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Lighthouse did in fact request DivII A 2 years ago but were denied by the TSSAA because their application was late. This is a real shame because they are a tiny school and would struggle with most Public 1A schools and yet find themselves in the same Region as Ezell, DCA, CPA, FRA etc. I really wish the TSSAA had shown a little more flexibility at that point. As to 481's comments on CPA, speaking as someone who is intimately involved with the school I am unsure where your hostility comes from. The school has it's share of problems as you would expect but there is nothing that would want us to instill in our kids a "Winning is Everything at all costs" attitude. I am not isolating CPA out in this regard because I know other faculties and teachers who have the same values.

collarbone, I think running plays over and over is part of the point of a scrimmage as you want to get some basics become second nature before the regular season and to make adjustments. I agree there was some rustiness on both teams. I also suspect coaches are usually not going to give their whole playbook away for scrimmages. The 99 and 2000 CPA teams were strong, however as a point in history, the 2000 championship team got beat by MBA by several TD's in the scimmage 2 years ago (Ingle Martin era)

Rollredroll, I would love to see BA-CPA as part of the regular season. We used to have BGA as part of our schedule a couple of season ago along with Knoxville-Webb. Sadly with so many teams in Region 5 of 1A, there is not a lot of opportunity to play outside 1A.

I just returned home after 4 Quarters, the MBA 2nd String scored a TD and as far as I remember there were no scores in the 4Q when the 1st strings were back. The #4 for CPA is Clinton Corder and the QB is Travis Sikes a Sophomore, both played well as did Eric Holt #3 the Running Back. The MBA QB looked real good and is a great Scrambling QB when required and usually gets his target or a great individual run. When I left it looked as if there was still some play (5th Quarter?) however the refs had left. I always enjoy this scrimmage even though MBA is often more than we can handle with their depth that a 1A school can't match. It is however a great preparation and I hope MBA get something out of it also. As Rollredroll points out, the season looks promising for both teams.

First of all let me state that I think Coach Smith has done an outstanding job at Ezell. However, to put it in perpective, neither CPA nor Ezell have built what I would call "Football Dynasties" when compared to the BA's, MBA's, BGA's etc as Rollredroll points out in his post. We could also include trousdale and South Pitt from the 1A ranks. Also over the last 3 seasons (Ezell is 29-8, CPA is 36-4) so my earlier post about the CPA vs Ezell game being led by 2 good coaches still stands.

The Page QB last year was Jared Elliot and he was indeed a Sophomore. I am sure he will mature a lot more in his Junior and Senior Years and will be a strong assett to the Squad.

This week 2 game between Ezell and CPA will be a great game. Two good coaches and two strong teams. If I remember correctly, I believe it is to be televised also.

This would mean a mess up in the schedules for 5-1A as not everyone in that Region has Clarksville on their schedule so some teams would have more Region games than others.

Way too much time on CoachT if: - You think Meanjean from Fairview should be the next NFL Commissioner. - You put more miles on your car on Friday nights than you do for the family vacation. - You can provide all the pros and cons of the public/private debate but can't remember your anniversary.

CPA did not even have a football squad 10 years ago and has built up a good program that has been competitive for 3-4 years now.

scout, You are absolutely correct, CPA did play McCallie, MBA, Oakland and Beech in pre-season last year. In fact, McCallie used to be the opening game of the regular season in the 98 and 99 seasons.

I would like to add a couple of other possibilities to supplement Chakra's list. a) Coaching. The privates have a lot more flexibility in attracting the best coaches and keeping them. There is no way that Ezell or CPA would have won state in 2000 and 2001 without Dave Pack and Coach Smith. Both of these people can take fairly good athletes and make them great. USJ have a good program because of Marley and of course on the Public side, Satterfield made Trousdale a dynasty in the 90's. As we have seen, the money is not always the deciding factor on whether a coach stays, we know Dave Pack had a great offer from MBA and decided to stay, I'm sure Satterfiled could also find a great job if one day he decides to leave Hartsville. At most Privates, competitive sports are strongly encouraged (By both parents and teachers) for all students even for those who have giftings more in the academic area. It would be very rare for a Private School with more than 200 High School students to have trouble in pulling together a squad in any sport. c) Practice Time: Despite what most anti private people think, most of the kids live just a few minutes away from the school so the commitment to attend practice is a lot easier than some kids who live in a very rural environment where they may have to travel 20 or more miles to get home. I would not put fan support as a public/private debate. I have seen great levels of support on both sides. In fact I think the Public may have a slight edge, Collinwood and Hartsville are buzzing with excitement on Friday nights where the whole town shows up.

silverpie, I think the 1.5 or 2 multiplier is probably the easiest solution to implement though I'm sure some folks will still find this unacceptable. Is anyone aware if the public/private debate rages in states who use this method like Georgia? If not, the TSSAA should seriously look at it.