Semii-Finals

[reaction]

Maybe not this year but in years past we have had some teams that would be ranked very highly. After seeing past baylor, bearden, farragut, houston, etc teams I knew cleveland was not good enough to be ranked that high in the nation.

[pseudophobia]

Why do you say that? Have you seen these teams?

 

I have to agree with Oldsoccerfan. We moved here from Texas some years ago, but I still remember those teams very well. I think that we are just WAY behind in soccer right now. This is not meant to insult anyone or belittle any good soccer program. Nor is it saying that athletes in other states are superior to kids in Tennessee. If anything, I think kids here are probably superior to them!! What makes the difference is simple- numbers! Texas alone has more than 100 high schools with more students than Farragut has. I think the last time I went down this road, I had to look up the enrollment numbers in Texas. I think there more more than 50 schools with more than 3500 students in them. Couple that with the fact that Texas is flat (very easy to make a field....some chalk and 2 goal posts!) , weather is favorable all the time (in most of the state) and far superior youth programs- not to mention better training for coaches.......it just makes sense. The same is true of schools from California, Florida, and Georgia too! National rankings for High schools have been and always will be a joke. How would the state champions from Wyoming do against Brentwood, Farragut, CAK, CBHS?? Probably not too good. So if a team from Wyoming went 22-0, beat everybody by 4 goals or more....should THEY be ranked #1 in the Nation? How about 10th? Let's be honest about this National ranking stuff and just enjoy the things we can control....winning a State Championship!!!!

Go Farragut!!! Bring that Championship back to Knoxville....where it belongs! /wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink.gif" />

[ihavenofriendzz]

maybe I should have been more specific.. Cleveland is ranked #5 on the ESPNrise SPRING rankings. Farragut is #34. I believe CAK is #33.

 

which includes teams from GA, VA, OK, SC, TN, WA, AL, IA, NE, UT, AR, AK, WY

[tnfutbolfan]

I think we are kidding ourselves to think that any high school soccer team from Tennessee, no matter how good, is going to be in the top 50 in the country. If we were all candid, we would all admit that there are probably 50 teams from Florida, Texas and California alone that would win the AAA Tennessee High school soccer championship.

 

 

What makes the difference is simple- numbers! Texas alone has more than 100 high schools with more students than Farragut has.

 

 

Agree completely. Below is excerpt from my post last year when rankings were discussed, very similar to yours and pseudo's:

 

"Regarding the National Champion title, you do need to add "Spring" to the National Champions crown to bring the accomplishment into context. TN has very good teams and great players, but the other "fall" states have great teams and great players. The difference is clear; they just have a bigger pool of talent to pull from. The TN great players do not get the same visibility as the other "fall" soccer rich talent states do, therefore, limited D1 colleges spend time scouting talent in a football predominant state. We/TN still have a ways to go, but we??™re getting there."

[BHSVB]

What makes the difference is simple- numbers! Texas alone has more than 100 high schools with more students than Farragut has.

 

 

Agree completely. Below is excerpt from my post last year when rankings were discussed, very similar to yours and pseudo's:

 

"Regarding the National Champion title, you do need to add "Spring" to the National Champions crown to bring the accomplishment into context. TN has very good teams and great players, but the other "fall" states have great teams and great players. The difference is clear; they just have a bigger pool of talent to pull from. The TN great players do not get the same visibility as the other "fall" soccer rich talent states do, therefore, limited D1 colleges spend time scouting talent in a football predominant state. We/TN still have a ways to go, but we??™re getting there."

 

Great point and when it comes time for Tennessee travel teams to schedule college showcase tournaments there are few . Many of which are in the spring when we play HS ball.