What happened to the old Rutherford 7AAA powers?

[thegreatone36]

Anybody that watched or played against Rutherford County in the 2000's to early 2010's knows that Blackman Oakland Riverdale Smyrna & even Siegel were all very good teams, all at the same time. There was very little separation between 1st place to 5th in that old District.

There wasn't any true cupcakes in that district to whip on weekly. Their only cupcake in 7AAA (Lavergne) could still win games against other districts besides their own back then. But now, its blatantly obvious that there is one very good team (Oakland) and the others are just losing to teams they wouldve Mercy Ruled a few years back.

So...is Oakland getting every ounce of the good talent in that enormous area? It doesn't make sense just how much the others have fallen off. 

What's your opinions on this?

[MidTennFootball]

49 minutes ago, thegreatone36 said:

Anybody that watched or played against Rutherford County in the 2000's to early 2010's knows that Blackman Oakland Riverdale Smyrna & even Siegel were all very good teams, all at the same time. There was very little separation between 1st place to 5th in that old District.

There wasn't any true cupcakes in that district to whip on weekly. Their only cupcake in 7AAA (Lavergne) could still win games against other districts besides their own back then. But now, its blatantly obvious that there is one very good team (Oakland) and the others are just losing to teams they wouldve Mercy Ruled a few years back.

So...is Oakland getting every ounce of the good talent in that enormous area? It doesn't make sense just how much the others have fallen off. 

What's your opinions on this?

 Coaching. Oakland is miles ahead of everyone in RuCo in that regard. There is plenty of talent distributed around the area, but none of the staffs are good enough to maximize it. 

10 years ago you had Shadowens (Blackman), Aydellot (Riverdale) , Williams (Smyrna, who was pretty much loaded every year), Wyant ( Siegel, with Steve Matthews as OC). That's a huge dropoff from now. Smyrna doesn't get the talent they used to, partially because of Stewarts  Creek. Case could be made that LaVergne now has the 2nd best coach in the county.

Even if Creasy left, all they would have to do is promote Stephen Jackson and they wouldn't miss a beat. They do have the biggest talent base to draw on without a doubt, but it's not like their getting to handpick their talent.

Everybody wants to run what is popular these days, which plays to Oakland's strengths. You want a chance to beat Oakland? You line up in 12 or 22 personnel and hit them in the mouth. Easier said than done, but unless your name is Maryville, your not gonna beat them in space, they're just  too fast and too well coached

[nrgrizzlies]

The addition of Rockvale and Stewie has diluted many of the zones plus a certain private school from Nashville recruiting and poaching some of the talent has not stopped.  At least last fall people saw their bus making regular pickups and drop-offs near I-24 exits in Rutherford County.

[REBELRON]

Blackman not been the same since Shad left.  That team in 2013 was by far the best team Maryville saw that year. Of course it helps to have players like Juwan Jennings also. Oakland getting Kevin Creasy has made them a lot better.

[MichaelMyers76]

1 hour ago, nrgrizzlies said:

The addition of Rockvale and Stewie has diluted many of the zones plus a certain private school from Nashville recruiting and poaching some of the talent has not stopped.  At least last fall people saw their bus making regular pickups and drop-offs near I-24 exits in Rutherford County.

There are at least two different busses heading to RuCo. Used to  be three but one coach went to  another school...….. that  already had a  route down there.

[fredjones]

Its easier to name the privates that don't send busses than those that do.

[Red Rebels]

21 hours ago, fredjones said:

Its easier to name the privates that don't send busses than those that do.

So private schools have student buses? This is the first I've ever heard of this. I don't think any do this in East TN.

[PurplePanther]

most privates in the Nashville area have a bus with a few exceptions.

[FBfan26]

1 hour ago, Red Rebels said:

So private schools have student buses? This is the first I've ever heard of this. I don't think any do this in East TN.

Yes Sir welcome to middle TN

[fredjones]

4 hours ago, Red Rebels said:

So private schools have student buses? This is the first I've ever heard of this. I don't think any do this in East TN.

I'm sure that there is an Irish bus some where

[Red Rebels]

45 minutes ago, fredjones said:

I'm sure that there is an Irish bus some where

They just fly them in on game day.

[chs1984]

On 8/23/2020 at 9:13 AM, thegreatone36 said:

Anybody that watched or played against Rutherford County in the 2000's to early 2010's knows that Blackman Oakland Riverdale Smyrna & even Siegel were all very good teams, all at the same time. There was very little separation between 1st place to 5th in that old District.

There wasn't any true cupcakes in that district to whip on weekly. Their only cupcake in 7AAA (Lavergne) could still win games against other districts besides their own back then. But now, its blatantly obvious that there is one very good team (Oakland) and the others are just losing to teams they wouldve Mercy Ruled a few years back.

So...is Oakland getting every ounce of the good talent in that enormous area? It doesn't make sense just how much the others have fallen off. 

What's your opinions on this?

And even in the 90’s they were tough. Riverdale beat us (Cleveland) soundly at our place in the 92 second round. Our 95 semifinal game at Smyrna remains one of the three best games that I was ever a part of. Talk about a hard fought win.