Knoxville Catholic vs Fulton

[oppressed238]

As a fan of HS Football and a Falcon Supporter, I truly am looking forward to a great night of anticipated football. Catholic is a great place to play on Friday night even when your on the opposite team. There are a lot of passionate discussions that have kept this thread entertaining as well as heated with debates. I'll claim responsibility for stirring the pot on certain subjects. Even though I'm passionate about the private versus public debate, I do respect a good football program that can compete on Catholics Level. I hope we get a good game. One that will leave us with memories like Harrison's catch in the corner of the endzone as well as Fulton's amazing 4th quarter comeback last season. It's hard to believe it has only been two seasons with four games to make this one of the state's best new rivalries. Good luck to both teams... better luck to Fulton.

 

Ruse?.... I look forward to meeting you one day. It would be nice to put a face with that intelligence.

 

Go Falcons!

[Halls4Generations]

Mville will go 5A. Halls or Powell could go up as well. Just depends on community growth. AE will stay 3A, but I would not be surprised to see Carter go back to 4A as well. This might be a stretch, but at the rate Catholic is growing, and in combination with the multiplier, it would not surprise me if 5A was on the horizon.

 

ruse?, Halls is closer to 3A than to 4A with their current enrollment. It would take a heck of a lot of development between now and reclassification to push us up to 5A.

[oppressed238]

Some one needs to tell the people @ catholic that the bag pipes are( Scotish not IRISH ) IS that not the worst place in TN to go watch a football game!I am IRISH THANK GOD my people got the heck out of there. Buy the way Photoman the so called TD to Harrison Smith was out of bounce I was standing a few yards away.In Ref.classes thay teach you to first to watch the players feet to see if he is in .Then move your eyes up too see if the catch is made and if the ball breaks the plane of the goal.Most REFs look @ the ball first it is human nature.

[IrishBBall]

Some one needs to tell the people @ catholic that the bag pipes are( Scotish not IRISH ) IS that not the worst place in TN to go watch a football game!I am IRISH THANK GOD my people got the heck out of there.

 

Funny. I thought the worst place to watch a football game would have been the AC sideline looking at your games the last several weeks. /roflol.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":roflol:" border="0" alt="roflol.gif" />

[ruse?]

Tadvols, Road, Photo.

 

Any word on Bubba Stokes injury? That injury had an impact. Stokes was off to a pretty good start at LB, and was also getting cranked up running the ball. Hope he is OK. Fulton not having Stokes was like Catholic not having Zak Tait.

 

I really think that the Wilcox kid is going to be a good one. Fast, nice cuts. Humphrey played well. I really like Fultons DT/NG. Falcons are just young. Some silly penalties. No personal fouls, just not lined up right, and I think one for not wearing a mouth piece. There were two pass interference calls early against Fulton that were legit, but picky. Seemed like the first 4-6 minutes the zebras were going to let everyone know who was in control. They did not need to, IMO. Typical hard hitting, aggressive, and I thought, clean game. Blair threw it well. He was only off by a bit. He hits on a couple of those, and it's a different game. Sure, it was 27-0, but it easily could have been 27-14 or so. Same score as last year in the first meeting between these two.

 

A few things surprised about Catholic. They did not go conservative, and try to eat the clock up. They have adapted offensively, and can really throw it. In talking to some of the Catholic folks last night, Anderson Co. caught them off guard with their defensive scheme, and so they had to learn/throw on the run. Anyway, Catholic seemed better for it, as did their secondary which must be geeting some good work in practce. #24, Farris is a heck of a corner. Their DL's technique is great. Low, hands in the right place, shed well, pinch, slide, stay in the gap, good angles. All of it is done like the guys that play on Saturdays. They are big, but they are being very well coached. The LBs Tait and Trusller are, IMO the best pair in the area. The Lail/Irwin combo at Billy Blount are good, but these two are both big, fast, and explosive. Both 6-2, with Trusller @ 210, and Tait 225. They know how to play.

 

I thought Coatney did a great job at the end teaching his young team that you play every play as they were going for the score. Conversly, I thought Pemberton did a good job of understanding it for what it was, and playing it out. Showed me that despite all the negative chirping on this thread, there is great respect between these two coaches, and the players/schools that they represent.

 

IMO, there will be a Round 2, and I am thankful for that. It will be much closer.

 

ruse?

[IrishBBall]

Ruse?

 

Have you thought about a career as a color analyst? Excellent description of the game. As I said earlier the game would come down to TOs. Blair and the linemen seemed to struggle. The PrepXtra story that likened someone hitting Blair to someone hitting your momma served as great bulletin board material for the Irish defense. Bet momma's a little sore this morning.

 

The game was exactly what I expected with the exception of the score. Catholic controlled the line of scrimmage and the LBs played a great game which allowed the DBs to make some big plays. Fortunately the pressure on Blair prevented him from hitting several receivers that were wide open. One or two of those are caught and the game/score would have been about what everyone thought. There was very little trash talking amongst the players which would support your comments regarding the respect of the teams, players and coaches for each other. Great ending to the game with both football and life lessons to be learned.

 

I don't think Stokes was badly hurt and hope to see him on the field next week. He was doing a great job shutting down the middle to that point. The players thought it was more a severe bruise of the shin but the trainer said the hit may have slightly hyperextended his knee. Good luck to the Falcons the rest of the way. Stay healthy and let's hope for a good round 2!

[Road2Three]

I believe they said Bubba Stokes suffered a hyperextended knee injury. Must have got bent back in an awkward position. Not sure what the extent is though. They really need him in a tough test next week at AE. I really expected Blair to play better last night as a senior. He just really struggled in spurts and I thought another Alcoa from 2005 was on the horizon. But...he did look good at times on some shorter routes and I think that Fulton will utilize that more the 2nd time around (considering a 2nd meeting happens). The offensive line just struggled mightily to hold off Catholic's big defensive front and linebackers. That is where I fear Catholic is just too much for the Falcons this season, including the playoffs. The "Region Champion Curse" in the playoffs may not happen this year unfortunately. We'll see what Fulton's kids are made of next week at Austin-East. Time to step up.

[ruse?]

I believe they said Bubba Stokes suffered a hyperextended knee injury. Must have got bent back in an awkward position. Not sure what the extent is though. They really need him in a tough test next week at AE. I really expected Blair to play better last night as a senior. He just really struggled in spurts and I thought another Alcoa from 2005 was on the horizon. But...he did look good at times on some shorter routes and I think that Fulton will utilize that more the 2nd time around (considering a 2nd meeting happens). The offensive line just struggled mightily to hold off Catholic's big defensive front and linebackers. That is where I fear Catholic is just too much for the Falcons this season, including the playoffs. The "Region Champion Curse" in the playoffs may not happen this year unfortunately. We'll see what Fulton's kids are made of next week at Austin-East. Time to step up.

 

 

Road.

Thanks for the update on Stokes. The "curse" may or my not play out. The "curse" has not been soley a problem for the Irish. There was a time, that you probably remember, when the winner of the AE/Fulton regular season game lost in the playoffs to the other. More recently Livingston Academy got in on the act along with Catholic. I would not rule out AE, or AC as a spoiler either.

ruse?

[oppressed238]

Funny. I thought the worst place to watch a football game would have been the AC sideline looking at your games the last several weeks. /roflol.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":roflol:" border="0" alt="roflol.gif" />

[/quote

Wrong once again. The AC sidelines were a great place to be when we were giving Catholic all they could handle! ha! ha! ha! /roflol.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":roflol:" border="0" alt="roflol.gif" />

[Road2Three]

Yeah, two straight years we put Stanton Stevens, McAlister, & Co. out of the playoffs on their home field as they were also Region champs and winners of the regular season matchups. My freshman year, with Justin Long at QB, AE beat us 26-7 in the regular season and beat us again in 2004 at home, but we won State both years, both with exciting wins at AE in the Quarterfinals. Now, it seems like it's Fulton and Catholic duking it out, but you're right ruse, can't count out AE. They're really playing good football and they say Montgomery has settled down at QB and is throwing the ball well. No time to get down if you're Fulton. The playoffs is all that really matters, just ask Livingston Academy. I fear AE moreso than AC, but if you've watched any college football this year, you've found out that you can never count anybody out, that's why you play the games and that's what makes High School playoffs so exciting.

[Road2Three]

Irish, you don't get rings for winning Region titles and going undefeated in the regular season. Catholic has a good enough team to win it all this year, but State titles are not easy to come by and their will be teams such as Pearl-Cohn and David Lipscomb that will have a say-so come playoff time. Pearl-Cohn got to the semis last year and David Lipscomb is more than familiar with the BlueCross bowl, being there for the past several years in 2A and 3A. They have a bunch of guys back from last year and after losing two straight years in the title game, will be hungry for that ring. That is, IF you get out of this region. AE and Fulton won't lay down. Last night was 27-0, but we beat the Irish by like 5 touchdowns two years ago in the regular season and lost in the playoffs.

 

Also, upon watching the game back on TV, the Catholic drive that made it 14-0 consisted of the worst officiating I've ever witnessed on any level of football. Even Mark Packer was going nuts (he always gives Fulton a hard time) and made the comment "Are you joking me right now" while Todd Kelly said "The zebras are completely taking control of this game, they're not letting the kids play football". Two awful pass interference calls and a fumble by #25 where he was called down. Clearly a fumble and Fulton would have recovered. The Falcons probably would have lost anyways, but football is a funny game of momentum and a few breaks can go a long way. #1 teams in the State don't need any help from referees and I just wish they would keep the flags in their pockets, both ways.

[oppressed238]

Irish, you don't get rings for winning Region titles and going undefeated in the regular season. Catholic has a good enough team to win it all this year, but State titles are not easy to come by and their will be teams such as Pearl-Cohn and David Lipscomb that will have a say-so come playoff time. Pearl-Cohn got to the semis last year and David Lipscomb is more than familiar with the BlueCross bowl, being there for the past several years in 2A and 3A. They have a bunch of guys back from last year and after losing two straight years in the title game, will be hungry for that ring. That is, IF you get out of this region. AE and Fulton won't lay down. Last night was 27-0, but we beat the Irish by like 5 touchdowns two years ago in the regular season and lost in the playoffs.

 

Also, upon watching the game back on TV, the Catholic drive that made it 14-0 consisted of the worst officiating I've ever witnessed on any level of football. Even Mark Packer was going nuts (he always gives Fulton a hard time) and made the comment "Are you joking me right now" while Todd Kelly said "The zebras are completely taking control of this game, they're not letting the kids play football". Two awful pass interference calls and a fumble by #25 where he was called down. Clearly a fumble and Fulton would have recovered. The Falcons probably would have lost anyways, but football is a funny game of momentum and a few breaks can go a long way. #1 teams in the State don't need any help from referees and I just wish they would keep the flags in their pockets, both ways.

 

Hey Road,

(not that my opinion matters, but...) Thanks for the observation. I totally agree. No matter the teams, let the kids play ball. Both ways, especially when teams are getting to this point in the season. Who can coach? Who can play? Let it be decided on the playing field. Thanks again.