Maryville and 5A

[JC4life]

I think MOWest would do fine in 5A. They would be in Dobyns Bennetts region. They would fight it out with DB for 1st place in the region every year.

 

Central would do fine in 5A also. If it wasn't for Maryville they would have been to several 4A title games.

 

I think Powell could compete also.

 

Not every team in 5A is great.

 

I think the 1st 3 rounds in 4A or 5A would be no different. Where 5A is much harder is the semifinal game. Playing Riverdale is much harder than playing MOWest or TN High. But! With Rankin gone Riverdale won't be as strong.

I disagree and here's why, lets take the 2003 season as an example(the year West went to the 4A state championship game), its a little long so bear with me. For the sake of argument and location Mo West gets put into region 1 5A. Now in 2003 West would have finished at best 8-2 and 3rd in the region, unless you think they would have beaten the 2003 DB team. Good luck finding anyone with knowledge of the 2003 DB team that would agree with that. Now for finishing 3rd in region 1 West would take the spot Science Hill did and now they play at McMinn Co in the 1st round instead of killing Sullivan South like they did in 4A. S.Hill lost the game in 03 to McMinn, but for the sake of this argument lets say they beat McMinn Co. Now West has the great pleasure of going on the road TO DB IN THE SECOND ROUND instead of playing an inferior Tennessee High team. So after one round of the playoffs in 5A West already faces a team equal to themselves. Again for the sake of this argument lets say West has their magical season and somehow beats DB at DB, now they have to go TO OAK RIDGE IN THE 3RD ROUND instead of playing Greenville. Now lets say its a leap year and stars are aligned and West beats O.R at O.R, now West has the lovely task of playing Riverdale in the semi finals.

 

Now West faces a team superior to themselves, but again for the sake of this argument West beats Riverdale(after you`ve stopped laughing keep reading). Now West has just gone through a killer playoffs, they beaten DB at DB with an equal or better team, they`ve beated O.R at O.R with an equal or better team , and they've beaten Riverdale with a superior team , GUESS WHAT you still haven`t won a championship. Now West gets to play Germantown(who beat Riverdale in the 03 state championship by the way) for the title. I can hear what you`re saying already that I`m assuming West finishes 3rd in the region. Ok let's say West beats DB in the regular season and finishes 2nd in the region, they then play William Blount in the 1st round, only this time instead of DB they go to O.R in the 2nd once again meeting a team equal or better than themselves. In 2003 it wasn`t until the semi finals that West faced a team(Maryville) that was equal or better. They playoffs don`t compare, bottom line.

[JC4life]

If a 4a team as 80 to 90 kids and a 5a has the same amount, what's the difference?

 

Its not about the 80 to 90, its the 1700 vs 900. Let's say out of 1700 students, 200 are athletes(basketball players, soccer, baseball, ect). Now out of those 200 athletes 80 are football players, out of the 80 players 20 are good enough to start, out of the 20 players 5 are game changing players. Obvious the number good players differ by the school, and there are unique situations. Now the school with 900 students are going to have a lower number in the overall athlete pool, its not going to be 200, which will mean it won`t be 80 and so on all the way down. Of course there are exceptions where kids go to school just to play sports and the athlete pool will stay high, Alcoa is a prime example.

[REBELRON]

In 2002 Dobyns Bennett made it to the semifinals before losing to Riverdale. They beat Jeff County to get to Riverdale. That same year Greeneville beat Dobyns Bennett. MOWest beat Jeff County very bad that year. DB and Jeff County played the same week Greeneville played MOWest.

 

I still think the biggest difference would be who Maryville would play in the semifinals. Oak Ridge or DB wouldn't be no harder than what Central is. I agree that 5A would be tougher but not as tough as a lot of people think. I know that the Hillsboro 2001-2002 teams and the Melrose 2004-2005 teams could compete with any 5A team with no problem. I watched Riverdale win the 2004 championship on TV. I also watched part of the 2001 5A game. I don't know if Maryville would have beat those Riverdale teams but I can promise you one thing. Maryville or Melrose would have given Riverdale a much tougher game than Franklin did in 2004. Maryville or Hillsboro would have given Riverdale a much better game than Hendersonville did in 2001.

Edited May 30, 2006 by REBELRON

[Ole Dad]

How many students does Maryville have. How many does Oak Ridge have? Interesting.

Ole Dad

Its not about the 80 to 90, its the 1700 vs 900. Let's say out of 1700 students, 200 are athletes(basketball players, soccer, baseball, ect). Now out of those 200 athletes 80 are football players, out of the 80 players 20 are good enough to start, out of the 20 players 5 are game changing players. Obvious the number good players differ by the school, and there are unique situations. Now the school with 900 students are going to have a lower number in the overall athlete pool, its not going to be 200, which will mean it won`t be 80 and so on all the way down. Of course there are exceptions where kids go to school just to play sports and the athlete pool will stay high, Alcoa is a prime example.

[BCsportsfan]

I have not looked into this, but someone told me 5A champs Ravenwood had less enrollment last year than 4A champs Maryville? Is that true???

[BCsportsfan]

I have not looked into this, but someone told me 5A champs Ravenwood had less enrollment last year than 4A champs Maryville? Is that true???

 

 

O.K., I found enrollment numbers on TSSAA.

 

Ravenwood 1379

Maryville 1381

Oak Ridge 1433

[THSVikings2004]

If enrollment was the primary factor, David Crockett as opposed to Maryville would be playing in Murfreesboro.

Edited May 31, 2006 by THSVikings2004

[medman]

But JC, that arguement may be true in some cases, and I will agree that only the top level schools in 4a would be good enough to be top teams in 5a, but that is what I've been saying all along. Take a school like Central that has 1300+ students, open enrollment, and an outstanding tradition, and I would be willing to bet that there is very little difference in the number of game changers that would be at a larger school. Again, not every team in 4a would do well in 5a. But to remind you, there are some really bad 5a teams that would not do any better in 4a. So the arguement that those 80 or 90 at a bigger school are better doesn't hold water in the cases of the top 4A schools.

[Ole Dad]

BC,

Thanks. Great info.

Ole Dad

 

O.K., I found enrollment numbers on TSSAA.

 

Ravenwood 1379

Maryville 1381

Oak Ridge 1433

[GWAVE1]

In 2002 Dobyns Bennett made it to the semifinals before losing to Riverdale. They beat Jeff County to get to Riverdale. That same year Greeneville beat Dobyns Bennett. MOWest beat Jeff County very bad that year. DB and Jeff County played the same week Greeneville played MOWest.

 

I still think the biggest difference would be who Maryville would play in the semifinals. Oak Ridge or DB wouldn't be no harder than what Central is. I agree that 5A would be tougher but not as tough as a lot of people think. I know that the Hillsboro 2001-2002 teams and the Melrose 2004-2005 teams could compete with any 5A team with no problem. I watched Riverdale win the 2004 championship on TV. I also watched part of the 2001 5A game. I don't know if Maryville would have beat those Riverdale teams but I can promise you one thing. Maryville or Melrose would have given Riverdale a much tougher game than Franklin did in 2004. Maryville or Hillsboro would have given Riverdale a much better game than Hendersonville did in 2001.

The Maryville fans have very valid points. Maryville can and would compete very well with the 5-A classification but....to say Oak Ridge would be no tougher than Central is not true. Oak Ridge, back when Central was a power out East, dominated Central. The win/loss record proves this point. Dobyns-Bennett as well has been better since they got rid of that old district format. Every year you would see Bennett 10-0 only to never make it very far in the playoffs. Now they have more respect. But the key to this arguement does not reside in East Tenneessee fellas...it is in middle Tenneessee where the 5-A teams have been more dominant. Comparing 4-A in the east to 5-A in Middle to 2-A in the west is almost impossible but that is where the competitive comparison lies. The power basin in 4-A is definitily in the east but in 5-A it is in Middle Tenneessee.

 

And to further disagree with some of the spectulative comparisons, I really doubt that a Melrose who was so one dimensional or a winded Hillsboro team of the afore mentioned years would have been any competition for the Riverdale teams that won the state title. And for the record I am not a Riverdale supporter but I saw both the 4 and 5 A contests both years and neither would have been close.

 

Quarles is a great coach and Maryville has an excellent program. Just move up and lets see what happens.

[THE SQUAD]

The Maryville fans have very valid points. Maryville can and would compete very well with the 5-A classification but....to say Oak Ridge would be no tougher than Central is not true. Oak Ridge, back when Central was a power out East, dominated Central. The win/loss record proves this point. Dobyns-Bennett as well has been better since they got rid of that old district format. Every year you would see Bennett 10-0 only to never make it very far in the playoffs. Now they have more respect. But the key to this arguement does not reside in East Tenneessee fellas...it is in middle Tenneessee where the 5-A teams have been more dominant. Comparing 4-A in the east to 5-A in Middle to 2-A in the west is almost impossible but that is where the competitive comparison lies. The power basin in 4-A is definitily in the east but in 5-A it is in Middle Tenneessee.

 

And to further disagree with some of the spectulative comparisons, I really doubt that a Melrose who was so one dimensional or a winded Hillsboro team of the afore mentioned years would have been any competition for the Riverdale teams that won the state title. And for the record I am not a Riverdale supporter but I saw both the 4 and 5 A contests both years and neither would have been close.

 

Quarles is a great coach and Maryville has an excellent program. Just move up and lets see what happens.

 

Good post GWAVE1....All true.

 

 

 

 

THE SQUAD

[pepvol]

We're coming guys ... you'll get what you wished for very soon . We'll try our best not to embarrass ourselves when we start playing in the NFL .. i mean 5A . Please take it easy on us you big ol brutes !

Edited May 31, 2006 by pepvol