MELROSE VS MARYVILLE

[MLREB]

Stan Trott.......... here is what you said in a previous thread....

 

"If Maryville makes Melrose punt the ball more than 2-3 times, that will be an accomplishment.

 

How did anyone stop Cooper last year? Has anyone stopped him this year?

 

I believe he is the best high school running back I have ever seen. I hope Melrose tries to beat Maryville with Cooper first, and uses the pass as the second choice.

 

I can't believe what I saw Cooper do last night. If Maryville can stop him, they deserve to be state champs."

 

 

Maryville has been stopping great backs for many years, ask Gerald Riggs about his 90 yards against Maryville. Dustin Lindsay had about 100 yards this year but 60 of thise came late when the game was over. Cooper ran the ball 17 times for 111 yards but was shut out in the 2nd half.

 

I agree that coach Flowers didn't give him the ball to Cooper enough the first half. I actually questioned that at half time but Maryville virtually shut him out the second half.

 

Cooper is a great back and better than Dustin Lindsay IMO. Melrose did have many many more atheltes than Maryville but as is usually the case Maryville is a better team.

 

Watching the Melrose's punter in pre-game I knew they were in trouble when the Maryville defense started shutting them down. I guess you didn't believe what the Maryville folks were saying about our defense. One great back would never beat this team. Maybe coach Flowers realized this.

 

If the Maryville coaches understand anything better than most it is football is a team game. The best TEAM won Saturday.

[mhs]

Well thanks for the compliments Stan. I guess. But it could appear you felt it unlikely we stood a chance against Cooper and company and then when we won rather than admit it you choose to blame it on the coach. I think he had 17 carries for 111 yards and 60 of those came on two carries. If he was all you built him up to be (and i am not saying he isn't) seems to me he should have taken it to the house at least once unless we were doing something right. But you gave our defense some credit in your post so I will give you credit there. Like MLReb said any team will have a difficult time beating Maryville with one back regardless of how good he is. He was stopped for little or no gain many many times. It is also worth mentioning that on Melrose's drive for the field goal to start the second half they did most of their damage with the passing game. They went back to the run once they got it inside the ten and we held them to the field goal. He had his chances. Once it got to 16-3 and worse Flowers did not have much of a choice. If he got outcoached by Quarles he is not the first. But we hear it all the time, "if this coach was still there you would have lost" "if you had to play this team later in the year they would beat you". Another championship and another round of "what if". You are entitled to your opinion though, and whehter or not I agree with it I respect it. We were keying on Cooper as any team would. Maybe the coach was trying to take what he felt we were giving him. I just hate to see a coach get a team to the big game and then lose and have it all set in his lap. And I hate to tell you but you did walk all over your own rule in that regard.

Edited December 4, 2005 by mhs

[bmart]

There is so much I would like to say and wish I could say it the way rebron and mhs says it. I look on the board and there are the same old sorry song, wait till 5A and MHS TRICKED them and ect. ect. ect....

 

Don't know how how long this type of dominance can last but make no mistake there has never been a more dominate run in high school football in Tennessee than Maryville' last 8 years. The program is at a level where if the senior class does not win a state championship they are looked upon by some as failures. That is not the case.

 

Maryville is the stick by which all others are mesured by.

 

Congratz to the Team!

 

Yep, Maryville is and has been a great and dominate team over the last 8 years. I believe it is time for them to make the move to 5A and continue there dominance

at that level. It would only serve to allow their players more exposure to d1 schools.

[BDURHAM]

The game wasn't lost on game day or the week of the game.

 

Melrose should have built a running game around Cooper that would have been humming in the playoffs. I believe Melrose's line was capable of executing the right system.

 

No one is taking anything away from Maryville. Melrose did not go to their strength.

 

The game is over. Maryville won. Time to move on.

 

Well thanks for the compliments Stan. I guess. But it could appear you felt it unlikely we stood a chance against Cooper and company and then when we won rather than admit it you choose to blame it on the coach. I think he had 17 carries for 111 yards and 60 of those came on two carries. If he was all you built him up to be (and i am not saying he isn't) seems to me he should have taken it to the house at least once unless we were doing something right. But you gave our defense some credit in your post so I will give you credit there. Like MLReb said any team will have a difficult time beating Maryville with one back regardless of how good he is. He was stopped for little or no gain many many times. It is also worth mentioning that on Melrose's drive for the field goal to start the second half they did most of their damage with the passing game. They went back to the run once they got it inside the ten and we held them to the field goal. He had his chances. Once it got to 16-3 and worse Flowers did not have much of a choice. If he got outcoached by Quarles he is not the first. But we hear it all the time, "if this coach was still there you would have lost" "if you had to play this team later in the year they would beat you". Another championship and another round of "what if". You are entitled to your opinion though, and whehter or not I agree with it I respect it. We were keying on Cooper as any team would. Maybe the coach was trying to take what he felt we were giving him. I just hate to see a coach get a team to the big game and then lose and have it all set in his lap. And I hate to tell you but you did walk all over your own rule in that regard.

[wingman10]

I ownder the same thing about Cooper. He was clearly the best player on the field.

[mhs]

Hey no offense taken honestly and I know you gave Maryville credit. I am curious though just because of my interest in football. Are you talking about an entire new offensive system? I mean Cooper went over the 2,000 yard mark in the game yesterday so he was obviously a big part of their offense during the season. Just curious as to what you meant. I was surprised they did not get him involved in the passing game more. They tried a middle screen or two but that was about it and I would have thought they would want the ball in his hands as much as possible.

[BDURHAM]

If my memory is correct, Cooper only averaged 18 carries a game. Melrose

supporters told me that the new coach changed qbs, and made passing

a priority. If Cooper was on my team, I would center the offense around

him. The speed and strength of Melrose was not utilized to its full potential

by their offensive system.

 

Melrose was able to win on sheer talent only twice this season. Some say they lost to Christian Brothers because their new system was not fully developed.

 

Some Melrose fans think the wrong system was used. I think if the emphasis had been on Cooper from day one, Melrose could have won the championship. Their defense is great. But they were on the field too long, and asked to do too much.

 

Did Tennessee's great defense win every game by themselves this year? No. Did their offense underperform? Was it the players fault?

 

Cooper deserved a better end to his high school career.

 

Hey no offense taken honestly and I know you gave Maryville credit. I am curious though just because of my interest in football. Are you talking about an entire new offensive system? I mean Cooper went over the 2,000 yard mark in the game yesterday so he was obviously a big part of their offense during the season. Just curious as to what you meant. I was surprised they did not get him involved in the passing game more. They tried a middle screen or two but that was about it and I would have thought they would want the ball in his hands as much as possible.

Edited December 5, 2005 by StanTrott

[TraderB]

.... And to Melrose, you have my total respect. You had it after last year. There was a lot said on the other thread leading up to the game smack and otherwise and I did not say a lot, although I posted just one last night regarding their speed and our lack thereof. Michael Carter is unbelievable. There was something on another thread about his being left off of an all star team in the Memphis area. That is insane. When I saw how quick he was last year and then heard how big he was I was amazed! Cooper is everything advertised and in my opinion has a lot of class. Fullilove is an awesome player as well. 175 pounds and brings the wood of a 250 pounder. Beating a team like this for the championship is an accomplishment because you know you have earned it.

 

Thank you Maryville players and coaches for all the hard work. ... No one person does anything it is a total team effort. We did what we had to do to win. Call them trick plays whatever. When you are at that level of competition against a dominant team you try to do things that makes their dominance work against them and that is what we did. There can only be one winner but Melrose was one of only two teams there the past two years. 27-3 and two State runnerups is something that hopefully you can be proud of when the disappointment begins to wane. You have a very good team and again, for what it is worth, my total respect.

mhs,

 

That's one classy post.

 

As a fan of Memphis HS football (Melrose included, of course), I have much respect and admiration for your Maryville Rebel program. Your football team is the epitome of teamwork, discipline and preperation. You overcame the odds this year, and beat Melrose fair and square. You are deserving Champions once more.

 

I agree, Melrose has nothing to be ashamed of. They've accomplished a lot, these past 2-3 years. They represented the big 'OM' (Orange Mound) community and Memphis, TN well. They'll be back on top, one day. Unfortunately, yesterday--it was just not meant to be.

 

To all you Maryville Rebel fans, I enjoyed exchanging viewpoints and discussing the merits of the game...I look forward to Melrose vs Maryville, round 3.

 

Have a safe and joyous Holiday season.

[TraderB]

It is difficult for me to get a grip on this game.

If what I write is considered coach-bashing,

then I'm violating one of my own rules. I

have to get this off my chest....

 

Quarles clearly out-coached Flowers. What I'm

trying to figure out is how much the Maryville

players out-played the Melrose players, and how

much of the blame lies with Flowers.

 

In my opinion, the best athlete in the Championship

games went virtually unnoticed this weekend. And

I cannot blame the players or the player for what

transpired on the field. Did the Maryville defense

do a great job? Without question, the answer is

absolutely yes. I admire what the Maryville

defensive players did on the field. They amazed me.

 

What I cannot comprehend is how the ball was not

placed more often in Craig Cooper's hands. He was

the best athlete in the game. He was not given the

opportunity to win the game for his team.

 

To answer RebelRon's question, I believe the Melrose

fans are upset with how Flowers called and has called

the games. He has been pass happy and declared that

they had to pass the ball. Well, he saw his philosophy

fail his players in the championship game. Cooper runs

for six yards, then Flowers call pass plays on 2nd and 3rd

downs. Cooper was never given the chance to consistently

move the chains. Why?

 

If Coach Ingram had been the head coach again this year,

the outcome would have been different. I have to believe

that Melrose would have won the game. Give Cooper the

ball, and he will win the game. I know Cooper was in the

game last year, but this year’s team was better. Forget the

score – it is not a true reflection of what this Melrose team

is capable of doing in a football game.

 

Flowers' insane play-calling not only removed Cooper from

the equation, but Flowers kept putting his defense in

impossible situations. Best example is going for it on 4th

down toward the end of the first half. Bad play-calling

became downright moronic!

 

Ball control and field position mean something. Flowers

disregarded some basic fundamentals all season, and his

players paid the price for his insanity during the championship

game.

 

Flowers is the head coach and makes the calls. I would like to

know how he explained his tirade and ripping off Wilson's helmet

during the Hillsboro game. His team made up for a lot of Flowers'

mistakes during the season and playoffs, but reality caught up to

Flowers in the championship game.

 

I heard that one of Maryville's top offensive lineman was tossed

off the team the week of the championship game. How Maryville

won is a mystery to me. They have great players and coaches,

and you have to give them credit. Their winning streak is awesome.

 

But no one can convince me that Melrose was not the best team in

Murfreesboro this past weekend. The Melrose players deserved a

better outcome.

 

I hope to see Cooper playing college and professional football down

the road. I wish him and the Melrose team all the best.

StanTrott,

 

You and I seem to share similar opinions about Melrose's offensive strategy and, correspondingly, its coaching staff getting outcoached.

 

I watched Melrose play numerous games this year. One consistent theme that I noticed is Melrose's tendency to suddenly begin passing the ball, despite the other team's inability to stop Cooper and the running game.

 

No, I'm not saying that Maryville couldn't stop Cooper (they did a great job on him); I'm saying that Cooper was not given enough touches, on offense. This came as no surprise to me, as this was the case (inexplicably) all year long. A perfect example of this was vs. Henry County: Melrose drove the ball some 70 + yards on its first posession, via Cooper and the running game. Henry County simply could not stop him....Once Melrose got to HC's 20-30 yd line, Coach Flowers suddenly came out passing on 1st down (incompletion, of course)...after a penalty and another incompletion, etc....drive stalled. No points.

 

My theory is this: Until the other team proves that it can stop whatever you're doing, then continue doing it. Drop the ego. Forget a pre-game plan. Stick to what's working. Period.

 

Evidently, Melrose's coaching staff subscribes to a different theory.

 

When playing a well-coached, disciplined team like Maryville, opponents must take full advantage of its own strengths. Failure to do so will usually lead to underperformance and yield unfavorable results.

 

To make a long-story short, Maryville beat Melrose fair and square, yesterday. That job was made much easier, however, by Melrose's coaching staff: Cooper was severly underutilized, the play-calling dubious and overall preparedness inadequate.

 

Right or wrong, I suspect there's gonna' be a much louder outcry from the Orange Mound community (Melrose), to get rid of Coach Flowers....Stay tuned.

[RedReb]

If my memory is correct, Cooper only averaged 18 carries a game. Melrose

supporters told me that the new coach changed qbs, and made passing

a priority. If Cooper was on my team, I would center the offense around

him. The speed and strength of Melrose was not utilized to its full potential

by their offensive system.

 

Melrose was able to win on sheer talent only twice this season. Some say they lost to Christian Brothers because their new system was not fully developed.

 

Some Melrose fans think the wrong system was used. I think if the emphasis had been on Cooper from day one, Melrose could have won the championship. Their defense is great. But they were on the field too long, and asked to do too much.

 

Did Tennessee's great defense win every game by themselves this year? No. Did their offense underperform? Was it the players fault?

 

Cooper deserved a better end to his high school career.

 

Stan,

 

Cooper was the center of Melrose's offense. He gained over 2000 yards.

Melrose lost to Christian Brothers because they stacked the box and were able to shut down the run, and Melrose had no passing game at that time.

 

Show me any situation where all the fans are happy with a coach's decisions.

I have had sons on the Maryville team since 1999 and have seen some very good backs play against us. Not one team has been successful, not even remotely, using the kind of scheme that you wished coach Flowers had used. Tim Gray QB with Hillsboro/2001 came closer than any, and that includes the best back that I have seen in my time watching Maryville football as an insider, so to speak...Daniel Bullock/Hixson 2000 now in the pros with someone, I think.

 

Believe it or not, we see teams with speed during the season..maybe not Melrose but teams with good speed...Alcoa, Central come to mind. Maryville is next to impossible to run wide on with any success. Coach Flower in one of his post game comments said as much. Maryville players may not be track stars but they play great position and they do a superb job of flying to the ball. If a back is looking for cut back lanes or trys to bounce out side...the persuit is there. Running inside is no picnic either...Meet Mr. Tucker and Mr. Smith, and Mr. Jackson, and ETC.

 

Melrose is a good team with a lot of weapons. How do you fault a coach for trying to make use of them. At the end of the day.... Players have to make plays in big games, and Melrose had some opportunities....Melrose had turnover opportunities..one that could have resulted in a TD. If one of his players had taken a pass for a TD he would have looked like a genius, they certainly have that ability.

 

I think you should give the players on both sides alot more credit for the game they played. As much respect and love that I have for the Maryville coaching staff, I am sure that they have never called a perfect game, or had a perfect game plan. They do not block, or tackle...our players do.

 

Thats why the playoffs are the only way to determine a champion. Players decide the game on the field. Maybe Melrose was the better team in some respects, or on paper or by count of players that run 4.5s etc. BUT MARYVILLE did the best job of keeping Melrose from scoring and found enough offense to score more points.

 

Maryville was the better team yesterday. Our players make the difference with the help of our coaches.

 

And by the way weren't you a Hillsboro supporter when we played them? And another thing if you are comparing UT's coaching staff to Melrose's you are giving UT way to much credit

 

Congratulations to Both Teams for a great season.....Seniors way to go.

Edited December 5, 2005 by RedReb

[Yamba]

I really loved the Melrose band. They were small, but played loud! Their bass drummists were excellent, and the brass section was good too. Just thought I'd throw that out there to any Melrose band people who may be reading.

[KFLfootball]

Stan,

 

Cooper was the center of Melrose's offense. He gained over 2000 yards.

Melrose lost to Christian Brothers because they stacked the box and were able to shut down the run, and Melrose had no passing game at that time.

 

Show me any situation where all the fans are happy with a coach's decisions.

I have had sons on the Maryvilles's team since 1999 and have seen some very good backs play against us. Not one team has been successful, not even remotely, using the kind of scheme that you wished coach Flowers had used. Tim Gray QB with Hillsboro/2001 came closer than any, and that includes the best back that I have seen in my time watching Maryville football as an insider, so to speak...Daniel Bullock/Hixson 2000 now in the pros with someone, I think.

 

Believe it or not, we see teams with speed during the season..maybe not Melrose but teams with good speed...Alcoa, Central come to mind. Maryville is next to impossible to run wide on with any success. Coach Flower in one of his post game comments said as much. Maryville players may not be track stars but they play great position and they do a superb job of flying to the ball. If a back is looking for cut back lanes or trys to bounce out side...the persuit is there. Running inside is no picnic either...Meet Mr. Tucker and Mr. Smith, and Mr. Jackson, and ETC.

 

Melrose is a good team with a lot of weapons. How do you fault a coach for trying to make use of them. At the end of the day.... Players have to make plays in big games, and Melrose had some opportunities....our QB threw the ball right to their DB for heaven's sake. If he caughts it he goes for six, no question.

 

I think you should give the players on both sides alot more credit for the game they played. As much respect and love that I have for the Maryville coaching staff, I am sure that they have never called a perfect game, or had a perfect game plan. They do not block, or tackle...our players do.

 

Thats why the playoffs are the only way to determine a champion. Players decide the game on the field. Maybe Melrose was the better team in some respects, or on paper or by count of players that run 4.5s etc. BUT MARYVILLE did the best job of keeping Melrose from scoring and found enough offense to score more points.

 

Maryville was the better team yesterday. Our players make the difference with the help of our coaches.

 

And by the way weren't you a Hillsboro supporter when we played them? And another thing if you are comparing UT's coaching staff to Melrose's you are giving them way to much credit

 

The Bullocks twins from Hixon, most likely the two best athletes Maryville has ever faced. Josh Bullocks is now with the Saints and Danial is expected to be one of the top safeties drafted this season.

 

Maryville has no problem stopping great talent.