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Friday Night Football Scores
Oct 12, 2007Lebanon 37, Virginia High 3
Lee High 40, John Battle 21
Castlewood 61, Ervinton 22
Twin Springs 26, Coeburn 7
Thomas Walker 25, Rye Cove 6
Chilhowie 26, Patrick Henry 7
George Wythe 42, Holston 0
Rural Retreat 59, Northwood 7
Powell Valley 21, J.J. Kelly 13
Abingdon 42, Grundy 6
Carroll County 27, Marion 14
St. Paul 46, Big Creek 36
Appalachia 40, Shelby Valley 22
J.I. Burton 32, Honaker 14
Gate City 28, Clintwood 17
Pound 40, Twin Valley 7
Tug Valley 40, Hurley 6
Tennessee High 36, Johnson County 17
Sullivan South 56, Sullivan East 6
Sullivan Central 16, Unicoi County 14
Elizabethton 28, Sullivan North 20
Dobyns-Bennett 30, Sevier County 6
Jefferson County 16, Science Hill 14
Posted by Brian T. Smith Sullivan South 56, Sullivan East 6
Oct 12, 2007Check Saturday’s BHC for the full write-up. Here’s a quick recap and some notes:
Rough night for the Patriots.
Big, big night for Rebels quarterback Curt Phillips.
Phillips was 8-of-12 passing for 107 yards and four touchdowns. He also ran 10 times for 112 yards and two touchdowns. And he did it all by barely stepping on the field in the fourth quarter.
Phillips wasn’t perfect. He failed to check off a couple times, threw an interception, and nearly had two more passes picked off. This said, he absolutely dominated East, and looked like a men among boys.
And Phillips wasn’t the only Rebel to come up big. Taylor Fletcher ran for 133 yards and one touchdown on 10 carries, while South’s defense held East to just two first downs.
Up 14-0 after the first quarter, South took a 28-6 lead into halftime. Then Phillips and Fletcher drove it home.
Fletcher broke four tackles and ran across the field for a 36-yard burst on the Rebels’ first play from scrimmage after the break.
Phillips then made it 34-6 when he turned an up-the-middle scramble into a 16-yard touchdown run.
“We gave a good beating to a good football team, so maybe we’ll start getting a little respect,” said South coach Stacy Carter. “I think we can play with just about anybody around.”
The Rebels rushed 36 times for 298 yards, and totaled 405 offensive yards.
“That’s what happens when you have our offensive line,” Fletcher said.
Sullivan South 56, Sullivan East 6
Sullivan East 0 6 0 0—6
Sullivan South 14 14 21 7—56
Scoring Summary
SS—Ty Garvin 16 pass from Curt Phillips (Jordan Willingham kick)
SS—Seth Johnson 13 pass from Phillips (Willingham kick)
SS—Kaleb Kitzmiller 16 pass from Phillips (Willingham kick)
SE—Caleb Looney 74 run (Kick failed)
SS—Taylor Fletcher 11 run (Willingham kick)
SS—Phillips 16 run (Willingham kick)
SS—Phillips 15 run (Willingham kick)
SS—Kitzmiller 38 pass from Phillips (Willingham kick)
SS—Brad Shanks 8 run (Willingham kick)
Team Stats
First Downs: SE 2, SS 18; Rushes-Yards: SE 16-172, SS 36-298; Passing Yards: SE 18, SS 107; Comp-Att-Int: SE 2-9-2, SS 8-12-1; Fumbles-Lost: SE 0-0, SS 1-1; Punts-Yards SE 2-45, SS 0-0.
Touchdown Friday Night
Oct 12, 2007About 2 1/2 hours until kickoff for local high school football teams. Here are some things to look for tonight:
--- Sullivan East is off to a 5-1 start but the Patriots will get their biggest test of the season when they travel to Colonial Heights to face Curt Phillips-led Sullivan South.
--- Will Sullivan Central end its 16-game losing streak at Unicoi County?
--- Lebanon will travel to Virginia High in an important Clinch Mountain District contest. Lebanon head coach Jon Adams formerly coached at Virginia High and led the Bearcats to a Highlands District crown during his time at the Bristol school.
--- Chilhowie running back Robert Gonzalez transferred to the Smyth County school this season. He’ll play his former team tonight as the Warriors travel to PH.
--- Powell Valley travels to J.J. Kelly in a crucial Lonesome Pine District contest. Both schools are in dire need of a victory if they want to reach the postseason.
--- There are four winless teams in Southwest Virginia at the present time. One of those schools will break into the win column as Pound (0-6) travels to Twin Valley (0-6).
--- Honaker has one of the best running backs in the area in Logan Ball. Will that be enough for the Tigers to upset J.I. Burton tonight? Burton (6-0) is the only unbeaten team in Southwest Virginia.
--- Clintwood’s contest at Gate City could be an old-school clash. Both teams rely on hard-hitting defenses and tough-running running backs. Crucial VHSL power points are also at stake.
Posted by Tim Hayes Who’s paying attention in blog land?
Oct 11, 2007We’re going to see just who’s paying attention in blog land tonight and pick Saturday’s SEC winners.
Tennessee at Mississippi State: On paper, this seems like a perfect letdown spot for the Volunteers, which played their first good game of the season last week in stomping Georgia. And the Bulldogs are 4-2 and playing in Starkville, so the chance of an upset exists. But Tennessee has more talent, more diversity on offense and motivation, thanks to MSU coach Sylvester Croom’s claims that the Vols “had better put nine men in the box” to stop the Bulldogs’ power running game. I’m willing to bet UT isn’t resting on its laurels of one week. Tennessee 24, Mississippi State 13.
Alabama at Mississippi: If the first three weeks were a honeymoon for Crimson Tide fans and new coach Nick Saban, the last three have been a dose of reality. Alabama snapped its two-game losing streak last week but had to stop a last-play pass into the end zone to hold off Houston. If the Tide have to go down to the last play this week against the Rebels, something’s up. Its shutout win against Louisiana Tech aside, Ole Miss simply isn’t very good, aside from NFL-ready left tackle Michael Oher. Alabama 27, Mississippi 14.
South Carolina at North Carolina: The best thing to happen for the Gamecocks might have been the Tar Heels’ upset of Miami last week. If nothing else, it serves as a warning shot—be ready to play or you’ll lose in Chapel Hill, too. South Carolina’s offense may have turned a corner with freshman quarterback Chris Smelley, who’s played well and avoided killing mistakes in wins against Mississippi State and Kentucky. UNC is improving rapidly under coach Butch Davis but doesn’t quite have enough talent to win this one. South Carolina 31, North Carolina 20.
LSU at Kentucky: There’s no doubt the Tigers are the nation’s best team, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them lose a game, primarily because this league is so tough that they could come out without their “A” game and lose to someone playing at their best. If the Wildcats were a little more stout defensively, this might be that week. But Kentucky’s inability to consistently stop the opposition means LSU should piece together enough points to hold off Andre Woodson and Co. LSU 34, Kentucky 24.
Georgia at Vanderbilt: Two embarrassed teams are getting together in Nashville, with the loser’s East Division title hopes officially headed down the rabbit hole. It was stunning to see the Bulldogs offer little resistance last week in Knoxville, given their recent history of road success. It wasn’t quite as stunning to see the Commodores tank in their first road game at Auburn, although their defense played surprisingly badly against a pedestrian offense. If Vandy didn’t have QB issues, I’d seriously consider picking it. Georgia 20, Vanderbilt 14.
Auburn at Arkansas: In the non-LSU division of the SEC, Auburn currently looks like the best team. The Tigers now have tailback depth which can only be rivaled by LSU and Tennessee, as well as a mean defense which is playing with swagger. Last year’s 27-10 drumming against the Razorbacks in Auburn should only serve as an extra motivator. Arkansas has perhaps the nation’s best player in TB Darren McFadden but also can’t stop anyone who’s good, which is why it’s looking at an 0-3 start in the SEC. Auburn 28, Arkansas 20.
Remember, these picks are for entertainment only, not for wagering purposes ... so if you drop a bill or two on these games and lose, don’t blame your friendly neighborhood blogger!
ETSU Men’s Basketball: Interview with Coach Murry Bartow (Part One
Oct 10, 2007Sat down on Wednesday morning and chatted it up with Bucs men’s basketball coach Murry Bartow for 35 minutes.
Bartow’s desk was completely covered with notebooks, papers and forms. Coach was definitely at work.
Bartow was in a good, talkative mood, and he openly discussed ETSU’s upcoming season, last year’s tough finish, and the current state of the program. He also addressed ETSU’s lack of size in the post – the Bucs’ tallest player is 6-foot-9 senior forward Kenyona Swader – and the potential the Courtney Pigram-led Bucs have to make a serious run this year, among other things.
Full transcript of the interview follows. Thanks for reading, and enjoy.
Part One
BTS: What are you, the other coaches and the team going to be focusing on these next couple weeks before the season starts? What do you need to shore up before things start rolling?
Murry Bartow: Well, a lot of stuff. You know, we have a lot of incoming guys trying to mesh with returning guys. So that’s probably number one. ... We had a pretty good team last year, won 24 games, but didn’t really get done what we wanted to get done at the end.
BTS: Which is the second straight year that’s happened.
MB: Yeah, two straight years here at home. ... And in a league like we’re in, some leagues around here, Big South, Ohio Valley, Southern Conferenece – that we were in, A-Sun – which we’re in, just like I tell all my boosters, there’s only one team from our conference that’s gonna be in the NCAA tournament. It’s just so tight.
BTS: And you know that going in to every season, which is different than if you’re in the SEC, Big 12 ... You’ve got a shot, no matter how many good teams are in your conference.
MB: Yep. Right. So it’s tough. I guess the bottom line, when you’re in a league like we are, and with the rules of the game the way they are, you just can’t put all your eggs into that one basket. You can’t say ‘Well, we won 24 games, but we didn’t have a good year cause we didn’t ...’ No. We had a great year.
You can’t ... I mean, obviously, you want to get to the NCAA tournament every year. And the type of program we are, certainly there’s high expectations here to win. But at the same time, I would hate it if we ever got to a point where – last year as an example – it was ‘We didn’t have a good year because we didn’t make the tournament.’ It’s hard to make the tournament, because you’ve gotta win the darn [conference] tournament. So ... anyway.
BTS: Cause then you turn into the Yankees.
MB: (Laughs)
BTS: No, not in a bad way. In the sense that nothing’s ever good enough. Last year, you post 24 wins, come up short in the title game, and then, all of a sudden, the season’s a wash, and half of your fanbase is going to say ‘Hey, what happened?’
MB: Right, right.
I think if you look at the history of the program, the past 50-60 years, we’ve been to seven NCAA tournaments. And if you look at the history, 24 wins is a good year. It’s a really good year.
But anyways, we had a good record, but came up a little short. And we have a good returning team. A lot of good returning guys. A lot of new guys that are coming in. I think we have a chance to be pretty good, but we really have a brutally hard early schedule. So, we’ll see. We’ll see how it all plays out.
BTS: Coming off the last game of the ’06-07 season, one you and your coaches got together, what did you decide were your biggest issues to address and try and fix during the offseason?
MB: I think the biggest concern is the two guys we lost, [Brad] Knuckles and [Eryk] Thomas. And the biggest concern is defensively. Cause last year, we were a good defensive team. But our best two – certainly our best two post defenders – were Brad and Eryk. So you lose them, you don’t have them back.
The biggest issue with our team is defensively, especially in the post.
BTS: And that’s what I’m noticing. I’ve been to three of the early shootarounds, trying to get a feel for the guys. Seems like there’s a lot of energy, a lot of good, natural talent, and they’re coming together pretty well. But if you look at your roster right now, you top out a 6-foot-9. You have three 6-foot-8 guys, but no one who’s going to be a dominating center. And there’s ways to get around that. But that’s going to be the obvious question going into this season: how are you guys going to deal with a team who has a dominant low-post scorer.
MB: Yeah. And, um, the answer to that is … a lot of creativity, defensively. You know, we’ll have to trap more. Double the post more. Do some different things to try and cover that weakness. Cause that’s a … that’s no question a concern going in. We’ve got an experienced post defender in Andrew Reed. But he’s about 220 and doesn’t have a lot of bulk. But he’s very experienced, very smart.
You’ve got Blake Mishler, who’s about 220, who played last year, who’s got a little bit of experience. So there’s a little degree of experience there.
And, um, plus we’re just going to have to be creative and double more and do some different things to try to cover that.
BTS: Who are you excited about with some of the talent you have coming in? I was particularly impressed with the little I’ve seen of Jacolby Davis. Who do you feel like flew under the radar a little, you guys picked up, and they can maybe put up some big numbers or just help the team a lot this year?
MB: Well, I think the first guy is Kevin Tiggs. Quite frankly, I think he has a chance to be one of our better players. He just brings a great energy, and he was the Division II JuCo player of the year. He had many options to go many places, and we’re very fortunate that he came here. Number one, he’s a great kid. He has just a great demeanor, personality. Just a great way about him, which is … I can’t state that enough. Because I just think that his body language, his demeanor, is gonna be very infectious for the whole team. Just has a great way about him. Plus, he can fly.
Jacolby is a guy who should have a big year for us. Very athletic. Very tough. Very competitive. Both he and Kevin are very competitive. We’re a very defensive-minded team. We press a lot and pressure the ball and we’re big on deflections, and that’s kind of his deal.
BTS: Do you see (Jacolby) probably spelling Dequan (Twilley) or Courtney (Pigram) at the point?
MB: Too early to tell. I wouldn’t even begin to predict who would start.
BTS: But you’ll rotate those three?
MB: Yeah. Dequan played around 27 minutes last year as a freshman. So, between those three, I think the minutes at the point … we should be in pretty good shape between the three of them.
BTS: What about Mike Smith? He put up strong numbers as a freshman. And he seems like he has a great work ethic. A lot of intagibles – diving after loose balls, making the extra pass. And he was your best 3-point shooter last year.
MB: Mmm hmm. He should really help out.
BTS: Tying that in, let’s talk about your offense. Everyone I’ve talked to sees this team as playing up-tempo. But you’ve talked about also playing aggressive defense. Sometimes it’s hard to match the two up. Going into the season, what’s your take on how this team will work the best offensively?
MB: Well, we’re an up-tempo team, and we’re not going to change that. We averaged mid-70’s last year. And I think with this year’s coming team, it’s pretty obvious we don’t have as much bulk inside. We’re going to be more perimeter-oriented. When you think of a Courtney Pigram, a Mike Smith, a Kevin Tiggs, a Dequan Twilley … I could go on. I think we’ve got a chance to be able to score – that’s not my biggest concern going in. Now, how we score. Do we run? We’re looking at a lot of different wrinkles, offensively. So, technically, there’s a lot of decisions to be made. Do we run this? Do we do this? But we’re a very up-tempo team. We push after a make or a miss, which is rare – most teams only push after a miss. But we’re gonna push it aggressively. I think a lot of what we do will start with Courtney, because Courtney can really score, plus, he can really pass.
We’ve got a lot capable scorers. I think we’ll shoot a lot of 3’s. Um, but I think we’ll be very aggressive. And I’d be disappointed if at the end of the year, you and I were sitting here, and we didn’t average – last year we averaged about 73 [points] a game – and I’d be very disappointed if we weren’t able to average more than we did last year. I just think we have a lot of guys who can score the ball.
Now, the biggest concern is that inside we might not have that one dominate scorer that, when we really need a basket, when we need to go to the block, we might not have that guy.
But we’ll be aggressive defensively, too. We’ll press a lot. We’ll pressure the ball. We’ll trap a lot. I think we’ve got a very long, athletic team, so I think we’ll be big on deflections.
BTS: Would you say, then, that in regards to dealing with the height issue, these next two weeks are going to be crucial in figuring out how you’re going to defend, rotate guys in out, and cover the floor? And maybe in figuring out what you’re going to do if/when you have to go up against a top-25 team late in the season, or in the tournament, with some low-post monster? How you’re going to take all your smaller pieces and make them work?
MB: Oh, well sure. Well, I … I think we’re gonna run into a lot of that early. I mean, Dayton, we’ll run into that early. Syracuse, we’ll run into that early. Oklahoma State, we’ll run into that early. Georgia. So, our first 10 games are going to be brutal. Our first 10 games are really going to be tough. And I think that’s a key question right out of the gate – defensively, how are we going to get stops? How are we going to manufacture enough stops to win? I think we’ll be able to … if you think you can score X number of points, how can we hold the other team to X …
BTS: I’ve heard 69 is your ideal number to hold teams to …
MB: Well, it is. That’s something we talk about every day, holding a ball club under 69 or less. But it depends on who you plays (laughs) … But, um, we’ll have a chance, defensively, to be good. We’re going to have to be a little more creative, do some different things, mix it a little bit more. Last year, Eryk Thomas was a phenomenal defender. And Brad Knuckles was a fifth-year senior who was very smart, and very solid post-D wise. And he could guard the guy he was guarding, but he could also stop drives and he was very smart. So, you take those two guys out of the equation, and you’re losing a lot defensively that you’ve gotta figure out how you’re going to play without. And I think we’ve got it figured out, we just have to coach it and stress it and execute it and see how good we can get.
BTS: Let me do a hypothetical. If you’re a fan sitting in the stands, and you’ve been an ETSU supporter for 10, 20 years, and you open the program this year and look at the roster, and you don’t notice anyone over 6-foot-9, how do you explain that? Granted, the way basketball’s been moving the last 5-10 years, you don’t …
MB: You don’t need somebody that tall. (Laughs). It’s not … I mean, everything being equal in a perfect world, everybody’d have their 6-foot-10, 250 kid who was a straight-A student. But it’s very difficult at the Mid-Major level to get that guy. I’m not saying you can’t. It’s just tough.
BTS: Did you have some close calls with recruiting that fell through?
MB: I don’t think you need one. I mean, you look two-three years ago, whenever it was, and we won 27 games and our two post guys were 6-foot-5. So, you don’t really need that at this level. I’m not, I’m not consumed with height. Now, I think inside you need toughness.
BTS: Because it’s partly a numbers game. Do you want a tough 6-foot-8 guy, or a slower, plodding 6-foot-10 kid …
MB: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I’ll take a 6-foot-6, 240-pound kid who’s tough as nails more than a soft 6-foot-9 kid any day of the week. And I think, again, a lot of the better players at the Mid-Major level are kind of those undersized posts. You look at George Mason, when they had their success a couple years ago, and their posts guys were undersized, thicker kids. My concern this year in the post is really not that we don’t have the 6-foot-9, 6-foot-10 kids, it’s that we just don’t have a lot of bulk. So that’s a little bit of a concern. I wish we had a guy who was 260 – our heaviest guy is 220. But talent-level wise, I think we have a chance to be pretty decent.
BTS: What about the big picture. You’ve posted strong overall records the last couple years. How are you finding the recruiting process? Are you getting kids’ attention right off the bat? I talked to Jalcoby, and he said he didn’t know much about the school at first, but was impressed when he talked with you and the other coaches and saw what was going on in the Dome.
MB: Well, I think first of all, it’s all about putting together a winning program. And, you know, that’s something I see every day in recruiting. You can try and sell a kid, and say ‘Yeah, we’re gonna win.’ But you can also pick up a media guide and see, over the last 15 years, who wins and who doesn’t.
We’ve got a pretty good tradition here of at least some winning. It’s really two pockets. Back when Mister Jennings was here, in ’89, ’90, ’91, that whole era. And we’ve been to a couple lately. And there is some history here of winning, which helps.
This is a great community. We’ve got great fans, great support. If you look at, again, Mid-Major level comparable programs who are all recruiting the same kid, and he’s looking at these 10 schools, we’re pretty unusual in that we average what we average. Because a lot of Mid-Major programs are getting maybe 1,200 [fans] or less, or 1,500. And last year we averaged about 4,500 a game. There’s a level of support here. They love basketball and the team. So, you’ve got that. It’s a very good school. Good community. We’ve got incredible housing for our guys. You add all that up, you know … I think we’ve been able to recruit pretty well, if you look at who we’ve been able to sign on, we’ve done a pretty good job recruiting.
BTS: Now, you mentioned the first 10 games, and it’s not an easy schedule. What do you guys need to come out of those first 10 games with? If you go …
MB: Our sanity. Our sanity. (Laughs).
