Whitehaven-Maryville, Covington-Fulton news

Here are a couple of stories dealing with the games:

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/nov/30/whos-the-underdog-maryville-brings-history-to-6a/?partner=RSS

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/nov/30/fulton-covington-tuned-in-to-opposing-tailbacks/?partner=RSS

Whitehaven-Maryville news

Here are a couple of articles on Whitehaven from the Daily Times. It's always good to see what people in different parts of the state think about the teams from our area.

http://www.thedailytimes.com/Sports_News/story/Tigers-roster-fully-loaded-with-D1-talent-id-030255


http://www.thedailytimes.com/Sports_News/story/Its-not-revenge-Whitehaven-happy-to-have-Rebel-rematch-id-030256

State championship previews

Blue Cross Bowl 
Tennessee Tech University
Cookeville
All games can be seen locally on WKNO Channel 10

D2-A
Thursday, November 29
3 PM
ECS (6-6) vs Knoxville Webb (11-1)

The all-time series between the two schools is in favor of Webb 4-3. ECS won the first 3 meetings, including a double-double in 2005, beating the Spartans in the regular season and again in the state title game. Webb pulled off the double-double of their own in 2006, winning the state championship on a 44 yd FG with 4 seconds left. ECS has seen their season end at the hands of the Spartans 2 of the last 3 years back in 2009 & 10. Webb went on to win state titles in each of those years.

Webb is going to be hard to stop. They run the wing-T attack to perfection and come into the game averaging almost 39 pts/gm. (1 game was a forfeit). They have been held to under 35 points just twice in 11 games. They beat Knoxville Catholic 13-0 and lost to perennial power Alcoa 14-7 in the season opener. The Spartans are led by Mr. Football winner Todd Kelly, Jr. He has 1,003 yds rushing on the year on just 86 carries (11.7/carry). Kelly has 29 TD's on the year (21-rushing, 5-receiving, 2-punt return, 1-interception return). If you key on Kelly then Aaron Blance will beat you. Blance is averaging 10 yds/carry with 784 yds on the year on 78 carries. The Spartans get it done on defense as well as they have held 8 of their 11 opponents to 7 points or less.

Don't let the 6-6 record deceive you: This ECS team is pretty good. They had to forfeit a win due to using an ineligible player. 4 of the losses came by a total of 13 points combined. In this year of redemption via the rematch, they have done pretty well. The Eagles have avenged losses to both Fayette Academy and St. George's in the regular season by defeating them in the playoffs. ECS is led by Mr. Football finalists QB Brent Rooker and FB/LB Walker Jones. They are averaging almost 27 pts/gm and only allowing just under 13 pts/gm. ECS runs the spread and runs it very well behind Rooker. The senior is completing 66% of his passes for over 2300 yds with 20 TD's and only 5 INT. He has also rushed for 11 TD's as well.

Shelby Metro Bias...

To further prove that there is a bias towards players from the Shelby Metro area, check this out. I am just going to post numbers to compare without telling you the names. I am not telling you what team they play for although if you follow HS football you should be able to figure it out. I am not telling you what college they are going to or which colleges are interested in them because that should not be a determining factor in this award. You decide who the winner of the award should be by leaving your choice in the comment selection below. Please leave your name. I will tell you who the players are later on.

Choose one:

Player A
107 tackles, 26 tackles for loss, 9 sacks

Player B
48 tackles, 17 tackles for loss, 7 sacks

Choose one:

Player C
2,378 yds rushing (9.6/carry) 38 total TD

Player D
205-317 (65% ) for 2699 yds passing 34 TD 4 INT, 38 TD's total

Choose one:

Player E
76 carries-997 yds (13.1/carry) 20 TD 25 TD's total

Player F
129 carries-702 yds (5.4/carry) 11 TD
162-246 (66%) 2319 yds 20 TD 5 INT 31 TD's total

Shelby Metro area shut out at Mr. Football awards

The Shelby Metro area was well represented with 9 out of 33 finalists in the various classifications yet failed to bring home a single award. It is hard for me to comprehend how this could be. You have a player on the verge on breaking the all time single season rushing record in state history in Mark Dodson yet he doesn't win. You have a QB that has simply had an amazing year in Jordan Rodgers (3,000 yds, 34 TD 4 INT) yet he doesn't win. As I watched the awards online and heard the bio's of the players, one thing struck me. There were numerous mentions of what a player had done in past years. I thought that this award was for what happened during this year. It's not supposed to be a career award but there are media across the state that don't realize this.

Why is is this happening? Has the Shelby Metro area been slighted once again? It is very obvious that overall the most of the schools here don't take football as seriously as they do in the middle and eastern parts of the state. I think this equation sums it up best:  FB in middle and east TN = Basketball in Shelby Metro. The majority of people in the rest of the state think that since we don't win very many state titles in football, we must not be any good. That's wrong.  

Every coach and media member across the state gets a say so in nominating players for this award. Some do a very good job and some don't give it the time of day. I think that we need to do a better job of promoting our players for these type awards by communicating with each other (media and schools) and making sure they get the recognition that they deserve.  Until we do this, we can't complain when we get shut out of major awards such as Mr. Football.

There are 8 championship games being played in Cookeville starting this Thursday and we have a chance to bring home 4 state titles. Win those and they will know we can play a little football down here and aren't just waiting until the start of basketball season.

2012 Blue Cross Bowl schedule

All games are at Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville and can be viewed in the Memphis area on WKNO Channel 10.

Thursday, November 29

3:00 PM
D2-A
ECS vs Knoxville Webb

7:00 PM
D2-AA
MUS vs Ensworth

Friday, November 30

11:00 AM
1A
Gordonsville vs Huntingdon

3:00 PM
3A
CAK vs Milan

7:00 PM
5A
Columbia vs Beech

Saturday, December 1

11:00 AM
2A
Friendship Christian vs Adamsville

3:00 PM
4A
Covington vs Fulton

7:00 PM
6A
Whitehaven vs Maryville

Here is the official press release from the TSSAA:

Cookeville, Tennessee (November 28, 2012) – Sixteen of the best high school football teams in Tennessee will take the field Thursday, November 29 – Saturday, December 1 in the 2012 BlueCross Bowl℠, the TSSAA’s Football state championships in Cookeville, Tennessee.  The TSSAA Network has partnered with the seven Tennessee Public Television Council stations to broadcast all the championship action LIVE throughout the state.  The games will also be streamed LIVE on ESPN3 and archived for on demand viewing at www.TSSAANetwork.com.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to broadcast all eight of our football championships to every home in Tennessee through the Tennessee Public Television stations, and to make the games available to fans worldwide through ESPN3 and TSSAAnetwork.com,” said Bernard Childress, Executive Director for TSSAA.  “This is an amazing opportunity for the participating high schools, athletes, and the TSSAA.”

The TSSAA Network is a partnership between the TSSAA and PlayOn! Sports that features live and on-demand coverage of high school sports in Tennessee across television and the Internet.  The TSSAAnetwork.com video portal is one component of the partnership and gives fans access, at no charge, to a wide variety of events including the recent TSSAA Girls’ Volleyball and Soccer Championships, the Cheer & Dance Championships, and the Tennessee Titans Mr. Football Awards. 

All football state championship games will broadcast LIVE from Tennessee Tech University on the seven Tennessee Public Television Council stations, including Chattanooga, Cookeville, Martin/Jackson, Tri-Cities, Knoxville, Memphis, and Nashville.  The stations and over-the-air broadcast channel numbers are provided below, but check local listings for the channel number on your cable or satellite provider.

WTCI–TV Chattanooga  |  Channel 45

WCTE–TV Cookeville  |  Channel 22

WLJT–TV Martin/Jackson  | Channel 11

WETP–TV Tri-Cities  |  Channel 2

WKOP–TV Knoxville  |  Channel 15

WKNO–TV Memphis  |  Channel 10

WNPT–TV Nashville  |  Channel 8

Watch the Mr. Football Awards ceremony

Remember to go to www.playonsports.com to watch the Tennessee Titans Mr. Football Awards ceremony from Murfressboro at 11 AM today. We will post the results as soon as they are announced.