CAK vs. Darlington (Rome,GA)

[FootballDad]

What was the score when Smith was injured??

I am not sure, but I believe it was 35-9 or 35-17. It was in the 3rd qtr. It happened when J.Smith had clearly beaten the Darlington secondary deep for what appeared was going to be a long scoring pass. But the DB managed to get a hand in and break up the pass at the last second. J.Smith fell to the ground and the DB landed on top of him while #25 was in an awkward position. Thats when it happened according to #25 himself. He tried to play a couple more plays before coming off the field. As far as the opinion that he shouldn't have been in the game at that point, I humbly disagree. There was still a lot of football to be played and Darlington had shown to be a capable team offensively. Of course if you knew he would break his collar bone falling to the ground in the 3rd qtr. with the game still undecided then of course you would put him on the sideline and keep throwing the ball to #16 & #5. It's unfortunate for him and the team, but these things happen and I don't think it was any oversight or lack of team management by the coaches that contributed to it. If there had been a running clock and we were in the 4th qtr, then I would have a different opinion.

[FootballDad]

Agreed Football Dad, it's just a shame the two can't seem to get together on a consistent basis. I also agree CAK is on the rise and taking off my Spartan glasses I would predict CAK would most likely handle Webb this year. Enough about this, good luck to CAK the rest of the way.

Thanks and good luck to your Spartans as well. I predict you all will have another great season. Webb certainly has one of the best programs around.

[FootballDad]

As explosive as he is as a wide receiver and punt returner, I think they will miss him more at safety. They try to restrict his reps at safety to reduce chance of injury, ironically. I believe I'm correct that the AC back last week had all his long runs when #25 was out.

Thats certainly not a stretch and a good analysis. While his explosiveness will be GREATLY missed, the offense still has plenty of weapons. But now we have lost the comfort of being able to put him at safety and knowing that he can limit the number of big plays before inserting most of the offensive players on the defense. He was also our punter, holder and best punt returner

[checkerboard]

Thats certainly not a stretch and a good analysis. While his explosiveness will be GREATLY missed, the offense still has plenty of weapons. But now we have lost the comfort of being able to put him at safety and knowing that he can limit the number of big plays before inserting most of the offensive players on the defense. He was also our punter, holder and best punt returner

 

Yeah, a punter with a 53 yard average will be hard to replace.

[CAKDUDE]

What does CAK gain by playing Webb, they give scholarships. If they would remove the players who are on aid when playing CAK, I say play them.If we beat them its not a big deal. Most folks in Knoxville don't follow Webb, they get very little coverage in the local paper and the teams they play in their division are smaller than Grace .We need to play public schools if at all possible or privates who play in the public leauge.

[FootballDad]

What does CAK gain by playing Webb, they give scholarships. If they would remove the players who are on aid when playing CAK, I say play them.If we beat them its not a big deal. Most folks in Knoxville don't follow Webb, they get very little coverage in the local paper and the teams they play in their division are smaller than Grace .We need to play public schools if at all possible or privates who play in the public leauge.

The first thing we gain is a willing opponent to help fill an increasingly difficult task of getting 5 non-district games. The last go around of 2 year contracts required Coach Bradley to call over 90 schools and he was on the brink of having to settle for playing less than a full schedule. This go around of scheduling most likely will prove to be even tougher. Webb is located within 1 mile of our campus, so very low transportation cost. Compare the cost of traveling to Webb vs traveling to LaVergne or Lexington, KY. They have a similar enrollment size and are not 4 or 5 times larger. They have a tradition rich football program and would be a very tough opponent. I believe playing Alcoa twice a year for the past several years is one of the key reasons our Warrior football program has improved so rapidly. Playing good competition should make us better. I understand the various arguments of not playing schools who offer financial aide to athletes (although its my understanding the team we just played, Darlington, offers scholarships) or taking on such challenging opponents in addition to playing in the very same district as Alcoa. The TSSAA playoff guidelines for qualification and seeding add to the concerns. I do understand those arguments. I am merely giving some logical explanations of what CAK could gain by playing Webb. Again, I do not expect that to happen anytime soon, so really this is just a rhetorical debate.

[OHS34]

Shouldn have been playin with that score

I agree and was saying the same thing at the AC game, hate it for 25.

[checkerboard]

I agree and was saying the same thing at the AC game, hate it for 25.

 

Do you also think that Andy Long, the AC running back should have been playing?

[OHS34]

Do you also think that Andy Long, the AC running back should have been playing?

put the stir stick up, just made a comment about a team being up 3 scores and their D1 reciever, safety, punter, kick returner is still in the game. Kids can get hurt with the game well in hand, and now it has happened. I also see your point, but when your losing nobody notices.

[CAKDUDE]

The first thing we gain is a willing opponent to help fill an increasingly difficult task of getting 5 non-district games. The last go around of 2 year contracts required Coach Bradley to call over 90 schools and he was on the brink of having to settle for playing less than a full schedule. This go around of scheduling most likely will prove to be even tougher. Webb is located within 1 mile of our campus, so very low transportation cost. Compare the cost of traveling to Webb vs traveling to LaVergne or Lexington, KY. They have a similar enrollment size and are not 4 or 5 times larger. They have a tradition rich football program and would be a very tough opponent. I believe playing Alcoa twice a year for the past several years is one of the key reasons our Warrior football program has improved so rapidly. Playing good competition should make us better. I understand the various arguments of not playing schools who offer financial aide to athletes (although its my understanding the team we just played, Darlington, offers scholarships) or taking on such challenging opponents in addition to playing in the very same district as Alcoa. The TSSAA playoff guidelines for qualification and seeding add to the concerns. I do understand those arguments. I am merely giving some logical explanations of what CAK could gain by playing Webb. Again, I do not expect that to happen anytime soon, so really this is just a rhetorical debate.

[checkerboard]

put the stir stick up, just made a comment about a team being up 3 scores and their D1 reciever, safety, punter, kick returner is still in the game. Kids can get hurt with the game well in hand, and now it has happened. I also see your point, but when your losing nobody notices.

 

Not trying to stir. Just asking a question. Obviously, the AC coach thought the game was still within reach by the way CAK's defense was playing.

[CAKDUDE]

Sir, with all due respect, i can appreciate your post, but I have been involved with the Webb games for many years, and again listen to what I am saying other than travel,how do we benifit playing them, they will allways have players on aid and they will run the single wing, which we do not prepare for during the season. Why dont we pay some 5A or 6A schools to play us, we would make it up at the gate. As far as Darlington giving aid, that once was true, but when Ga dedcided to drop the multiplier, they did away with alowing privates to give aid. If were going to play Webb, then lets go division 2, so we are on a equal playing field. When Webb played Alcoa, the open zone deal was the equalizer for Alcoa. If Alcoa didn't have a open zone policy, Webb would have destroyed them. Check the roster on Alcoa and you will see there are kids from allover Blount County and it least one or two from Knox.

Signed

The Dude