Ooltewah @ Smyrna

[GradfromtheNest]

Hey Grad how does your brother like San Dog?

 

He enjoyed his first year of pro ball and instructional league. Now he's home until Spring Training. Thanks for asking!

 

Go Owls!

[McNine4MVP]

I'll admit my bias and say that in this state, when all things are equal, you have to go with the Middle Tennessee team in these cross-sectional matchups, especially when the opponent from East Tennessee is not named Oak Ridge, McCallie, or Maryville. This is not a slap on Ooltewah's program at all. They have been solid for a few years now and a win Friday may establish them in the ranks of premier Tennessee teams. Recent history just shows that there is better competition in Middle Tennessee, week in and week out, than there is in either East or West Tennessee. Shoot, McCallie had the best team they have had in years and they needed a huge comeback to beat a not-so-great (by Warrior standards) Riverdale team. I've seen Smyrna play some really good teams this year that made a playoff dent or are still alive in the race (Riverdale twice, Ravenwood), not to mention some of the quality teams they matched up in preseason. There is more good 5A competition within 25 miles of Smyrna's campus (Riverdale, Ravenwood, Brentwood, Antioch, Franklin, LaVergne, Gallatin, Hendersonville) as there is in all of East Tennessee.

 

The Ooltewah RB is a very good player who is smallish, but runs behind his pads and is stronger than he looks. The key to this game is for the Bulldogs on D is to load up eight in the box and for the OLB and DE to contain. The Owls do have a physical kid outside who reminds me of the Maynard kid at Lebanon. Match up out there with him and make Woods beat you with his gun. Conversely, I think Smyrna needs to spread the field and throw the ball early and often against the Owl secondary. Rod has been quiet during the playoff run, and I suspect that getting him the rock early would be high on the priority list. Crouch has been clutch, but Will or Torres or somebody needs to make some big plays out of the slot in this game. Sonny could have a huge game, but he may have to. I think this is a great matchup, but I really think Smyrna is battle tested and ready to stay "home" for a possible Ravenwood rematch.

 

Smyrna 27 Ooltewah 21

[ImaOWL]

I also wanna bring up that Ooltewah has thrown 6 interceptions this year while the Owls Defense has picked off 17 passes. The secondary might be the weakness of the team but 17 interceptions is HUGE...

[82cat]

They are fast but the news channels have increased the tape speed to make it look even faster ( probably for time constraints)

 

either that or #31 just ran 90 yards in about 4 seconds ( I rewound it and time it!)

 

thanks I think that will give smyrna folks at least a look into our opponent

[GradfromtheNest]

Click HERE for News Channel 9 Highlights

 

Click HERE to view News Channel 3 Highlights

 

On News Channel 3 click on bottom right of page under Friday Night Football show "click to view"

 

This News Channel 9 footage is pretty good. Click on ImaOWL's link and then scroll down to click on the Ooltewah/Farragut and Ooltewah/Sevier games.

 

Go Owls!

 

They are fast but the news channels have increased the tape speed to make it look even faster ( probably for time constraints)

 

either that or #31 just ran 90 yards in about 4 seconds ( I rewound it and time it!)

 

thanks I think that will give smyrna folks at least a look into our opponent

 

Absolutely no way that Smyrna has more speed than Ooltewah. Period.

Edited November 21, 2006 by GradfromtheNest

[Footballfan15]

Impressed with the SHS win over Riverdale, going with them.

[ImaOWL]

www.stumponsports.com

 

Interesting article about Coach Benny Monroe and his Owls as they prepare to head up to Smryna Friday.

[GradfromtheNest]

Good article Stump!

[hwfox4vols]

We can't help it. MOST people just hate us and want us to lose and we are stuck with that underdog status no matter who we play. Heck, we were even underdogs when we had to play Oakland and Lebanon because we had just lost to R'dale 49-0 and looked vulnerable but that is understandable to be considered vulnerable after getting blown out like that.

 

Remember back in the spring..... George Mason was still the underdog in the final four of the tourny after defeating North Carolina and #1 ranked UConn.

 

And what happened to George Mason in the round of 4? Thats right they lost to the eventual champions.

[where's the love?]

I'll admit my bias and say that in this state, when all things are equal, you have to go with the Middle Tennessee team in these cross-sectional matchups, especially when the opponent from East Tennessee is not named Oak Ridge, McCallie, or Maryville. This is not a slap on Ooltewah's program at all. They have been solid for a few years now and a win Friday may establish them in the ranks of premier Tennessee teams. Recent history just shows that there is better competition in Middle Tennessee, week in and week out, than there is in either East or West Tennessee. Shoot, McCallie had the best team they have had in years and they needed a huge comeback to beat a not-so-great (by Warrior standards) Riverdale team. I've seen Smyrna play some really good teams this year that made a playoff dent or are still alive in the race (Riverdale twice, Ravenwood), not to mention some of the quality teams they matched up in preseason. There is more good 5A competition within 25 miles of Smyrna's campus (Riverdale, Ravenwood, Brentwood, Antioch, Franklin, LaVergne, Gallatin, Hendersonville) as there is in all of East Tennessee.

 

The Ooltewah RB is a very good player who is smallish, but runs behind his pads and is stronger than he looks. The key to this game is for the Bulldogs on D is to load up eight in the box and for the OLB and DE to contain. The Owls do have a physical kid outside who reminds me of the Maynard kid at Lebanon. Match up out there with him and make Woods beat you with his gun. Conversely, I think Smyrna needs to spread the field and throw the ball early and often against the Owl secondary. Rod has been quiet during the playoff run, and I suspect that getting him the rock early would be high on the priority list. Crouch has been clutch, but Will or Torres or somebody needs to make some big plays out of the slot in this game. Sonny could have a huge game, but he may have to. I think this is a great matchup, but I really think Smyrna is battle tested and ready to stay "home" for a possible Ravenwood rematch.

 

Smyrna 27 Ooltewah 21

 

Surely, you don't think that Middle Tennessee has dominated high school football in Tennessee. Riverdale has owned 5A and BA just won DII, but as you stated Maryville is 4A football in Tennessee. In 3AThe state champion the last 4-5 years has come out of the East and will happen again this year when Fulton brings home 3 out of 4 years. Finally, Alcoa owns 2A the same way that Maryville owns 4A. So, unless you mention Riverdale or Brentwood Academy, the real football is played in the east.

[bulldogsalltheway]

Why do all the other posters/schools hate you? I'm not sure why so many people would want Smyrna to lose. Seems interesting to me. Most of the time we don't have people hating us unless we give them a reason. Now, I understand someone hating Riverdale, because they have had so much success--a better word for that would be jealousy. It's hard to hate teams like Ooltewah and Smyrna, who are sort of rookies when it comes to making it this far in the playoffs.

 

I guess since I am not from middle Tennessee, I don't hear all of that stuff. Both of these teams have a lot to play for, and it appears, since they made it this far in the playoffs, that they must be pretty good. I think it is perfectly fine for both schools and their fans to brag on their success, and to display confidence about what their team may accomplish. From what I can see, both schools' posters seem confident in their ability to win this game. So, no one is overlooking anyone, and no one feels they are superior to the other. It's just a bunch of posters believing their team can win.

 

All this stuff about being the underdog is just a way to psychologically prepare yourself for losing. You see if you are the underdog you don't lose either way--if you win you weren't supposed to and if you lose you were supposed to. So, in effect, you lower your expectations, so it won't hurt if you lose. Why don't you just have some fun cranking up your team. No one from Ooltewah really knows much about you, so they can't hate you, and they really can't prove how good or how bad you are. It's all opinion, as it is when you comment about the Owls.

 

Again, good luck to both teams.

 

Something that you need to understand (and I am not being rude in anyway) is that around Rutherford County more than anywhere else, we all play each other, year in and year out. There are several people out there who, for whatever reason or another, can not stand Smyrna. And we don't look at being the "underdog" as a bad thing and we don't use the word "underdog" to psychologically prepare ourselves for loosing. In all actuality it pumps our boys up for a big game. They don't look at it as a way to "feel better" if we loose, for them it's a way to say, "Hey, we have something to prove to everyone," b/c they thing we aren't good enough, or we shouldn't be here, or whatever reason there could be. We know that Ooltewah is good, their record in the season shows that. But this isn't the regular season anymore it's the playoffs, and we proved last week that no score in the regular season matters when it comes to this time during the year. I hope that both teams come out and play their hearts out and everyone plays a safe game. It should be great!

[PRIMETIME OWL]

I'll admit my bias and say that in this state, when all things are equal, you have to go with the Middle Tennessee team in these cross-sectional matchups, especially when the opponent from East Tennessee is not named Oak Ridge, McCallie, or Maryville. This is not a slap on Ooltewah's program at all. They have been solid for a few years now and a win Friday may establish them in the ranks of premier Tennessee teams. Recent history just shows that there is better competition in Middle Tennessee, week in and week out, than there is in either East or West Tennessee. Shoot, McCallie had the best team they have had in years and they needed a huge comeback to beat a not-so-great (by Warrior standards) Riverdale team. I've seen Smyrna play some really good teams this year that made a playoff dent or are still alive in the race (Riverdale twice, Ravenwood), not to mention some of the quality teams they matched up in preseason. There is more good 5A competition within 25 miles of Smyrna's campus (Riverdale, Ravenwood, Brentwood, Antioch, Franklin, LaVergne, Gallatin, Hendersonville) as there is in all of East Tennessee.

 

The Ooltewah RB is a very good player who is smallish, but runs behind his pads and is stronger than he looks. The key to this game is for the Bulldogs on D is to load up eight in the box and for the OLB and DE to contain. The Owls do have a physical kid outside who reminds me of the Maynard kid at Lebanon. Match up out there with him and make Woods beat you with his gun. Conversely, I think Smyrna needs to spread the field and throw the ball early and often against the Owl secondary. Rod has been quiet during the playoff run, and I suspect that getting him the rock early would be high on the priority list. Crouch has been clutch, but Will or Torres or somebody needs to make some big plays out of the slot in this game. Sonny could have a huge game, but he may have to. I think this is a great matchup, but I really think Smyrna is battle tested and ready to stay "home" for a possible Ravenwood rematch.

 

Smyrna 27 Ooltewah 21

put 8 in the box and see what happens