KevB1990

I was wondering what Siegel's approximate enrollment was? I'm tinkering with drawing up 3A to be a little more sensible than having an A and B grouping. Thank the Lord that 4-3A isn't going that way again, but what about 8-3A? [Edited by KevB1990 on 9-20-02 11:17A]

Maryville isn't playing Heritage this week, so you really shouldn't make crazy predictions like 38-14 or 42-10 in favor of Maryville. I wouldn't get too confident. And remember, I may write for the paper in Mo-town, but I'm neutral. I think it's too close to call.

I didn't say that Boyd Buchanan's region is the toughest, I said some people say it is. I am niether a Boyd or Ezell fan, which I don't dislike them either, but they play on the 27th and it should be a great ball game. Whoever wins that game will be the overall best team in 1A as of mid-season. I think overall, Cloudland has the best chance to make it though the end. Granted they have a easier schedule than most, but they have to travel to Powell Valley who has speed, strength, and one of the better defense's in 1A. I know this from seeing them play Knox Central in camp. Knox Central is a top 5 4A team and Powell Valley only allowed 12 yards in a 15 play scrimmage. Powell Valley has a little extra motivation for this year. They'd like to take a trophy to their new home in 2003. They will combine with Forge Ridge (who doesn't play football) to form Cumberland Gap and they will move from 1A to 2A. They have a terrific passing attack and should be no worse than 6-1 when they play Cloudland at Speedwell. That is if Claiborne County can beat them next Thursday. Oh yeah. CoachT, that game between Powell Valley and Claiborne County has been moved to September 26. I found that out when I interviewed Coach Harrison last night. [Edited by KevB1990 on 9-19-02 10:51P]

Look for Rutledge to be even better this year. They won 25 games last year and only graduated two. The sophomores that are coming up will be a big boost. I'll even go out in a limb and say that they will finally get a win over Unicoi County in Regional play.

Chris Slay is a good player, but a manchild? Nope. Not unless he grew six inches and put on 50 pounds this summer. Based on what I saw from him last year, he couldn't be mistaken for a manchild.

Rain wasn't the problem last year for most of your offense. We beat you plain and simple, with good old fashioned defense (remember Colton Baker?) and a terrific offense. But all I heard was you guys over there in Mo-West talking about rain and if it hadn't been raining you all would have won. Get real! It's football, plain and simple. Rain or no rain you gotta bring your 'A' game. And I expect that this Friday and it should be a good game. By the way, I had the impression Charles Rucker was kind of like Jay Walker. I know Chris Davis is the power back. So, you tellin' me, he's a speed guy but he just runs north-and-south and doesn't cut much at all? Wow. Looks like our defense won't have much of a problem stopping him then. Philster, I think I'm still logged in at work and Barry is posting under my name. I'm neutral in this arguement.

Just a little correction here, and everyone knows I'm not a D-B apologist. The Indians do not have any championships in the 'Modern' era (1969-present) or when the state went from all comers to three classes. They do have state titles in the 40s and 50s. I'm sure some D-B historian knows exactly when and who played on those teams position by position. There D-B sheep! I didn't bash you this time! [Edited by KevB1990 on 9-19-02 9:25P]

Where's everyone going now? Midway? Rockwood? Harriman? Just curious. BTW, I spoke with coach Hammer about next year's schedule and we'll be playing Rockwood a home and home for the next two seasons. Don't know how often you go to Rockwood (if ever), but I think you'll be more impressed with next year's Pioneers than this year's.

Well Fredrick #42 is good but the best on the defense? I think #1, #49, and #98 would beg to differ.

Barry Campbell is da man! Cuz he has the privilege of working with me.

Surpringly swamp, Johnson County made the playoffs last year. (Tells you how weak 1-4A is after Tennessee High and Elizabethton). They were promptly shelled by West. North is making things hard. One alternative is if TSSAA changes the enrollment figures to make 3A have a higher limit, Volunteer is right on the lower end of 4A and would come back down. I don't know if 1,050 is a good place to cut off for 3A though. Volunteer, North, Johnson County, Unicoi then would make it rougher. When 1-3A had all four, it was murder on everyone...especially Seymour and G-P. There's just not a short route to Mountain City. The best alternative is to have the Sullivan County school board redraw their lines so North has more students and they can play up there in 1-4A. But if I saw it right, North has only 30 more students than Rutledge does which puts the in the top 1/3 of 3A. D-B has plenty, maybe the city can redraw the lines a little and send about 250 to Bloomingdale. Speaking of enrollments...Carter's enrollment drops them under the cutoff for 3A and Anderson County's is back above the 4A mark...think anybody has addressed this in Strawberry Plains? [Edited by KevB1990 on 9-18-02 9:58P]

Methinks TSSAA needs to reposition a lot of teams...G-P is leaving 1-3A and nobody is coming in. I'd like to see Unicoi come back down, but they are sacrificing playoff opportunities for lower travel expenses. Same thing with Johnson County. Any suggestions on how to fix it? Anyone? I thought Johnson Co. had a 4A enrollment, but I knew that Unicoi played up. I personally like the 16-dist format, but with the current classification system that would lead to really small districts. Grundy Co. could do us all (including themselves) a favor by playing up to 4A. Johnson County has 2A enrollment, they're up two classes.

I'm still waiting for reality to kick in with the J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets! There is an excellent chance for Cumberland County to be 8-0 when they play McMinn County. Can the Raiders stop them?

It's not hard to break a 70-yarder against either Campbell County or East. Still, Milligan is a very good athlete. Halls will show us how good Powell is.

Methinks TSSAA needs to reposition a lot of teams...G-P is leaving 1-3A and nobody is coming in. I'd like to see Unicoi come back down, but they are sacrificing playoff opportunities for lower travel expenses. Same thing with Johnson County. Any suggestions on how to fix it? Anyone?

Personally, I love the mountains. I wouldn't give a nickel to live in Nashville, Jackson, Memphis or Murfreesboro.

No disrespect to Clinton, but I'd blow them off too for a chance to see LeBron James in action.

Nathan Potter, Rutledge

Well, the 6th place (region, not state) finish last year probably has a lot do with that. Kingston has to prove they can do it. Teams aren't just going to roll over for them. I'm not sold on Fulton, but AE is the defending state champ, and AC looks pretty strong. Fulton looked pretty impressive against Seymour, although it's tough to tell sometimes which Seymour team will show up. I mean, Seymour played Sevier County close and then popped Cocke County (who got rolled by Morristown West the next week). After that, they spanked Union County, but Union's only win is a 63-6 win over lowly Cosby. Anderson County will do one of two things against Fulton: expose them or get rolled by them.

Like I said previously, the 'Pioneer' mascot isn't exclusive to Warren County. Rutledge, David Crockett, East Ridge and Gibson County are also the Pioneers. Be more specific, you could give someone a heart attack.

I was wondering how Cloudland's Mark Byrd didn't get the 1A POW. 245 yards on 21 carries and two scores in a win over 4A Cherokee. Oh yeah, he's the QB! It boils down to who nominates...plain and simple. So area bias carries in most cases. [Edited by KevB1990 on 9-16-02 11:43P]

Oy vey! Any takers on the spread. I'll be surprised if it's closer than 30.

Had to give you a good mark for the "Don't hate him" line man. That was sweet.

Actually the year Clinton broke the state 3-pt record in a single game was what you are talking about. It was set at Campbell County and it just sort of happened. No one was trying to break a record. That was the same year Clinton went to the state and got beat by Pearl Cohn. PC had Big John Henderson, Ron Slay, and other D-1 players that year. Incidently, the 3-pt record is now held by a team from Memphis at 24 and all the shots were made by a single player. What is the name of the team and player ? The kid's name was Taurean (sp?) Moy. I think he scored 87 in that game...unbelievable.

You wanna put cash on that? Maryville's 2nd string will not get in the game and if Maryville wins, it won't be by 17-24 points. Remember, I'm not a West fan. This is pure unbiased opinion here.