Sale Creek Panthers

[Headhunter42]

Report is that this new football program will jump right in the fire and play a varsity schedule after initial reports of playing a JV schedule for two years. Can they be competitive in a pretty tough region with both South Pitt and Marion, Lookout Valley and Whitwell? I know they have had some decent basketball and baseball teams through the years and some athletic kids but chances are most of the kids have never played football or at least not played in several years. Schedule looks pretty good for a first year program with only two teams with a winning record last however, both of those teams are district teams. With the lack of success from the two surrounding schools Rhea County and Soddy Daisy would a new start at a new school be enticing for kids that may not start at one of these stuggling larger schools? Anyone with any information regarding the program Staff? Athletes? Community support? Lets here what everyone thinks??

[PurpleGrad]

This is definitely not a good year to be coming into the region as a first year team. There are two schools of thought... 1) they could play JV for a couple of years and ease into varsity play. This would save some embarrassing loses and potential injuries. 2) they could go ahead and jump into varsity play, throw caution to the wind and grow as a team through the hard knocks and bumps that will come their way.

 

Personally, I like the idea of playing a varsity schedule right off the bat. Even though Marion and South Pitt will be lop sided losses, I believe that you get better by playing better competition.

 

I've heard that the TSSAA wouldn't let them play a JV schedule for two years like Sigbal Mountain did. Don't know how true tht is. Maybe someone on here from Sale Creek can confirm.

[SDGradSDPlayerSDFan]

Good afternoon. I can clear a couple of things up for you guys.

 

Initially the plan was to launch as a J. V. program. We wanted to play 1 year of JV, and then move the program to varsity. This was because of 15 current sophmores who will be juniors signed up to play next fall. But, when we contacted TSSAA, we found out that 2013 was the first year of a two year scheduling cycle. If we launched JV, it would have to be for 2 years. Those 15 juniors would have been allowed to play as juniors, but would not have been allowed to play as seniors, since we would still be a JV program in the fall of 2014.

 

While we were mulling this over, and already thinking it wouldn't be fair to those kids to let them play their junior year but not their senior year, the coaching staff was approached by a group of 12 rising seniors that wanted to be a part of the team. They said they would be the practice team, or the scout team, and would do whatever they could do to be able to be part of Sale Creek's first high school football team even though they knew that they would never get to play in any games. So, the coaches sat down with the principal, and the decision was made to launch varsity and not tell these kids that they were too old to play. We contacted TSSAA, and were approved to launch as a varsity program.

 

We are looking forward to playing this fall. We have a steep learning curve with most of the kids, and we know that we are going to be facing some very talented and far more experienced teams. Our middle school program is only 3 years old. Most of our juniors and seniors have not played in 2 - 3 years minimum, and some not since kid's club. Some coaches would say that is too much to overcome. However, when a new coach takes over a program, he often has to change the way the players did things, or break bad habits in order to implement their systems. Our kids don't have any bad habits to break, they just have to learn what we teach them. One step at a time.

[TheAmbassador]

Good luck this year coach.

[rlh]

Glad to see Sale Creek with a team. I figured they would have had one long before now. That said, I believe Sale Creek will be very competitive in 1a in a short time. The Sale Creek High I remember from their basketball dynasty years had some serious speed. In fact, they were the only team in the old District 6A that had all the Sequatchie Valley schools in it that could run up and down the court any given year with a Sam Brooks coached team.

Edited April 1, 2013 by rlh

[FootballFan51]

Congrats to the coaches and players for having the guts to step up and play varsity in year one. That is commendable. SP and MC will be very tough opponents - hopefully those coaches will realize that this is a new program and call the dogs off early.

[BurtWonderstone]

What about the Coaching staff? I know Ron Cox is the head coach but does anyone have names of any assitants.

[Headhunter42]

I know a lot of people wanna keep it a secret but what type offensive and defensive philosophies should we expect out of the Panthers? How many kids are out and does the community seem to be supportive?

[SDGradSDPlayerSDFan]

I know a lot of people wanna keep it a secret but what type offensive and defensive philosophies should we expect out of the Panthers? How many kids are out and does the community seem to be supportive?

 

 

The Sale Creek community is very supportive. They have wanted a team for a while, now, especially since the middle school program launched. Of course there are those that don't like it, and thats to be expected, because they have always been a basketball and baseball school. The kids coming out of middle school's only choice to keep playing football was to co-op with Hixson High School, which is a 25 minute drive, or transfer schools. We have just over 50 kids working out right now.

 

It would be too early to talk about the offense and defense to be employed by the Panthers. So far, the coaches have only seen the players in the weight room, working out and conditioning. As you well know, it doesn't matter what you look like in the weight room, or running drills, when the pads go on, things change. The coaching staff is taking an open minded approach to what we will run. We have to choose a system on offense and defense that fits our players. We can not cram our systems onto players that don't fit well and expect success.

 

As the O. C., I can tell you, I am ready to install and teach anything from a Shotgun, 5 wide passing attack, to a double tight end Power I. Whatever fits the kids is what we will run. Our D. C. thinks the same way. We have athletes, for sure, but their football knowledge and skills are low. Once we see the kids in spring practice, alot of decisions will be made. We have multiple directions we are prepared to go in, and as a staff, we will decide which way to go once we see them in action.

 

Sorry that doesn't tell you much, but thats the situation.

[TheAmbassador]

 

 

 

The Sale Creek community is very supportive. They have wanted a team for a while, now, especially since the middle school program launched. Of course there are those that don't like it, and thats to be expected, because they have always been a basketball and baseball school. The kids coming out of middle school's only choice to keep playing football was to co-op with Hixson High School, which is a 25 minute drive, or transfer schools. We have just over 50 kids working out right now.

 

It would be too early to talk about the offense and defense to be employed by the Panthers. So far, the coaches have only seen the players in the weight room, working out and conditioning. As you well know, it doesn't matter what you look like in the weight room, or running drills, when the pads go on, things change. The coaching staff is taking an open minded approach to what we will run. We have to choose a system on offense and defense that fits our players. We can not cram our systems onto players that don't fit well and expect success.

 

As the O. C., I can tell you, I am ready to install and teach anything from a Shotgun, 5 wide passing attack, to a double tight end Power I. Whatever fits the kids is what we will run. Our D. C. thinks the same way. We have athletes, for sure, but their football knowledge and skills are low. Once we see the kids in spring practice, alot of decisions will be made. We have multiple directions we are prepared to go in, and as a staff, we will decide which way to go once we see them in action.

 

Sorry that doesn't tell you much, but thats the situation.

As The Ambassador I can tell you that sounds like a pretty good plan.

[Headhunter42]

Who all is on the coaching staff and what is there experience and background? Will there be a JV team in addition to varsity?

[SDGradSDPlayerSDFan]

Head Coach: Ron Cox (last 4 years at Soddy Daisy Middle School, last 3 as Head Coach)

 

Asst. H. C / Offensive Coordinator / Quarterbacks: Roy Shipley (last 3 years at SDMS as OC, played offensive tackle for Army, spent 1 year as Grad. Assistant at Army with O-Line prior to military committment)

 

Defensive Coordinator / Middle Linebackers: Rickey Gilley (Ridgeland High School - JV Defensive Coordinator, played linebacker at Maryville College and Strong Safety at University of Cumberlands)

 

Offensive and Defensive Line Coach: Justin Pugh (Soddy Daisy High School)

 

WR / DB Coach: Micah Hughes (Baylor)

 

RB / Outside Linebackers: Mike Montgomery (Tyner High School)

 

We plan to play a full JV schedule along with our varsity schedule.

Edited April 2, 2013 by SDGradSDPlayerSDFan