aliastn

Welcome to our thread!!! The important ones aren't overlooking Smith Co.: The coaches and the boys. So, no need to worry about that! We haven't had a good game since Week 5 when we played McCallie, so the boys are itching for one. Personally, I don't like close games; I prefer for us to win by a large margin. BT Washington was put on the schedule to give us some competition, unfortunately it didn't work out that way. Good kids, but they didn't give us what we needed. Our seniors aren't ready to quit playing ball. I saw a couple of them eating out on Monday, going over information from SCHS...that didn't look like they were looking ahead to me. This team can go all the way...one game at a time. Milan or Goodpasture won't "put a stop to our glorious back to back"; we got that last year. They're looking for that glorious back to back to back!!!

Combined opponents record: 64-45 (Unfortunately, 2 of those teams' combined record was 1-19, but we had to play them because they're in our region) Out of region opponents: #1 4A Maryville (lost by 3 points- 1st game of the season) #1 3A Fulton (lost by 3 points - 3rd game of the season) #2 DII McCallie (just lost a close championship game last Sat.) (won by 3 points) 2A Booker T. Washington

I don't think the kids are the ones talking about it. We know about Milan's tradition. I look for this game to be a close one. I think the Goodpasture-Milan game is going to be a good one. I wish I could be there, too, but I have to be in Carthage for "that other game"!!!

How does that compare to SCHS' stats? Alcoa has outscored their opponents this far 596-125. Our boys are coming to play...ran into a couple of them Monday night; they were carrying their info around, studying while they ate! GO GET 'EM, BOYS!!!

Now, Vettasue, you can't tell me you never painted the bridge in your whole life!! Painted Bridge: you name the time, and we'll bring down a couple of cans and help!

sleep23: You obviously didn't read a previous post by tornadogold: "Just to be fair, I have NO idea who Don Moyer is...I'm thinking he may be from Knoxville, so it wasn't an Alcoa person writing it (that I'm aware of). And, it's not our home page. And, the article is only talking about our region, not all of 2A."

Antwan: I don't know why Alcoa has a few DI players each year. It may be the proximity to UT; that may be where the exposure is. Alcoa is basically a working class town. We have a mixture of races, socio-economic groups, but the great thing about Alcoa is that the kids work for what they want. A lot of them may go away for a while, but then come back, have kids, and the cycle continues. If you've never been here, you should come up and have a look around. When we moved back, we looked at all 3 school systems, and all 4 high schools. Athletics was not #1 in our decision as to where we wanted to live. Alcoa is a great place to raise kids: they ride their bikes down to the public pool in the summer, walk/ride bikes to school, and pretty much everybody looks out after each others' kids. That, along with the academics, was the deciding factor in our kids going to Alcoa. When we first moved, the football team was coming off of a not-so-good season, so that definitely wasn't our incentive!

That's so strange to me. I've never heard of school systems not doing it. I lived in Ga. and South Carolina, and they had tuition kids there.

Sorry, Rocking Chair, yes, you definitely hit a nerve with me. Alcoa has a winning tradition with all sports, not just football. We(just like everywhere else, I'm sure),have really good kids. Not all of our kids are DI caliber. As far as I know, Lanxter, Shiverdecker, and Sykes are the only seniors getting looks from DI right now. None of these 3 are tuition students; they live in the city limits. But, if you had the choice of having your kid go to a mediocre school (I'm talking academics) or a school with small teacher:student where the teachers personally know all the kids and spend extra time tutoring them as needed, where would you send your kid? Alcoa is to the point where no more tuition students are being accepted in certain grades. In fact, when my family moved back, I was told that if we found a house in the county, my son could finish the year out at Alcoa, then would have to go to a different school the following year. We just happened to luck out and find a house in the city limits (due to a death, but I didn't have to find it in the obits!). But, like I said earlier, most of the tuition students are alumni's children. I don't know how it is in SC, but here the kids grow up idolizing the high school players and wanting to be like them. I think that's why we have good athletes. The high school kids are really good to the younger kids. The kids work hard to become the best so they can be like their "idols". We grow 'em big & fast at Alcoa!

waaa, waaa, waaa. Here we go. Call Smith Co. Bd. of Education and ask if they will allow your child (who doesn't live in Smith Co. zone) to attend SCHS if you pay tuition. I've lived in 2 different states before moving back to Tn., and both of those states allowed students who didn't live in the school district to pay tuition so their child could attend our school district. Most of the kids who pay tuition are children of alumni. It's extremely hard to find a house in Alcoa city limits. The only way to find a decent house (or one that you can afford) is to watch the obits and be the first one to contact the family. (I know that's morbid, but true) Here's the deal ('cause you obviously don't understand): Alcoa & Maryville residents pay city and county taxes, so they have the option of sending their kids to city or county schools. In the county, they only pay county taxes, so if they want to send their kids to a city school, they have to pay tuition. It's been like this FOREVER, and will continue like this. So, whine all you want! People make it sound like we have boys from 2 counties away going to Alcoa just to play ball!

I would challenge everybody talking about "open schools" to delve deep into their own school system and see if a student from outside of their school system wanted to go to their school, if they would be told no. Call your school admin offices and find out. I lived in 2 different states where if a student lived outside of their school system, they were allowed to attend the school of their choice for a tuition fee. This happened in Ga. and SC. I find it very difficult to believe that a school system would turn down a parent willing to pay to send their child to that school system. The only reason would be overcrowding, which is beginning to happen at Maryville and Alcoa. Kids are being turned away at Alcoa because the school board (and the parents) want to keep the small school atmosphere. Select students (aka non-athletes) are being turned away at Maryville because of overcrowding. Back to the topic: Private schools should play private schools. I don't understand why they want to play with the public schools. I could understand it if the public schools were so much better than them, but they're not. McCallie has an awesome team; Brentwood Academy apparently does as well. Webb is also a very good team. I can't speak of others because I don't have first hand knowledge. Here's a thought: If they want to play public schools, let them, but for playoffs, they should not be included: let them play their own playoffs for their own state championship. Public schools don't have the advantage of having Ted Turners donating millions of dollars for top notch facilities. We do the best we can with tax dollars.

After coming back to Alcoa after 20 years of living out of state, I don't see much of a change, either. My husband said it's like Americana; kids riding their bikes to school, fans walking to the game, the Christmas Tree lighting. Alcoa has had and continues to have problems just like everyplace else, but I don't think there is a gang problem here. Parents still look after every kid just like they're our own. This is a very tragic happening. I'm sure as the investigation goes on, we'll find out the answer to why this happened. Thank you for all of the prayers for the students and community.

Good luck with the tournament... Sweetwater is on a roll....wonder if Alcoa might actually get a ballgame out of this one? I think it'll be closer than it was a few weeks ago... Alcoa: 45 Sweetwater: 7 Alcoa's defense was awesome during the CAK game. I don't think Sweetwater will have an answer to the defense.

You're a regular commodian! I bet Comedy Zone would have a spot for you! Enjoy the ride down Pellissippi on Friday...it'll be downhill from there.

Thanks for the joke of the day!!! I think you have it backwards: Alcoa 57, CAK 3 CAK scoring late in the game agains Alcoa's 3rd string and freshman. I'm sure CAK's gotten better during the season, but Alcoa has drastically improved as well.

Rankin and the tornado boys aren't overlooking anyone... There are 4 games before the 'Boro. Anything could happen... The Tornadoes are taking it one game at a time.

Alcoa has the heart, dedication, discipline, and talent to go all the way. It's a different Alcoa team than the past few years. This team will not fall apart! G-P is to be commended on turning their program around this year, unfortunately, their weak schedule will be the end of their season in the next week...or 2. Hope I'm wrong; I'd love to see G-P come to Goddard Field and see just how good they are.

What's made the difference in G-P this year? Different coaching staff? Transfers? Was the team really young last year? I noticed they have the same schedule they had last year, but what a dramatic difference!

Glad to hear the boys got back safely. I had heard through a friend that Memphis area teams played dirty, and my initial thought was that I was glad we had already played Oliver Springs! I was extremely pleased that the BTW boys represented their team and school with class and dignity. My son mentioned that during the game the BTW boys kept yelling "Let's have fun and play some football!" That's what it's all about, IMO. BTW: Congratulations on a great season, and good luck in the playoffs. Wish more of the fans from BTW could've made it up, but the ones that were there made some noise! Too bad ya'll weren't so far away from us; would love to see our boys play each other again!

Okay, I've sat back and kept quiet, just reading the posts. The truth of the matter is that the true test will come on the 3rd with the 1st round of playoffs. In order for me to even halfway believe GP is for real, they'll have to beat Sweetwater soundly. It's going to be interesting. With all the talking going on by the GP fans, I'd love to see another match-up with Alcoa. I really don't see it happening. I think GP hasn't been tested all season, and this is the beginning. Congratulations on a 10-0 season. Sorry, I just can't in good faith call it a "perfect" season due to the lack of competition they played.

Bart Hicks, Alcoa, State Championship MVP-defense last year. Not only is he a hard hitter, he's quick.

My $ is on AlcoasPaintedBridge! I'd love to see us play Catholic or Carter, and keep Fulton. I'd also like to see us be able to keep McCallie on the schedule; those were some exciting games! Murvul-Alcoa week would be much better in week 5. I also agree: NO COUNTY GAMES!!!

Not tried to hurt anyone??? This must've been the first game the players reached through facemasks to scratch up Alcoa's faces. One of our players has a pretty bad scratch that just barely missed his eye...could've been bad. I could tell something was going on (besides the mouthing that usually takes place) watching my son out on the field. (He's not an "emotional" player, by any means!) He did say that he asked one of the coaches if he's ever had a player reach into his helmet and scratch his face: the coach said yes; my son asked if he had ever played OS, and the coach laughed and answered "yes"!! Looks like that's been their style of play for a while. Thank goodness no one on either side was injured/hurt. I'm very proud of our boys (hoodlums as some on this board called them last year!) for representing their team, school, and community well. I sure felt sorry for the homecoming court walking down the field in their high heels, sinking into the mud! Why in the world did they schedule Alcoa for their homecoming??? Congratz on the td, OS! In a show of class, one of the OS' coaches apologized to one of our coaches about their kids' behavior. After I heard that, I knew that something had happened out there, whether it was things that were said or something physical.

Anyway, to get back on topic: There was a good article in the Daily Times today about our qb. Rankin even said that Alcoa isn't over looking anyone, they're playing week to week, and are practicing hard like every week is the state championship. GO TORNADOES!!! BEAT THE WILDCATS!!!