norespect

The goal at Giles County since 2007 has been to still be playing ball on Turkey Day, that being said this week could decide who the 4A state champion will be. Fulton's a perennial Knoxville powerhouse team with a ton of overall speed and natural athletic ability. Giles County plays a more cerebral game and relies more on schemes and good coaching and execution to win games. You don't hear much about any other schools other than Maryville and Alcoa if you're not from Knoxvegas but Fulton has been here before on many occasions, it'll be interesting to how they handle the trip to Pulaski to face GC. Bobcats need to stick to what they've been doing all year: Playing shutdown defense and being versatile offensively. If they can take advantage of that passing game against Fulton's secondary they have a good shot at keeping their offense on the field and the defense fresh. You don't see many high school squads that have 11 guys for offense and 11 for defense, not that conditioning has ever been an issue in Bobcat land but when you have 11 fresh guys ready to get after it when you swap sides of the ball it's hard to handle for 4 quarters. Let's go GC.

A wise man once said, "To be the man, you gotta beat the man." Right now, Giles County is the man. An overrated team doesn't outscore opponents 94-14 through two rounds of the playoffs, period. As for East Hamilton having the state's second best defense, that's about like being the world's tallest midget, you're still coming up short to numero uno. Would love to be in Pulaski for every playoff game but I have full confidence in this year's squad to go out there and take care of business. Nobody's going to hand over that gold ball, gotta take it piece by piece every week. Go out there and hit somebody in the teeth one time fellas.

I'm going to take a quote from my man the great Mr. Herman Edwards, "Great football teams win on the road and they win close games." Not being one to argue with that kind of logic I'd say that Giles County is a VERY good football team. They ended the season with some serious momentum making Page lay a goosegg and scoring 6 TD's. A high school football team with a dominating defense and a highly volatile offense can go very far if they stay hungry. Knowing this coaching staff I don't doubt they'll do all they can do to make sure they're ready to play on Friday. Now the players just have to take it upon themselves to cut out any and all distractions, drink a lot of water, and focus on taking care of business against the Mustangs. If this team performs up to their potential I have 0 doubt that they can go as far as they want to go, they just have to stay hungry and maintain that famous "sense of urgency". Go get em' GC.

Wins and losses speak for themselves. As long as GC keeps winning let all the haters talk till they're watching the Bobcats on TV from their couch come championship time. Can't really run down a program that has their way with teams week in and week out and expect anybody that knows anything at all to take it seriously. People can talk and get mad all day long but what matters at the end of it is who's sporting a new championship ring to school in the spring. The best thing GC can do is just keep the black and gold machine rolling and let all the haters and bad-mouthers fall by the wayside.

Everyone on coacht is now dumber just from this guy's presence alone. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

In the words of Ron Burgandy, "I mean that really got out of hand fast."

It's high school football time again in Tennessee! Good luck to the Bobcats as they host the boys from Fayetteville tonight at the Brick Yard. From what I've read and heard the only thing the Falcons have going for them is a big line and pretty efficient run game, which spells good news for the Giles County coaching staff. Anybody can eventually stop a running attack and stack the box if worse comes to worst but if you can't throw the ball well you're going to be in for a long night no matter who you play. The GC defense needs to concentrate on knowing their role for this game and practicing good technique, a smaller faster guy can beat a bigger guy if he plays smart. Don't think the Bobcats should have a problem putting points on the board with the talent they have coming back on offense. I'm sure OC and Co. would love to get after this Lincoln County bunch and get a W for the home opener. Good luck to both teams tonight and the fans making the trip on 64 from Fayetteville (watch out for deer). Coach Thompson always referred to Giles County as the "Bobkittens" so let's hope the boys from P-town can send a message in this first game.

Judging by what I've read and heard from my fellow P-Towners I highly doubt that OC and Co. will let this years crop of Bobcats be anything less than championship quality. Now that the culture change has officially happened in Pulaski there are big expectations for GCHS football every year and from experience I can tell you that if OC is there they will be the one of the best prepared teams in the state. It's not hard to buy into a mindset or a system when the results of success are there. Any young guys out there just need to trust that whatever OC and Co. have them doing is gonna pay off huge in the fall (I know the summer workouts are pretty brutal, I've been there). If you have a quarterback of Cobb's calibre in high school the options are really wide open offensively for what you can do, which is something other teams do NOT want OC to have. As long as whoever is running the ball can hold on to the ball and be a threat to keep the opposing linebackers honest, there's really no limit to what Cobb can do on a week to week basis. Defensively it's the same old story it's always been, if you can stop the run, you stand a good chance of stopping the offense. Like I said most high schools don't have the quality of quarterback to be a really legit passing threat, so if they can stop the run at the line of scrimmage, they should be fine. If they still run a 5-3 or 4-3 it shouldn't be much of a problem. Not sure about what GC has size wise, but I'm sure OC hasn't had a problem packing some muscle on during the offseason. The main things they need to focus on are to maintain a sense of urgency, not get complaicent, and stay hungry. If they can play with a purpose every Friday it's going to be really hard to get one over on Giles County. Couldn't be prouder of they work OC and Company are doing and am glad that GC has officially earned powerhouse status. Go Cats.

Been a while since I've had time to make a coacht post in a long while. I just now started catching up on GC football since UT has once again proven to be a gigantic disappointment (wait till next year). From what I can tell if Brainerd is only bringing 20-25 guys then those 25 had better be studs. OC always told us he only needed 11 good men so we'll see how that works out for those guys. I know we used to move around alot of people to keep everybody pretty fresh and only had a handful of guys playing both ways like Edgemon and Perez. You'll see late in the game how much an effect that has on Brainerds team down the stretch. From what I've read nobody pounds the ball with a Maryland I like GC does so I highly doubt they'll be able to stop it if they can establish the run early in the game. The Defense has apparently only had one or two major meltdowns all season and this team has been in the playoffs for the last however many years, that experience will help the Cats keep their heads on straight, they've been there before. ALOT. Their unbeaten this year at home and the Brickyard is a wild high school environment to come into if you're not used to playing on a big stage. It looks as though the boys from P-town have a major advantage over this team coming in. The Brickyard might as well have a sign above the gates saying, "Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here". Looking forward to seeing how this game turns out later tonight. I know OC and his staff will have the Bobcats as prepared as humanly possible. Beddingfield is mean with stats and graphs. Go GC!

WOW! What else can you say but what an awesome game. I've played high school football for 4 years and watched alot before that and I have to say that last night's game was one of the most impressive (and slightly terrifying from the GC end) that I have seen in a LONG time. I expectedthe Bobcat defense to figure out that stretch play and shut it down pretty quickly but Greenville moved the ball with that play all night. Not to point any fingers but a certain defensive end whose number is not 90 dipped his head in one too many times when he should have stayed home and forced it out wide, but that's beside the point, the ends justify the means. Defense overall stepped up and made plays when they had to and I couldn't be happier with how Kimbrough played the safety position, even though he was leveled by his own quarteback on the last pick What can you say about the GC offense? When you get in a big game like that, the other team is going to win battles, they're going to make plays and that's part of the game. But they didn't self destruct, they stayed calm and focused and made big plays when they had to. Zach Bailey had some face melting catches and Tobias' one handed grab on the tip ball just about gave me a heart attack but they pulled it out. I'm as proud as I can be for both the players and coaches of the Bobcat program, it's been a long time coming for these OC and Coach Beddingfield and I was just as excited for them as I was for the players. I think I may have even seen OC smile once or twice..or maybe that was my imagination playing tricks on me. Greenville has absolutely nothing to be ashamed of, that is one good football team and everybody in that stadium and those who watched at home know that for a fact. The game came down to big plays and GC just made one more than the devils did pure and simple. I think the fans players and coaches should have nothing but respect for those guys and rightly so. Congrats to the Bobcats on capping off an amazing season that I think the folks in Giles County can relish in for a long time. But it's time to start rebuilding and get back to work for next year after this week.

Alcoa also apparently has the stovepipe I in its arsenal...interesting, seems to work for them anyway No but seriously it's a GREAT formation to have down there in short yardage situations with that big extra back (or speedy lineman) back there to throw some serious leads and blocks on those second level guys and i'm glad OC has that as a staple in his many offensive setups. Maybe OC and Coach Rankin here in east Tennessee have been collaborating

Good on you OC! He's always been really gracious and as humble as he can be when it comes to talking to the media and I'm sure now it's no different. If OC didn't think his team was going to win he wouldn't put them on the bus, and that's how it should be. Now granted I too think that the Cats came out of a much easier side of the bracket and you have to give Greenville their due on beating Red Bank when nobody but the Greenville fans thought they could win. BUT, that being said. That's the past, Saturday is the future. It would be really easy for a team to get content with just making it this far, let's hope it's not the case for either one of these teams. I'm driving down from Rocky Top, I want to see a good old fashioned knock down drag-out between two good teams (hoping that Giles County can come out on top of course) As for balance, I don't know much about Greenville, I can't pretend to know what kind of offense they run or who their main threats are. But I can tell you this, this team obviously has some cajones if they sacked up and beat a very good Red Bank team in a close game. It's not coincidence or luck at this point in the game. I have a very hard time believing after seeing Giles County play and utterly destroy 5A Shelbyville that their offense can be shut down. It's nigh unto impossible unless you can fit another 5 men on the field without the ref looking. It's the same song sung by anybody who knows GC football, you take one thing away, and it opens up another. I've never seen a high school team that can just exploit a weakness in a defense like Giles County can, it's unreal. The wide outs may not be tall but it's insane how athletic these guys are. Then of course you have Josh "Arms" Smith and Tobias Houston, thunder and more thunder. You're hard pressed to find a more yoked up kid that can carry the mail and go into tackles as hard as he can. Tobias i think has a little more agility, little more break away speed than the double deuce but he can still lower that pad and run somebody over. Then if you can get past that gauntlet, there's Mr. Football looking back at you, trying to make the decision to throw to the sensation Zach Bailey or run for a first down. SOLID. Defensive numbers speak for themselves, held liberty tech to 14 points, and have outscored their opponents almost 3:1 in the post season. I'll be there repping my Alex Ballentine throwback hoodie

I can only imagine the drastic turn of events that will follow Bo Wallace winning Mr. Football on this thread. I said earlier in the year if Bo didn't win it then they should stop giving the award out and in all likelihood he probably clinched it with the game against Liberty Tech last week. Can't be content with just that though, still got to win the big one. I don't doubt though that his name will be up there with some of the greats that have come out of this area like Travis Gentry and even Mr. SAY I WON'T himself Knox Vanderpool, he's already gone further into the playoffs than any other qb previous and has better numbers. Hopefully UT and Lane Kiffin will grab him up before he gets picked up by another SEC team and used against them Congrats to Bo and the whole Giles County program, he couldn't have put up the numbers he has unless he has a good line to block for him and good recievers to throw to so it speaks volumes to the talent of the team around him. Let's go GC

COOKEVILLE BOUND!!! MAN what a great time to be a Giles County Bobcat! I know I personally will relish in some serious smack talk in Knoxville for the next week and probably the rest of the year Greenville may have some Livingston Academy in them from '07 maybe? Lost 3 games in the regular season, comin' in HOT in the post season. Regardless though, I believe both teams will get all they want in Cookeville this weekend. The key to this one (as in any game at this level) is DEFENSE!!!The old adage is as true today as it was when the wise man first said it: Offense wins games, DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS!!! The team with the most cohesive defense that makes the fewest mistakes will win, period. From what I read, Greenville wants to run BJ Spradin at you early and often. If GC's defense can step up and play up to their potential, they are going to put the Devils into a spot where they do not want to be. That's one thing OC is well above average at, finding your bread and butter and taking it away from you. Don't let the Devil's record fool you kids, they've put up some pretty high octane numbers over their season, including the playoffs when they put up 42 on their first round opponents. The best thing GC has going for them is senior leadership. These kids have been playing together a LONG time and now it's the culmination of all that hard work. Greenville may have a good offense, but GC can not only score, but stop you from scoring. Can't lose if you don't score point right? Having basically seperated players playing O and D for Giles County is going to pay some massive dividends for them in the second half of this football game. If Bo, Tobus (Tobias Houston), Arms (Josh Smith), and little Bailey can all step up and HANG ON TO THE FOOTBALL (jeez guys turnovers man, turnovers) with a defense that can keep them on the field, I think these Pulaski boys can make history saturday night. I promised I'd be there and I would. I'll be making the drive from Knoxvegas to Cookeville this Saturday, wouldn't miss it for the world. Man I'm proud of these guys, and have been talking excessive amounts of smack to some guys from Region 5 3A (Old School), plus, OC and his coaching staff deserve this just as much as the players. These guys work so hard to get their kids ready to play on Friday nights and hardly anybody gets to see the work, just the results, W's. Let's go GC! Cookeville bound!! Do work boys

What a great atmosphere for High School football..Liberty Tech AT The Brickyard, if you can't get up for that you don't have a pulse. Haven't heard much about Liberty Tech but that they have a good offense. I'm sure GC will put that name to the test this Friday. At this point in the game you're not going to run into a mediocre team by any means so I'm sure it will be a great match up to be witness to. Maybe Neely can pull out some of the old mob magic to work for GC at home Love to be able to come home for this one but we'll be in the Lone Star state, regardless if GC can push on in the fashion they have I will be in attendance at the next one no excuses. Not to shamelessly self promote but I think a good hard luck at the General's number 1 game maxim might be beneficial (sure hasn't helped UT this year): THE TEAM THAT MAKES THE FEWEST MISTAKES WINS. Self explanatory. In this type of game it will all come down to who will put the other one out of their comfort zone and make the big mistake that scores the other team points, as with any match up between 2 good teams. I'm sure OC is doing his best to keep his group calm and focused through all this hysteria this week. This is the point in the season when the real maturity of a team shows through, the cats have never been in this scenario before but the seniors have been in the playoffs every year so need to take charge in leading this team into arguably the school's biggest game, AT HOME. Good luck boys, everybody is pulling for you