govols78

I was not making excuses for Silverdale. Alec is a great kid and does a very good job. He has thrown well all year. I was simply saying that from a coach's standpoint, it is difficult to put together a solid lineup when you don't know until the day of a game that several of your best players are not allowed to play. It is also hard as a new head coach to make great decisions all the time. Every coach struggles with over-thinking things. That's not a bad thing. It shows a strong desire to win. However, sometimes overthinking can get you in trouble. Every coach in America has done this at one point or another. I know that the staff at Grace will get their guys focused and ready to play, and this temporary setback will be long forgotten by the end of the district tournament.

CCS has a secured campus at the base of Lookout Mountain. Not exactly the same as a totally open campus in the middle of Highland Park.

It doesn't matter in this case. Temple has so many problems financially. That is why their coaches, academy and university, are out applying all over the south. They have no one coming in, and they will struggle in every sport next year. I just hope they can keep the doors open. Many times when you see multiple administrators making comments like Temple has made lately, it is a desperate cry for help. The reality is Temple's location is destroying their enrollment, and it won't get any better. That part of Chattanooga is not changing any time soon, and families who are willing to pay tuition for private school are not going to be willing to put their children in that part of town.

No, I think Grace's pitching is much deeper and more consistent than SBA. I think Grace is also a little better hitting team as they have played a much harder schedule than SBA so they have seen much better pitching and have still swung the bats pretty well. I think the game will be decided with the glove. Whichever team makes the plays will win. Grace has been pretty sound defensively whereas SBA has struggled at times. Over the last few years Grace has been significantly better than SBA and I don't expect that to change any time soon. Grace has good coaching, skilled players and lots of depth for the future.

SBA did have a lot coming back, but their starting catcher (who was their best player by far) quit a couple of days before the season started b/c he is transferring to McCallie. A short time before that their head coach was fired, and that situation caused some issues on the team (which is understandable). The current coaches were probably not prepared for what was going to be thrown at them and have struggled to find someone who can catch a high school game consistently. Just in the last couple of weeks though they have started putting it together. They beat an ok CSAS team last week, and last night had Copper beat but blew it in the last inning 9-8. Pitching consistency has been an issue as they still have a good number of young arms and no one on staff who really knows how to work with a pitcher. However, they have been hitting pretty well and could pull some upsets in the tournaments. It should be interesting to see what happens as it appears they are peaking at the right time.

Upon further review, DB did not play game 2 with Copper. It is Monday the 13th. Currently Copper only has 1 loss in the district. If Copper wins they will be first, Grace 2nd and DB 3rd. If DB wins there will be a 3 way tie for first and the tie-breaker will go into effect. If that happens, Grace will be 1st, DB 2nd and Copper 3rd based on runs allowed between the three schools. Kind of interesting how it will all fall out.

The other arm you all are forgetting is Matt Ruebusch who threw huge innings for Grace at the end of the year last season. He is still getting into shape after a very late start from basketball. When it comes tournament time Grace will have Rose, Long, Ruebusch and Davis to start games or relieve. They have much more pitching depth than any other team in the district. After Williams and Thedford DB has no one. That was evidenced by an unwillingness to pull Williams even though he was well over 100 pitches. No one else to go to so had to try and keep it close.

So now if Grace beats DB then there will be a 3 way tie for first. That means the first tie-breaker is runs allowed between all of them, then runs scored, then it may become runs allowed against the next highest seeded team (Silverdale).

Before you continue to talk about things you obviously aren't aware of, our district does not give a trophy for regular season winner, only the tournament. If your school chose to have a trophy made to commemorate the season that is fine, but that did not come from the district. That was your athletic director paying tribute to the team.

Actually, Grace and DB tied for first in the regular season last year and DB got the 1 seed in the tournament due to tie-break rules. We saw how much good having the 1 seed did them. Grace remained District Champs for the 4th year in a row!

Actually its still wide open. DB lost a game to Copper so both of those schools plus Grace have one loss. If Grace wins game two with DB and sweeps Copper (which usually happens) then Grace will win the district outright. If Grace wins the second game with DB and splits with Copper then there will be a 3 way tie for first and it may come down to coin toss. I would think that Grace, with a complete roster now, is still very much in the hunt.

Actually Grace of Chattanooga had a good turnout for all games. One thing I wonder about is how many schools were on Spring Break. I know 3 of the 5 Chattanooga schools were on Spring Break which defintely hurt the attendance from that area. Red Bank had absolutely no one at their first round game.

Even more importantly, Corey is an awesome kid with great character who loves his school. Corey plays hard for all the right reasons!

Just for the sake of reality check, Grace's coaching staff decided to play everyone who didn't get much playing time at the Hixson scrimmage day against Silverdale. You can take that for whatever it's worth. Not an excuse. Just stating the facts. 1-9 in the order I don't think it's much of a comparison, but Silverdale will be ready to play every game. Their coaches seem to be working very hard.

After playing Copper and Clarkrange I can tell you very honestly that this will be at least a 30 point win for Clarkrange. Copper has not faced anything like what the Buffalo can throw at them.

He was clocked at a couple of showcases this summer at 88. Last spring against Lookout Valley a college coach clocked him consistently at 85 and he touched 87. He has definitely gotten stronger and is throwing very well.

Again, Grace does not condone the actions of any individuals who hurt the name of the school. Probably not a good idea on the Silverdale players' parts to cheer against Grace. If they survive South Pitt. they will have to back that talk up on Tuesday, and so far that hasn't really worked out to well for them.

The three sat the first quarter for disciplinary reasons that were handled internally and are now a non-issue. As far as our video person, if he said anything inappropriate then we are very sorry. That is not the conduct or attitude that Grace wants to convey to the entire Chattanooga community. Also, let us not take away from the quality of play exhibited by Grace last night. These boys worked very hard. Do not make excuses for Temple. They played hard, but were outworked in every quarter. Say what you want about Grace's coaching, but I think last night you could see which coaching staff did a better job. Congratulation to Coach Matthiess and the Golden Eagles for a great win!

This is premature. Grace still has to beat Copper on Tuesday. If Copper wins there will be a three way tie for first.

As well as the visitor's book, and you would think Temple would notice that kind of thing.

It's not quite that simple. Teams pack their defenses down on him and refs don't call the fouls that happen when he gets hacked to death. As a result you have to hit shots to pull the defense away from him. Then it is much easier to feed the post. Until officials start calling the constant fouling that happens people will continue to say that Grace's guards are selfish. However, multiple officials have made comments this year like, "He's so big he should be able to handle that." It's still a foul.

200 students K-12 is normal?

No, he is now at McCallie. Is Temple going to be able to have a school next year? With their recent drop in enrollment it doesn't look good.