, Bruce Hooper, Jesse Brewer, and literally a over a hundred other good kids that played football, Unknown, you find me the most disciplined coach in the game and if he was in it long someone that played for him got arrested at some point in life, The players that got in trouble last spring made a mistake, they had been removed from gaddis's as they were out of high school eligibility so it is a far stretch to say he had a lack of discipline over that. Do you think that Counce, Young, Bear Bryant, Vince Lombardi or any other coach, has not had a player get arrested after they have left there team?

well most of the crap on here is not worth talking about and neither is this, I spend more time reading other schools threads than our own Patriot threads, there is always two much negativity.

People quit things for one reason or another, for reasons listed above and a few more, I remember four years ago we had a senior quit before we played in a semifinal game and the following year we had another senior quit before the semifinal game. There are many reasons to quit and many reason to stay, but he sad thing is for a senior to quit, it is his last opportunity to put the pads on, I hate that any young man would give up this great game, however if ones heart is not in it, then he should probably give it up. If I was a coach I would not always assume that a kid is a quitter just because he quits, I would first want a heart to heart with the kid to see if I had done something that turned a young man away from the game of football so I could be aware and maybe not make that mistake again. I know that many time parents are the reason that people quit, they fill their childrens heads with rumors of politics and favoritism, how the coaches do not give players opportunities and the best I can tell, most coaches are unbiased, they just want things done a certain way, and for the most part parents are biased, they just want things done by their son

Bored so I came over to see what was being said, sounds like Henry Coutny is the underdog on here. Humbolt has some speed, Henry County has some speed, Liberty has some speed, Gibson County had no speed. I am not sure who wins this game, Humbolt played a team who had lost their previous 48 games last week, Henry COunty played a team that is on the rise and had revenge on their mind and had every bit as much speeed as Humbolt. People speak of 9 backs with great speed, last I checked, a team can put 4 in the backfield at once so 9 great backs is like 4 great backs. I have been around football for several years now and I have seen some teams with several good backs, but I am doubtful that Humbolt has 9 real good backs, they may all be fast but that does not make them all good back. On top of that only one can carry the ball at a time, so if the lowly undrdog of Henry County can tackle the one good back every play that has the ball, the other 8 will be irrelevant. Humbolt is a very good football team, I am not sure yet if Henry County is or not, but to hear the talk about the abundance of speed at Humbolt and how they outmatch us with it, one might need to go to our last few years of teams and the teams we played, I think we are like 10-1 over the last four years against Memphis teams Melrose 3-1, Fairley 4-0, Memphis East 1-0. All of those teams had more speed than Humbolt has this year, Melrose had linemen faster than Humbolts linebackers many of those years.

trader b, tell me about Mitchell this year, I have not heard much on thim yet, I am sure they are among the top.

Gaddis knew when to leave, he built our program from ruins, there is still lots of talent on the team, inexperienced due to a large graduating class which was 35, there was a roster of about 40 when gaddis arrived. Counce inherited a roster of over 80, that is doubled what gaddis arrived to. This Junior class is about 35 deep as well and very talented, dont think for a second that gaddis left with a empty cubbard and counce came into a depleted program. It was better for Counce to come into this situation than a heavy senior class that had played for gaddis for a few years, Thise strong junior class will do some fine things under counce. JYD, how can you say that he is a talent chasing machine, we had little talent on the field when he got here, he got the talent to play football.

pardon me sec1, but if Hodge is wanting to coach with his brother and Dresen is where that can be achieved, then it is a better thing for him, no one suggested that Dresden's football program was better than Henry County's. Lets take for instance, Bob Markum, he is an outstanding football coach that could coach at the high school if he desired, but apparently Inman Middle school is better for him.

only if I throw a handful at once

I never said one negative wrod about counce, much less, I have never picked up a stone and considered throwing it at counce, if I have then you have trhown plenty of stones at the assistant coaches, yes the biggest part of the success left with Gaddis, but even he would not have been successful with just any old coaches.

hchs for life, Hodge coached the running backs, he helped greatly in the implementation of the offense for the last 8 years, hchs for life, 4 years ago was the first trip to the semifinals, the building for that began two years prior to that. He did call some of the plays but he had Gaddis's ear as did the entire coaching staff. Any coach needs good players to be successful, and yes the players you mentioned were good ones, but there were many more big factors to the success of the program over the last 6 years, many very good players, and many very good coaches, and a very supportive school and fan base. Gaddis went 2-8 his first year here, by your logic, he was not a good coach at that point, lol. Has counce not ever had a sub par year, Hodge was an excellent coach for the Patriots and that is that, if you do not understand that the coaching staff Gaddis had here was a special one, then you simply were not close to the program.

I did not mean to say public perception did not matter, I meant that the public only sees the games and that they did not see what went on during the week with the young man, we only knkow what we see. missing game time might have helped but family members being arrested for similar offenses did not help, so I doubt missing a game would have either.

Yes, they were onthe field on Friday nights, does that mean that they were not punished? NO, It always amazes me that people can not step out of their world and look at things from another perspective. These young men are all in trouble, they have made a big mistake, and it amazes me how everyone wants to distribute blame to the coach. If you knew so much about what they were doing, and you care so much for the football program, where were you in the intervention plan. Coach Gaddis was a man who tried to help young men, he gave them an oppurtunity to play football, something good in their lives, something that might show them that there is other options than what they are living in. He treated those young men as they were people he truely cared about those young men. Many of the football players have a home life where there parents or parent deal drugs, their older siblings deal drugs, and many of you suggest that a coach should just take football away from them and that is the answer. Coach Gaddis loved to win, however it was not winning that led him to play young men that were in some trouble, it was simply playing the best players, he disciplined in other ways other than playing time. Yes to the public it might look better to suspend a young man for a game for getting in trouble, but these troubles you speak of, I am unaware of and I was close to the program. There have been players that got in trouble for being tardy to class, now does that deem game suspension. There has been no sweeping under the carpet any drug issues that some have suggested. Now if one has no compassion for children that have no chance in life and are raised around drugs and poverty and crime, then I can see how one could just say we do not want these types on our athletic teams. That is what makes coaches like Gaddis great, that is why there have been 80 plus kids on that team since his arrival, he wants children to experience success in something, and for many in our poverty stricken community, there are not many chances for success in their households, Now I say how dare you blame coach Gaddis for any of this. I just hope that when your children make a mistake or a loved one does, that you have a little compassion for them, try to educate them on their mistake, help them to understand their mistake, but please do not kick them out of the house for a night as this may lead to more problems. Many of you act as if your child was tardy for class or skipped a class that you might kick them out of your house. No you did not suggest that, but you are suggesting that he remove them from the only stable thing in their lives.

burt snow, henry county graduate, played under counce, coached under counce at dyersburd, since has coached at mckenzie, and lake county, pretty good fellow, not sure what kind of coach he is, unless applicant is not telling the truth then it is true, warrior it is a shame that we get cross examined for standing up for coaches who have helped build a strong program at Henry county, it almost seems to make some mad that we would stand up for those that have been a part of HCHS success. Makes no sense if they are henry county faithful, most likely, they are they are incomers who could care less about what has gone on, but will take credit for any success gained from this point on

lifer, not once have I read a negative comment about the kind of coach counce is, yet you have been in aggressive defense mode of him since you joined these boards, even when defense was not needed. You have recentlly joined and are trying to come off like some henry county loyalist. You even defended what you thought was sarcasm for the new coach, but anytime someone tried to defend our current assistant coaches, you not once defended them. you just simply assumed the posters defending them were the assistant coaches. The warrior may be, I have no clue about him and his identity. By those assumptions, it must be assumed that you are miles, counce, snow, or a close friend of one of those folks, I can assure you that the asssistatnt coaches have been shown much less respect than counce yet the loyalist that you are has just acknowledged that in your 23-24 post. I defended donnie webb as a good coach, I defended joe gaddis, I will defend james counce at some point, and yes I defended our assistant coaches, you have defended counce and miles. Miles has been the only target of any criticism throughout this entire process on this board. I know for a fact, when Miles offered the job to Counce, he contacted applicants from outside the system to inform them, not one assistant on the staff has been offered any information by Miles. There are several assistant coaches who were an integral part of the success of Henry County football over the last 6 years, a loyalist would be aware of that and show them a little respect, you have not, nor has Miles, he showed other applicants more respect than Henry county applicants. I hope counce and the Patriots have lots of successes (no sarcasm) as I am a Patriot fan, where I feel you are a counce/miles fan.

lifer, you seem a little defensive, as you obviously did not read my post clearly. I never said anything about everyone getting what they wanted. I called a man a living legend, and from what I hear around here, he is. I do not agree that he was head and shoulders above all other applicants, that is an insult to any competitive football coach. I congratulated James Counce and that is a positive comment, If you were not so defensive about this topic, you might have read what I actually wrote. As for tone, well you get that from time to time when reading message boards, text messages and emails because the tone is actually set by the reader, unless there is ! some type of emotion typed in. As for my opening, I was just simply letting you know that there was no interviews of any one other than Counce due to your previous post. No Miles does not have to give anyone an interview, nor would anyone want a courtesy interview, however, I am quite sure that Miles was pleased to be able to sell himself in his interview for his current job. I think if you will reread my post you will see you are being extremely defensive, I am a Patriot fan, one that does not waver, one that hopes that every player experiences the successes that they deserve and their football experience is as great as mine was. My tone was positive and to the point last time, it was a rather short post that obviously overloaded your reading comprehension so I am sure this lengthy post is going to cause some malfunctions in your wiring. If you can find one negative comment that I have made about James Counce or the Patriots, please identify and I do ask that you do not put words you thought I wrote down if I did not write them. As for Sam Miles, he could have handled things in a more professional manner, but it is ultimately his call and he has made it.

no interviews of any assistants, no interviews, one interview, one hire, Henry County has there living legend back at home, achieving what no other coach is capable of. Congrats to James Counce and to all Patriot fans, You have got the one and only coach that according to the PI article is "head and shoulders better than any other applicant"

chaos you are an idiot, you blame the pursuit of winning on any students failures at henry county high school, are you serious, athletes make up about 15% of the student population and most of them make excellent grades, Henry County high school does quite well on the Gateway, the gateway is a joke and very few people each year fail it, do not know where you get your info but it is highly inaccurate. I believe last year that there were two football players that had to do credit recovery to be eligible, out of 94 players, that is just over 2 % of the football team that was in danger of being ineligible. Athletics are not the problem with 85% of the student population but heck, got to blame someone.

Warrior, You are 100% accurate, If Counce is to be announced on Thursday as rumored, then this has all been done in an underhanded fashion. 0 applicants have been interviewed, this means one thing, Sam Miles was not interested in what was best for the program, more about what was best for him and one of his old buddies. I know a few of the applicants and they are all qualified and want to be a part of THE HENRY COUNTY FOOTBALL PROGRAM. My sources tell me that Coach Counce was not looking to even get back into coaching. With persuasion, here we go. Counce is very qualified, there is no doubt about that, He will do a good job. Why would the director not want to atleast interview someone. Warrior, I agree, coaches on staff have been slapped in the face as two of them applied, and did get a boo, ####, or howdy from the new director. If I never see you guys again, then to heck with you

not sure what county it is but Maryville and Alcoa, are in teh best football county in the state, if you do not agree, then that is your choice, how many titles in the last ten years have come from that county? a bunch, more than Rutherford, more than WIlliamson, more than Sumner.