Blount County Schools Football

[jake]

tpoole, I respect you and your opinion, but in your first post you referred to WB as being a spread team when Gregory took over and now you refer to him making a mistake in changing the offense when he took over. If I remember correctly, two years ago WB went 1-9 trying to run the spread that they were not capable of running. I would have thought Gregory to be a fool to come in and try to run the same offense that took them to a 1-9 record with practically the same athletes. Watching those kids try to run the offense they were trying to run two years ago with the personnel they had was very sad. Now, I am not saying that I am the biggest fan of the offense that they went to but I am acknowledging that he had to go to something different with the players that he had.

 

Many will not agree with this, and I know you won't, but when WB had the best record in school history three years ago, I think they underachieved according to the athletes they had. They had good receivers but not game breakers, their O line was the strong point of the offense, they had big physical backs and could have moved Lail in to fullback and been even more physical, they had a change of pace back in Garner. These are all ingredients to line up and run over people and let Burstrom feast with the play action when teams tried to cram the box, if Meadows had done this I believe that WB would have played for the state championship that year. I said it all year that year and I still believe it to this day.

[GovMan]

"They had good receivers but not game breakers,"

 

I would consider Don Cope--that year--a game breaker. Darren Garner-though used more as a back, was a big play receiver as well. Add Brad Cochran and Grey Clevenger and you have a pretty darn group of receivers, Jake. I would categorize them better than just "good". Agree with you that we should have rammed Cole down team's throats at the fb position. Also agree that if we ever had a team capable of going to state championship game this team was it--along also with the team Reese Mac's senior year had he not messed up his should up at DB.

 

Jake, I have gone on record as saying that I believe next year's team can compete for a play-off spot. Do you agree?

Edited November 9, 2010 by GovMan

[bullyrock]

both wb and heritage should play alcoa every year. by not playing them it shows that they are not commited to football.gate money would help schools. play on thursday and have bigger crowd. kids dont want to play for them so they walk the halls or go to alcoa. man up and lets have a true county championship.

[jake]

govman, I think it is possible. I like the coaching staff for the most part, some of them are young and will learn a lot on the job, but I am ok with that as most of them are WB people and love the school and will do anything to see them succeed. If they can get better leadership from this years junior class, and I believe they will, they should be much improved. I know some of the underclassmen and they have been part of successful youth programs and a lot of them know how to win, hopefully they will use this to be positive leaders on the team. I think the QB position will be much improved next year whether they go with Timmy Green, who is an outstanding athlete, or Zach Owens, they should be much improved up front and I think they will be able to move the football. My concern is defense, at times this year they looked stout and at times they were just downright porous. I can see Bloom leading a much improved defense next year, I love this kid, he only knows one way and that is 110% on every play, I hope some of this rubs off on others.

 

With all of this being said, to me, it will all depend on a difference in overall discipline and I think that will change next year. They have to crawl before they can walk, they have to get these kids to buy in and play all out. When a group of teenagers make their mind up to give every thing they have on every play, they will overachieve, good things will start to happen, they will win the games they are suppose to and pull off an upset here or there. I hope they can put it together govman, I really do.

[GovMan]

Here's another question I'm curious about. Have read about the success of this year's Fairview Midget team. Finally beat the Rebs (twice) for the first time in a long,long time. Is Fairview considered primarily a feeder program for WB? I know some of the program's teams use our facilities for practice.

 

Will WB get some, many, or most of these kids? And does it bother anyone else besides me that they wear "red and black"? Nothing personal to my Maryville friends, but it bugs me a little to see youth teams practicing on Friday nights on our campus, as fans are arriving at Governor games, wearing Maryville's colors.

 

I'm not saying they have to wear orange and blue ... but I could accept the old black and silver alot better than red and black.

 

Maybe it's just me, and if that is so, I'll say no more.

[Red Rebels]

Are the Raiders the old Fairview Panthers that wore black and gold (yellow) and used to practice at Monte Vista or are they the old Raiders that wore silver and black? Or are they a merger of the two?

[GoddardField]

both wb and heritage should play alcoa every year. by not playing them it shows that they are not commited to football.gate money would help schools. play on thursday and have bigger crowd. kids dont want to play for them so they walk the halls or go to alcoa. man up and lets have a true county championship.

 

I think that is partially a problem. When BC Schools took Alcoa off the schedule it honestly made them look like cowards. The whole "we have nothing to gain" excuse is a freaking joke. You had nothing to gain by playing Maryville when they were 4a either. You had a better chance of beating a 2a Alcoa then a 4a Maryville as well. When I heard the deal with WB fans booing and throwing things at the team and coaches a few years back I knew that was pretty much the end of that. WB and Heritage have always and will always be "the other schools" in Blount County. They just dont have the leadership on the sidelines, huddles or in the higher ups to be any better.

[GovMan]

"When I heard the deal with WB fans booing and throwing things at the team and coaches a few years back I knew that was pretty much the end of that."

 

Never happened. The person (people) that perpetuated that mistruth are no longer associated with William Blount. If you want to attack our program, fine. But do it with truth, not fiction. And don't label a whole school and community--me included--as cowards when the decision was made and perpetuated by just a handful of people.

 

And yes, I agree that William Blount and Heritage should play Alcoa every year. Here's a question for you GoddardField ... 2 years ago our boy's basketball team beat your boys twice during the season. The next year, YOUR TEAM, refused to schedule us. Using your logic, does that mean that you all are cowards too? I don't think so.

[GoddardField]

"When I heard the deal with WB fans booing and throwing things at the team and coaches a few years back I knew that was pretty much the end of that."

 

Never happened. The person (people) that perpetuated that mistruth are no longer associated with William Blount. If you want to attack our program, fine. But do it with truth, not fiction. And don't label a whole school and community--me included--as cowards when the decision was made and perpetuated by just a handful of people.

 

And yes, I agree that William Blount and Heritage should play Alcoa every year. Here's a question for you GoddardField ... 2 years ago our boy's basketball team beat your boys twice during the season. The next year, YOUR TEAM, refused to schedule us. Using your logic, does that mean that you all are cowards too? I don't think so.

 

 

I apologize for my miswording. Maybe coward wasnt the best word to use but I cant think of anything else to use. Why else would you end a football rivalry after years and years of playing? Its not money. The gate is going to be higher for an Alcoa-WB game then a WB-Seymour game. Its not a record thing because WB hasnt really improved on their record since dropping Alcoa from their schedule. I guess we can say it was a cheap move because with the BC school dropping Alcoa due to their success it really put Alcoa in a hard spot and a great financial one having to travel or pay teams to travel to play us.

 

As for the basketball comment, I dont see why Alcoa should play WB in anything. From my knowledge WB was dropped from most if not all sports because of their refusal to play in football. It was an eye for a eye thing. All 4 county schools should play each other in all sports necessary.

[lowkee]

I apologize for my miswording. Maybe coward wasnt the best word to use but I cant think of anything else to use. Why else would you end a football rivalry after years and years of playing? Its not money. The gate is going to be higher for an Alcoa-WB game then a WB-Seymour game. Its not a record thing because WB hasnt really improved on their record since dropping Alcoa from their schedule. I guess we can say it was a cheap move because with the BC school dropping Alcoa due to their success it really put Alcoa in a hard spot and a great financial one having to travel or pay teams to travel to play us.

 

As for the basketball comment, I dont see why Alcoa should play WB in anything. From my knowledge WB was dropped from most if not all sports because of their refusal to play in football. It was an eye for a eye thing. All 4 county schools should play each other in all sports necessary.

WB does not play shs in football and you have to remember(Who was the coach that dropped ahs?) How can actions of one or few cause so much negativity towards an entire school. Has ahs talked with the new coach? Would it be scheduled now? I do not know do you?

[GoddardField]

WB does not play shs in football and you have to remember(Who was the coach that dropped ahs?) How can actions of one or few cause so much negativity towards an entire school. Has ahs talked with the new coach? Would it be scheduled now? I do not know do you?

 

Seymour was just a school pulled out of nowhere. I dont know who WB filled in their schedule with when they took Alcoa off. Also Im pretty sure the coaches dont get to pick and choose who they play. Im sure it was the Athletic Director that took Alcoa off the schedule. If Im not mistaken it was last year, possibly 2 years ago it was discussed to put Alcoa and William Blount back together and WBs AD was quoted as saying "it just doesnt fit what we're looking for" or something around that. WB was somewhat successful recently against Alcoa. Backing out of the games as Alcoa really started picking up steam just made WB (and Heritage) look bad. Again, coward was probably the wrong word to use but if I was WB or Heritage fans/faithful I would make some noise to bring Alcoa back onto their schedule. Playing a county rival for bragging rights and a darn good football team will do nothing but improve and help both county school in their football program.

[Rebelsman]

Here's another question I'm curious about. Have read about the success of this year's Fairview Midget team. Finally beat the Rebs (twice) for the first time in a long,long time. Is Fairview considered primarily a feeder program for WB? I know some of the program's teams use our facilities for practice.

 

Will WB get some, many, or most of these kids? And does it bother anyone else besides me that they wear "red and black"? Nothing personal to my Maryville friends, but it bugs me a little to see youth teams practicing on Friday nights on our campus, as fans are arriving at Governor games, wearing Maryville's colors.

 

I'm not saying they have to wear orange and blue ... but I could accept the old black and silver alot better than red and black.

 

Maybe it's just me, and if that is so, I'll say no more.

 

The long time head coach of the Fairview Raiders chose to change to those colors several years ago in an attempt to irritate the Rebs. I think it is a shame to exploit 9-12 year old children because of his childish disdain for Maryville.

 

(Or maybe he is truely a Maryville Rebel want to be )