Pearl-Cohn at MBA

[rollredroll]

Hey no one is throwing any stones on my end. I respect MBA and how well they do with their football program. Someone posted about how MBA had turned the table on several teams that had defeated them in the past. My question was if MBA was going to try and turn the table on Byrnes? If Byrnes has trouble finding teams to play them it could make for a great match up and the Big Red would have the opportunity to get a little revenge.

 

You are not (were not) throwing stones; I was talking about having stones (to schedule).

 

I was the one who made the turn-the-tables reference earlier. It was in reference to rematches in the same season, not in subsequent seasons. And more importantly, it was made in the context of a previous comment someone had made about continuity in coaching from season to season. My purpose was to show that MBA has shown the heart to schedule ambitiously across all three coaching ears in the DII era, and also has shown the same ability to defend turf and exact revenge when rematches presented themselves in the same season.

 

Also, to address a point previously made about financial aid. If someone wants to say that MBA benefits from the new aid rules created with DII, I am OK with that. I'd also like to point out that, without legacies and neighborhood kids, MBA would have had a fraction of the success it has had. MBA's three draftees in the DII era - the first lived two miles from MBA, was the son of a CEO of a NYSE-traded company, and was an Academic All-American in college. The second lived, I believe, within five miles of MBA. The third was a National Merit Semifinalist and the son of a colon/rectal surgeon in the Nashville area. Add in the legacies - MBA's Mr. Football winners in 1999, 2003, and 2007 were all legacies, with fathers or brothers having played at MBA - and you have a program that may benefit from aid but is also largely manned by the type of student usually associated with the school outside of sports message boards.

 

Again, no disrespect intended. I'll follow your posts wherever they are and read with great interest. But we MBA supporters have to defend our turf when questioned, and when the subject of scheduling comes around, or how financial aid helps in relation to other student demographics, I strongly believe some similar, difficult questions could be made just as easily to others.

 

As for Byrnes and the negativity, no one likes to get beat 62-14. We've had to read from posters of programs who will not even play a Harpeth Hall powderpuff team how the score could have been 100-0 (which is comical; 62-14 proved the point). No one even bothers to mention how MBA, the next week, beat Trinity, the eventual state champion again in Kentucky.

 

It goes beyond support for one's school. It's hard not to bristle when an MUS runs the table two years in a row...in DII...with an All-American QB...and beats South Panola...and yet see others think running the table with a Bell County, KY opponent (good, but no South Panola) and relatively one legit in-state opponent is the real cat's meow. You have been a supporter of DII schools in general, to the extent of being generally complimentary and logical, but I'd love to see these difficult questions asked much more on the DI threads. You are neutral enough to get away with it; many of the rest of us are not.

[boski]

Wow!! So this is were I get to play!! Nice!! I'm bringing the cam.. And can someone save me a parking space? ..pick it!!

[DSM10]

You are not (were not) throwing stones; I was talking about having stones (to schedule).

 

I was the one who made the turn-the-tables reference earlier. It was in reference to rematches in the same season, not in subsequent seasons. And more importantly, it was made in the context of a previous comment someone had made about continuity in coaching from season to season. My purpose was to show that MBA has shown the heart to schedule ambitiously across all three coaching ears in the DII era, and also has shown the same ability to defend turf and exact revenge when rematches presented themselves in the same season.

 

Also, to address a point previously made about financial aid. If someone wants to say that MBA benefits from the new aid rules created with DII, I am OK with that. I'd also like to point out that, without legacies and neighborhood kids, MBA would have had a fraction of the success it has had. MBA's three draftees in the DII era - the first lived two miles from MBA, was the son of a CEO of a NYSE-traded company, and was an Academic All-American in college. The second lived, I believe, within five miles of MBA. The third was a National Merit Semifinalist and the son of a colon/rectal surgeon in the Nashville area. Add in the legacies - MBA's Mr. Football winners in 1999, 2003, and 2007 were all legacies, with fathers or brothers having played at MBA - and you have a program that may benefit from aid but is also largely manned by the type of student usually associated with the school outside of sports message boards.

 

Again, no disrespect intended. I'll follow your posts wherever they are and read with great interest. But we MBA supporters have to defend our turf when questioned, and when the subject of scheduling comes around, or how financial aid helps in relation to other student demographics, I strongly believe some similar, difficult questions could be made just as easily to others.

 

As for Byrnes and the negativity, no one likes to get beat 62-14. We've had to read from posters of programs who will not even play a Harpeth Hall powderpuff team how the score could have been 100-0 (which is comical; 62-14 proved the point). No one even bothers to mention how MBA, the next week, beat Trinity, the eventual state champion again in Kentucky.

 

It goes beyond support for one's school. It's hard not to bristle when an MUS runs the table two years in a row...in DII...with an All-American QB...and beats South Panola...and yet see others think running the table with a Bell County, KY opponent (good, but no South Panola) and relatively one legit in-state opponent is the real cat's meow. You have been a supporter of DII schools in general, to the extent of being generally complimentary and logical, but I'd love to see these difficult questions asked much more on the DI threads. You are neutral enough to get away with it; many of the rest of us are not.

 

rollredroll your knowledge of high school football is exceptional. Your insight on games and topics are usually spot on. However I believe you just don't know enough about Alcoa to comment on who they schedule. For one Alcoa is a small public school that has trouble funding the whole athletic department. Financially is doesn't make sense for us to travel more than 2 to 3 hours unless we could get compensated somehow. We don't have the boosters with the big wallets like a lot of the private schools (not complaining just stating a fact). Also we have scheduled D I & D II teams like McCallie and Webb. Both teams would not renew the games because we had a 3-0 record against them. We have tried to schedule most of the top teams in east Tn but they have all declined. Heck even our county teams dropped us 5 years ago ( Heritage and WB 6A). Now that's our situation for scheduling. Now if you know of any school that need a game next year let our athletic director know. We have two teams that will not renew their games next year. Go FIGURE... Also when you say legit in state opponent. What do you mean??? I thought we played some very good teams last year. CAK & LOUDON gave us better games than Marvyille and Bell County. Those two teams were very underrated last year.

 

For the record I do agree that MUS had a tougher schedule last year. NO DOUBT!! By the way the Tornadoes are the cat's meow.

Edited August 22, 2010 by DSM10

[rollredroll]

DSM, don't get me wrong - Alcoa is fantastic. I can't claim any knowledge of knowing Alcoa other than what I see on TV in the state title games and those huge margins of victory seen in the paper. And, in recent years, I do believe they are good enough to beat anybody in the state.

 

Fictitional matchups - for example, Alcoa vs. MUS in 2009 - are really diffcult to discuss. They are not real, and the victor on paper is largely going to be decided by allegiances for and/or biases against a certain team. But, we generally do like to debate these what-if matchups, and as such, I like to approach assessing the matchup in a resume-like manner. And it is just hard to find a flaw in MUS's resume in a side-by-side comparison last year. Their out-of-state opponent was stronger (but I do know Bell County was good, and I think Alcoa fans should be flattered by the way Bell County's fans came around after the game on Bluegrass Rivals when they were non-believers before the game). Even their best opponent was stronger - and while some could argue it is just as difficult to determine if South Panola is better than Maryville, I think consideration of most factors - each school's previous multi-dozen win streak, classification, and most importantly, Mississippi's long standing dominance of Tennessee schools in head-to-head matchups - would tilt the scales in SP's favor. Alcoa's schedule is what it is, and there are some good programs on the schedule: Fulton and Loudon are old programs with multiple wins and titles. But look at what MUS had to go through. Go 5 deep on their schedule and you may be looking at a team like White Station, and we all know how WSHS ended its season. This is a long-winded way of saying I hate the DI/DII segregation, even if it has some merits.

 

Trust me, Alcoa deserves any accolade it has received in recent years; actually, for many decades. And I do understand the funding issue and would never expect nor want any school to undertake something for athletic purposes that would take away from academics or be burdensome to parents. There are ways - Riverdale has made it to OH, A-E has made it to NC, Brentwood High to FL, Gallatin is heading to OH this year - and yet I don't fault a school's decision not to travel if it doesn't make sense for its program/families. I only brought up Alcoa as a comparison in a vacuum to the one school in TN last year that, on paper, had a stronger resume. Outside that vacuum, Alcoa likely had few, if any, rivals last year.

 

Apologies for perhaps painting the wrong picture. And thanks for taking it easy on me.

 

I have probably blabbed too much today; off to bed. Good luck in the annual grudge match this week.

Edited August 22, 2010 by rollredroll

[bellringer83]

Yes Reigle is a really solid player. He has been starting as the strong safety since his sophomore year. I have also heard Lucachi is good too. I am told he has some D-1 interest as a nose tackle. The two linebackers are Juniors John Morphis and James Kay. I think Morphis is about 6' 185, while Kay is a much stockier 5'10 and listed at 215, although in the scrimmaged I attended he looked more about 220. Kay started last year and I think was 2nd on the team in tackles. I saw Jhamall Wright was a preseason all state selection how did he do?

 

Reigle and Kay are definitely the leaders on defense.

 

One thing that nobody has mentioned is that MBA is starting the season without 3 seniors and 1 junior who were expected to be major contributors this year. Chase Pruett played a lot at wideout last year but decided not to come out his year. Connor Pagnani signed a lacrosse scholarship and is focusing on lacrosse instead of football. He is 6'4 or something and played a fair amount on D last year. Zemel Shropshire was the 2nd team LB last year but is no longer at school.

The junior was Caleb Counce who left when he dad left the coaching staff (suddenly) after spring practice. Caleb played some TE last year and figured to play on both sides of the ball this year.

 

The loss of these players opened up the door for some of the younger guys like Morphis and the freshmen.

Edited August 23, 2010 by bellringer83

[shakinthefat]

How will the TSSAA playoff tiebreaker of win/loss record effect P-C playoff hopes with this MBA loss.

Now Maplewood will gamble with the tiebreaker rule as they will probably record a loss too this Friday.

Playing a football powerhouse like MBA, will put a lot of teams who are on the playoff bubble at the end of the year out of contention, due to this stupid rule.

But teams that shy away from strong teams and play pansey teams usually do not fare well in the playoffs.

So P-C and Maplewood coaches.....more power to you for accepting the challenge.

[big red big blue]

Just some thoughts...

 

I went to the game Friday night (and as a recent Nashville relocator) will be at every game this year. As KW observed, very uneven performance by both sides which I too attribute to this crazy idea of starting the regular season in the middle of August. Both sides looked sloppy, though the MBA defense appeared stout. Passing game has a ways to go. PC had several killer dropped passes that hurt their chances. The story of the night was the freshman #31 (?) who seemingly played every snap of the game.

 

Regarding Byrnes....again for the 1000th time. MBA agreed to play in the Clinic Bowl in '05 under the crazy assumption that it would be a local match-up with a TN public school that would generate tons of local interest for a charitable cause. MBA has a long history with the Clinic Bowl and when the rug was pulled out from the Clinic Bowl by the TSSAA, MBA committed to the event which should have been a marquee event for TN HS football...but, this is Tennessee we are talking about. Maryville and Riverdale were two (among others) that were contacted and wanted no part of the game. So, the organizers had to find an opponent for MBA that wasn't already on the schedule. Hence, Byrnes. We took our medicine that night but I remain proud of the fact that we didn't duck out when no TN public school would honor the Clinic Bowl tradition and be our opponent. Contrast that with some of the scheduling of others in TN.

 

As for Alcoa, Alcoa has a long history of playing "anyone, anywhere" which will of course come to an end now that Gary Rankin is the head coach. That is a shame but we all know Rankin, his "proud legacy" of the split, and his reasons for leaving Riverdale in the first place.

[DSM10]

DSM, don't get me wrong - Alcoa is fantastic. I can't claim any knowledge of knowing Alcoa other than what I see on TV in the state title games and those huge margins of victory seen in the paper. And, in recent years, I do believe they are good enough to beat anybody in the state.

 

Fictitional matchups - for example, Alcoa vs. MUS in 2009 - are really diffcult to discuss. They are not real, and the victor on paper is largely going to be decided by allegiances for and/or biases against a certain team. But, we generally do like to debate these what-if matchups, and as such, I like to approach assessing the matchup in a resume-like manner. And it is just hard to find a flaw in MUS's resume in a side-by-side comparison last year. Their out-of-state opponent was stronger (but I do know Bell County was good, and I think Alcoa fans should be flattered by the way Bell County's fans came around after the game on Bluegrass Rivals when they were non-believers before the game). Even their best opponent was stronger - and while some could argue it is just as difficult to determine if South Panola is better than Maryville, I think consideration of most factors - each school's previous multi-dozen win streak, classification, and most importantly, Mississippi's long standing dominance of Tennessee schools in head-to-head matchups - would tilt the scales in SP's favor. Alcoa's schedule is what it is, and there are some good programs on the schedule: Fulton and Loudon are old programs with multiple wins and titles. But look at what MUS had to go through. Go 5 deep on their schedule and you may be looking at a team like White Station, and we all know how WSHS ended its season. This is a long-winded way of saying I hate the DI/DII segregation, even if it has some merits.

 

Trust me, Alcoa deserves any accolade it has received in recent years; actually, for many decades. And I do understand the funding issue and would never expect nor want any school to undertake something for athletic purposes that would take away from academics or be burdensome to parents. There are ways - Riverdale has made it to OH, A-E has made it to NC, Brentwood High to FL, Gallatin is heading to OH this year - and yet I don't fault a school's decision not to travel if it doesn't make sense for its program/families. I only brought up Alcoa as a comparison in a vacuum to the one school in TN last year that, on paper, had a stronger resume. Outside that vacuum, Alcoa likely had few, if any, rivals last year.

 

Apologies for perhaps painting the wrong picture. And thanks for taking it easy on me.

 

I have probably blabbed too much today; off to bed. Good luck in the annual grudge match this week.

 

Appreciate the kind words. Good luck to MBA as well. I have a friend that actually went to Alcoa that sends his kids to MBA. Do you know any Mortgage Broker/owner ?

[rollredroll]

Appreciate the kind words. Good luck to MBA as well. I have a friend that actually went to Alcoa that sends his kids to MBA. Do you know any Mortgage Broker/owner ?

 

Name isn't coming to me immediately, but it's a small world, so potentially.

[3yardsandacloudofdust]

Reigle and Kay are definitely the leaders on defense.

 

One thing that nobody has mentioned is that MBA is starting the season without 3 seniors and 1 junior who were expected to be major contributors this year. Chase Pruett played a lot at wideout last year but decided not to come out his year. Connor Pagnani signed a lacrosse scholarship and is focusing on lacrosse instead of football. He is 6'4 or something and played a fair amount on D last year. Zemel Shropshire was the 2nd team LB last year but is no longer at school.

The junior was Caleb Counce who left when he dad left the coaching staff (suddenly) after spring practice. Caleb played some TE last year and figured to play on both sides of the ball this year.

 

The loss of these players opened up the door for some of the younger guys like Morphis and the freshmen.

 

That is a pretty big hole to fill if you were expecting something from all 4. Tough for anyone to lose 4 returners with experience.

Why did the coach leave and how come the wideout didn't come back out? I noticed that the senior class on the MBA roster seems unusually small.

[Redtwin]

That is a pretty big hole to fill if you were expecting something from all 4. Tough for anyone to lose 4 returners with experience.

Why did the coach leave and how come the wideout didn't come back out? I noticed that the senior class on the MBA roster seems unusually small.

 

Coach Counce left to join his father's staff when he was re-named heach coach at Henry County. Obviously, the son, Caleb, went with him. Not sure what happened with the receiver.

[bellringer83]

Coach Counce left to join his father's staff when he was re-named heach coach at Henry County. Obviously, the son, Caleb, went with him. Not sure what happened with the receiver.

 

I know Caleb was very upset that he had to leave MBA and I think there was more to it than just going to play for his granddad. From what I have heard, some personality conflicts between coaches had a major role in the Counce's departure.

 

It came at a very tough time for Caleb.