Top 5 Boys teams in the State "03"

[mack6]

Anybody got the heads up this year on who to watch? I can't wait to see the Franklin Vs Brentwood and the Farragut vs Bearden. Actually that's probably your top 4 right there, and then I hear Houston is back, but they will have to come along way. Those 4 teams are basically as strong as they were last year..

[Guest]

Franklin and Farragut are the two schools to watch this year. Bearden and Brentwood will be good but they lost to much last year. Bearden should be tough but will not stay with Farragut , to much overall talent there and the program has a new look. Brentwood much to the glee of some lost their coach along with some great talent. New coach is a nice guy but he is new and that with the loss of leaders from last year team will put Franklin over them everytime this year. Don't know about the West but can anyone really imagine any team competeing with these 4 this year?

[Guest copamundial]

Are there any predictions from the west this year? Will Germantown dominate this year, or will Houston take back the reigns as they have the past couple of years?

[UPSGregg]

I think Clarksville High will be back in the top 5 again this year. They've actually been a top 5 team the past 4 or 5 years, if not more, but always found a way to choke or stumble so they wouldn't make it out of the Sectionals and wouldn't get noticed. If their coach does what he does traditionally, which is move a defender up to forward, then they should have another good goal scorer like he did with Drew Ward last year. Maybe now that they've gotten over the hump where they usually stumble then hopefully the'll be back at state. My top 5 in random order based on talent and tradition is...

 

Bearden

Clarksville High

Houston

Farragut

Franklin

 

Others could be....

[trackman]

Interesting. Clarksville wasn't listed anywhere before. You seem to know a lot about them cause I heard they graduated seven or eight people last year.

Was that the little red headed guy? He was quick as lightning.

Don't they have to go through Hendersonville, Gallatin, Brentwood, and Franklin to get to the state? I wouldn't consider that group to be easy. Stumble, choke? Rather interesting choice of words.

[UPSGregg]

Red headed guy was Drew Ward. Yes "choke" was what I meant because Clarksville has had teams as good as last year's before but wouldnt even make it out of the region. It is possible to choke against a traditional powerhouse such as Hendersonville. In fact, Clarksville used to have a tradition of choking against Hendersonville. At one point they were the only team that they had any kind of series with that Clarksville had never beaten in school history. The biggest choke was probably 1995 when CHS didn't have as much talent, but clearly had the better team but choked in the last few minutes...but that was with some much, much needed help from a certain ref that always wheres a turban. I should also ad that the Hendersonville tied the game in the 85th minute then went ahead a minute or two later on a busted offsides trap. There were no injuries that game that warranted that much extra time being added...LOL. Yes there is a possibily that they could have to go through Hendersonville, Gallitan, etc, depending on who makes it out of each district but Brentwood would only come in Sectionals I believe because they aren't in the same region anymore. So I think "choke" was a good choice but definately wouldn't apply to every single loss against such teams. That's for sure.

[trackman]

I thought that was him. He was a tough kid. Do you know what he's doing now? And are you telling me he was a defender? Why wasn't he up front before?

 

Also, why do you have them ranked so high? I thought they graduated a bunch? They didn't look that deep last year. But I don't know when I've ever seen a bunch of kids work harder on the field. If their skill matched their work rate, they'd be awesome.

 

You must be from Clarksville. Did I read somewhere that the Clarksville coach is retiring? And somebody from Germantown is replacing him?

[faninthestand]

For Franklin to be considered a top 5, has got to be based on tradition. The Rebels graduated 13 players from last years squad. That group won more games in a 4 year stretch than ever before. The squad will return the following, 4 seniors, 8 juniors, and 10 sophomores from last years varsity and JV. Of those getting Varsity action last year -the line - up will most likely look like 2 seniors, 6 juniors, and 3 soph's.

 

The group will be talented, but will have big shoes to fill. They learned a lot about winning last year but can they take that experiance and repeat it this year remains to be seen. The biggest question mark will be at Goal Keeper.

[Guest copamundial]

I guess the keeper graduated. He was good. But they had a couple of little guys in midfield too. Real good at holding the ball. They may be young but it seems like they always are.

 

What's Brentwood got coming back? Do they have a new coach? Did the big guy up front graduate? He was a real bear. Can't remember his name but can't forget him!

 

Hendersonville was down last year but still got out of the district. They will be young again too.

 

I hear Gallatin is loadedl They have gotten better and better. They may get over the hump this year. Smyrna will be a sleeper. May be best SHS team ever. But they have a weak schedule.

 

Clarksville lost a lot to graduation. They've got a couple of good ones back but lost too many to be a threat this year. Dickson may actually have a chance to finally beat Clarksville; although they've had better players before and managed to find a way to lose.

[UPSGregg]

You are right about Clarksville's work rate. If their skill matched their work rate then they'd be scary. What is funny though is that their coach has calmed down over the years a bit and hasn't been whipping them into shape like he used to do us. If he was still doing that then they wouldn't have ran out of gas in overtime against Bearden. Clarksville has always had talent but any lack of was more than made up for by the coach whipping them into shape. I remember he'd tell us to not bring the practice balls out to practice after a loss sometimes and we'd run and do pushups all day. Noone in Clarksville ever worries about how many players are lost to graduation cause it's never been a problem. I have them ranked so high cause I know how good they've been in the past but failed to get out of the region but now that they have went all the way then maybe that hurdle is gone. I'm hoping so anyway. I haven't heard about the coach retiring bu if it's true then I wouldnt be surprised if Mike Irby took over. I mean he is an alumn and played under coach Donahue and has a pretty good resume from Houston.

[Guest copamundial]

Clarksville's coach might retire? Wow. What a job to be up for grabs. Any Takers? That would be awesome if the coach from Houston came to Clarksville, but let's not start any rumors.

 

He's a pretty good coach, I understand. I know alot of basketball coaches and I'd say he's like Bob Knight with his outrageousness and strive for perfection. On the other hand he's successful. He's been there along time. Someone please back me up on this. I mean he must be, if he's thinking of retiring. He also reminds me of Dean Smith because despite his lack of championships he continues to win.

 

The teams with the outsanding coaches will make it again this year. Donahue at Clarksville, Lanier at MBA, Dieterich at Father Ryan, Irby at Houston, Plummer at Hendersonville, and Culbreth at Farragut. I'm not putting down coach Turner at Bearden either for he's done a fabulous job and they should be on top again. In fact it wouldn't surprise me if they won it a third time.

 

But someone respond. I'm not stirring anything, I'm simply giving kudos to those who are familiar to me. Good luck in a few months to those teams and others around. The big dance is starting to heat up.

 

And to Coach Irby; If you read this then let me tell you a jump from Houston to Clarksville might be a record downer, but it would be like a storybook ending and beginning. You might be able to take something there that they don't have or don't know. You're a heck of a coach and personally I'd like to see either go there or to a college like a D1 school or something (if you went to Clarksville, that might just be the icing on the cake and a serious downer for other schools.) Like Wooden at UCLA. Hey there's another one!

 

My top 5:

 

1 Bearden

2 Farragut

3 Houston

4 Franklin

5 Brentwood

[trackman]

Thanks for the info. I just thought I'd heard it or read it somewthere.

 

He's been at Clarksville at least 20 years.

 

Why would a guy leave Germantown to go to Clarksville? That's like leaving Hollywood for Hohenwald.

[Edited by trackman on 1-9-03 10:41A]