Swain County at Rosman!

[Tigertown_a_Rick]

The Rosman Tigers and Swain County first met on the gridiron back in 1972 with the Maroondevils winning that first encounter 14-6....The two teams would meet in 73' and 74' as members of the SMC with 2A Swain County winning those 2 conference games by 17-7 and 28-22 scores....The 1975 game at the old field on the hill was memorable for a lot of reasons as legendary Swain County RB Brett Conley injured his knee, and didn't return in the 2nd half of the game, while Rosman Sr. QB Gary Crowe and Swain Sr. DE Billy Joe Murphy got into an altercation after a play near midfield with Crowe breaking Murphy's jaw with a right hook....Those two guys would later meet on the basketball court, and both would be ejected again for fighting....They just didn't like one another, I guess...lol!

Anyway, there's been colorful memories thru the years between the Maroondevils and Tigers, but the rivalry was at it's pinnacle between 83' and 86'.....In 1983, Rosman tied Swain County 7-7 in Bryson City, and Coach Fox was carried off the field by his players....In 84', Rosman would advance to the state 1A title, but would lose 14-7 to a Swain team that was playing it's final year as a 2A member....Beginning in 1985, both Swain and Murphy would be reclassified as 1A schools, and Rosman would play both in the playoffs, beating SMC champ Murphy in Murphy(22-18), and losing to Swain(13-9) in the Mudbowl in Rosman in the 3rd round of the playoffs after Swain had beaten Appalachian Conference Champ Hendersonville in Hendersonville in the 2nd round...Swain would go on to claim their 2nd overall state title, and their first in the 1A class with a 32-0 win in Bryson City over North Edgecombe as RB Johnny "Buck" Mitchell had a big night for the Maroon and White...

Rosman and Swain County have played every year since 1979 which was the year that the Maroondevils claimed the state 2A title, beating Rosman 24-0 that season...

The series as one might expect is very lopsided thanks to Swain winning every season since 1998 with this week being the 47th time that these two teams have battled on the gridiron....

The Tigers have only beaten the Maroondevils 6 times since 1979, and will probably be an underdog this friday when the teams meet in Rosman....

Coach Gentry and I had a conversation a few years ago, and he told me that some of the opponents that Murphy has beat, were beaten before they ever hit the field because of that name Murphy on the jerseys, and there's a whole lot of truth in that statement....If you don't believe that you can beat the Murphy or Swain County's of the world before the game even starts, then you really don't have the mindset to do just that....

It's the same with Swain County as the Maroondevils and Bulldogs have basically dominated the Tigers since the turn of the new Millineum with a close loss here and there, but a loss nonetheless....

With the new rotating SMC scheduling this year, Rosman will close the season with Murphy which is something they've never done before...

As for the game this friday, Rosman is going to have to get some contributions from players other than Gage Orr because the Swain staff is one of if not the best at shutting down what you do best, and they know that Green is gone too, so they will gear their team to stop Orr this friday, so the Tiger offensive line has their work cut out for them this week....

The Rosman defense will also have to play their best game of the season, force some turnovers, and slow down the Maroondevil offensive attack, or it will be another conference loss for the Tigers...

It will be Senior night this friday in Rosman, and this bunch of Seniors that the Tigers have, has done something that NO Rosman team has done since 2001, and that is finish the regular season with a winning record....The season could become even more special if Rosman could somehow, or someway beat their two biggest nemisis to close the season?

It's a tall order indeed but if you don't BELIEVE you can beat Swain County and Murphy as I mentioned above: Then, it won't happen!

I want to wish all the Maroondevil fans safe travels to Tigertown this friday, and I hope the Tigers can give the home folks one lasting memory in their final home game of the regular season....

Roar Tigers Roar!

 

[Wildcat10fan]

Another great game. Should be as good as the Robbinsville vs Rosman game. Two great offense and defensive teams

 

[mbdfan_rivals121259]

Any chance Tesnow or Rice play this week Rick?

 

[Tigertown_a_Rick]

Any chance Tesnow or Rice play this week Rick?

As you know, we need them both, but I think that the Coaching Staff is making sure both guys are 100% before they let them back on the field....Heard that we may not see Tesnow again this season....Rice may be ready by the playoffs?

Every team has injuries, but these injuries to the Tiger QBs and now our starting RB is starting to take it's toll on the team as all 3 of those guys played on both sides of the ball...Being a school the size of Rosman, we just are not able to replace kids of that calibre...

Roar Tigers Roar!

 

[WHC02]

Did Orr get hurt too Rick?

 

[tigereyes27]

Did Orr get hurt too Rick?

Orr is not hurt and heard Tesnow and Rice will be back for playoffs.

BELIEVE IN THE JOURNEY !!!

 

[Tigerfinatic]

Another great game. Should be as good as the Robbinsville vs Rosman game. Two great offense and defensive teams

Not a lot of discussion on either side about this game !! Pretty even records , both have players hurt I'm sure this late in the season. Looking forward to two talented rivals go at and get after it tonight. No predictions, no excuses , no ifs and ands. Just two well rounded teams playing their hearts out hopefully. Get after em Tigers ,do what you do best. Get this one for big Tanner Green!!!! GO TIGERS

 

[BravesGWY]

Over under on game being over before 9 lol

 

[Bigtime478]

Rice is playing

 

[Dev47]

that Gage Orr is a good ball player... I'll tell you what good ball game so far

 

[Dev47]

been a physical smash mouth game so far... what 1 maybe 2 passes all night

 

[Dev47]

28 - 21 Swain was not a blow out by any stretch going to be a lot of sore boys in the morning lol ... Tiger Town Rick... your boys played a great ballgame ... Tigers gave as good as they got, was one of the better games I have got to see so far

 

[oxnell88]

Let me say I don't have a kid playing any high school sports. I'm a fan of all sports, and I hate to see a well played game come down to the officials making the decision who wins or loses.A lot of people may think this post is a post by a sore loser, well it's not. Tonite's Swain v.s. Rosman game was a well played ball game. There were several bad calls for both teams. It seems like every week no matter what teams are playing, whether it be Pisgah v.s. Tuscola, or East Henderson v.s. West Henderson, there are calls that ultimately cause a team to win or lose, again take the end of the Seahawks, Lions game a few weeks ago. In college or the pro's the ref's are graded or fined for bad calls, I think it's time that high schools officials are graded or held responsible for their bad calls. It is a complete disservice to all of the kids that play high school sports. I know these men and ladies take time off from their jobs to call these games and they do get paid to call these ball games. I believe that either the State or at least the SMC needs to start grading their officials, and if a official I found to be consistently making bad calls then he needs to have more training. Again tonight's game was a well played game between two great schools and yes someone has to lose, but let that team lose because they were out played, not because of a missed call or a bad call.

The Ox

 

[tigereyes27]

Used to have a little respect for Swain but after the cheap shot on our QB that cost Swain 15 yrds. but cost us our QB for the game makes me rethink my opinion of them. No respect and no class !!!

BELIEVE IN THE JOURNEY !!!

 

[Go4itKnights]

Was Rice injured again?

 

[smash mouth]

Definitely a cheap shot kid should have been thrown out.

 

[Wildcat10fan]

Let me say I don't have a kid playing any high school sports. I'm a fan of all sports, and I hate to see a well played game come down to the officials making the decision who wins or loses.A lot of people may think this post is a post by a sore loser, well it's not. Tonite's Swain v.s. Rosman game was a well played ball game. There were several bad calls for both teams. It seems like every week no matter what teams are playing, whether it be Pisgah v.s. Tuscola, or East Henderson v.s. West Henderson, there are calls that ultimately cause a team to win or lose, again take the end of the Seahawks, Lions game a few weeks ago. In college or the pro's the ref's are graded or fined for bad calls, I think it's time that high schools officials are graded or held responsible for their bad calls. It is a complete disservice to all of the kids that play high school sports. I know these men and ladies take time off from their jobs to call these games and they do get paid to call these ball games. I believe that either the State or at least the SMC needs to start grading their officials, and if a official I found to be consistently making bad calls then he needs to have more training. Again tonight's game was a well played game between two great schools and yes someone has to lose, but let that team lose because they were out played, not because of a missed call or a bad call.

The Ox

I agree 150%. Ex: Murphy vs Andrews. No disrespect to Murphy at all. Andrews on the one with 14 seconds, huge pile looks like our QB crosses the plane before the ball is ripped out. Refs call fumble and did not even call a huddle to see what each official saw. Game was on the line and they took it from the kids. I was told I was a sore loser by our SMC head of officials ! ! We still would had to have made the extra point just to tie, but the officials did not get together to see what all 5 seen. I was told that 2 seen fumble, I asked what did the ithe other 3 see. Anyway, I agree with you 100 %. Maybe the problem starts at the top with our head of officials

 

[Mont1963]

S

I agree 150%. Ex: Murphy vs Andrews. No disrespect to Murphy at all. Andrews on the one with 14 seconds, huge pile looks like our QB crosses the plane before the ball is ripped out. Refs call fumble and did not even call a huddle to see what each official saw. Game was on the line and they took it from the kids. I was told I was a sore loser by our SMC head of officials ! ! We still would have made the ctra point just to tie, but the officials did not get together to see what all 5 seen. I was told that 2 seen fumble, I asked what did the ithe other 3 see. Anyway, I agree with you 100 %

SMC officials!!! Need I say more..............

 

[Wildcat10fan]

S


SMC officials!!! Need I say more..............

I asked why do they think Cherokee went outside our local association to get their officials. Even better than that our local SMC youth league get their officials out of Ga. What does that say

 

[BravesGWY]

There were some of the worst and dumbest calls I've seen all year tonight in cherokee Andrews game .... Ive not one time complained on here about officials this year ... But the difference in officials between the two diff set of officials we use is amazing .. its not even close .. Just an example the guy on the cherokee sideline is from Bryson of course and he called a sideline warning on the first couple of plays ... Then waits till a big down and the ball on the 15 to look all the way down the side line to call another sideline call...

 

[Tigertown_a_Rick]

First off, congratulations to the Maroondevils, and good luck in the 1AA Playoffs....

All I will say about the SMC officiating is that I told a friend at the game last night that the game we played in Cherokee the week before was the most balanced and honest officiating that we've seen all year long....

As for the game last night, We could not stop the Swain rushing attack, and the Tigers missed several crucial tackles at different times during the game that could have made a difference, but credit goes to the Swain RBs who were determined to get the extra yards....Tigers also had several opportunities to recover some Swain fumbles, but don't think we recovered any of them, and that also had an impact on the outcome of the game, since the Tigers did lose a couple fumbles themselves...

With all that said, the Tigers did not quit, and played 4 quarters of football last night, but Swain County was the better team in the end...

As for Rice, I was surprised to see him taking snaps last night...I did expect him to play some in the defensive secondary, but did not expect him to play QB?....

Nonetheless, we've got 2 weeks to get ready for Murphy at Murphy, and a home playoff game will probably be riding on the outcome of that game....

Not going to give up on the Tigers, and hope they don't give up on themselves!

Still a lot to play for!

Roar Tigers Roar!

 

[gal durnit]

Tiger eyes, I didn't see the play so not disputing if it was late or in poor judgement. Just wanted to say that things sometimes get chippy and to judge a program over one individual play by one individual player just isn't smart in my opinion. I feel your frustration though. From all accounts it was a very physical and hard fought game. We lost our QB early in the first quarter as well. Good luck to Rosman the rest of the way. The Tigers are always a very tough out in football and I would love to see them make a run this year in the playoffs.

 

[Tigerfinatic]

Used to have a little respect for Swain but after the cheap shot on our QB that cost Swain 15 yrds. but cost us our QB for the game makes me rethink my opinion of them. No respect and no class !!!

BELIEVE IN THE JOURNEY !!!

Nothing to add , couldn't be said better..

 

[Mont1963]

There were some of the worst and dumbest calls I've seen all year tonight in cherokee Andrews game .... Ive not one time complained on here about officials this year ... But the difference in officials between the two diff set of officials we use is amazing .. its not even close .. Just an example the guy on the cherokee sideline is from Bryson of course and he called a sideline warning on the first couple of plays ... Then waits till a big down and the ball on the 15 to look all the way down the side line to call another sideline call...

I think it is time that some other teams follow our lead and look elsewhere for competent officiating!!

 

[Mont1963]

All I will say about the SMC officiating is that I told a friend at the game last night that the game we played in Cherokee the week before was the most balanced and honest officiating that we've seen all year long....

Good observation Tigertown!!!!!

 

[tigereyes27]

Tiger eyes, I didn't see the play so not disputing if it was late or in poor judgement. Just wanted to say that things sometimes get chippy and to judge a program over one individual play by one individual player just isn't smart in my opinion. I feel your frustration though. From all accounts it was a very physical and hard fought game. We lost our QB early in the first quarter as well. Good luck to Rosman the rest of the way. The Tigers are always a very tough out in football and I would love to see them make a run this year in the playoffs.

Gal, read a lot of your post and respect you as a poster. Just don't agree with ya on this one. I'm a firm believer in the games getting chippy but to dive into our QB with a helmet while he is lying on his back well after the whistle has blown goes beyond chippy. Just hope the injury doesn't keep him from playing again this year and we get him back for the playoffs. Rick, heard Rice was cleared for the Cherokee game but the coaches wanted him to get an extra week of practice to knock the rust off. Don't think he would have played any D if Fisher hadn't gotten hurt. Great thing about these boards is you can post your opinions.

BELIEVE IN THE JOURNEY !!!

 

[gal durnit]

Tigerfinatic I hope you could have said it better. Again I understand the frustration but it is starting to sound like sour grapes. Should we judge the Rosman program on an act where a tiger player punched and broke a swain players jaw many years ago, which was pointed out by a very respected tiger poster? No we shouldn't. We should mutually respect each other's programs for games like the '85 Mud Bowl. The 2001 playoff game. And many other classics between these two teams and not judge based off of one play. Just food for thought.

 

[recycled2_anon]

Guys I think you may have some points about officiating in the SMC, but let's look at a few facts.

One of the biggest problems in the SMC is lack of numbers in the officials ranks. It takes a special person to put up the abuse at the games and then you go to websites such as this and get to get how dishonest and incompetent your are. The low numbers also forces booking agents to assign very young inexperience officials to games, we have jv level officials calling varsity level games. When local schools have in the past tried to book from the Asheville association one facts has been revealed: the greater the travel time from Asheville the lower quality official you receive. I say this as a coach not an official. I am often dissatisfied with the calls but I understand the underlying causes.

I do have a solution. You guys seem to understand football and care about the quality of play. Instead of talking about the problem be part of the solution, join the officials association, encourage young ex players who love the game to become officials. If we had more people who love the game then booking agents could be able to set officials down for bad games or let young officials get the experience need to step into a varsity football game.

 

[tigereyes27]

Tigerfinatic I hope you could have said it better. Again I understand the frustration but it is starting to sound like sour grapes. Should we judge the Rosman program on an act where a tiger player punched and broke a swain players jaw many years ago, which was pointed out by a very respected tiger poster? No we shouldn't. We should mutually respect each other's programs for games like the '85 Mud Bowl. The 2001 playoff game. And many other classics between these two teams and not judge based off of one play. Just food for thought.

Gal, you have your opinion and I have mine. Isn't America great !!! Not going to beat this into the ground. I saw what I saw and have an opinion and posted about it. For your food for thought. I'm not hungry

BELIEVE IN THE JOURNEY !!!
I

 

[gal durnit]

You should be cause it tastes good. I told you that I didn't see the play but whatever. And America is fabulous. Good luck the rest of the way.

 

[tigereyes27]

Thanks, we will need it !!!

BELIEVE IN THE JOURNEY !!!

 

[BravesGWY]

Recycled we aren't talking about young smc officials we are talking about the good ole boy network that the old officials never have accountability for how they call... The same officials call football and basketball and are terrible. If a coach like yourself was that bad you would get fired .. The thing that makes the smc so great .. Great support loyal fans and great communities also hurt when u have a group of officials that are only from the smc area and went to school and live in these small towns. Biased always exists

 

[OldMaroonDevil]

I DID see the play, and it was definitely a late hit. Didn't seem to me to be particularly vicious or that the Swain player was trying to hurt anybody; he was just doing what he did all the rest of the game, but for whatever reason he got there late. Again, I can't judge motives, but it didn't look to me like an intentional cheap shot. And there were no other plays that came even close to that kind of lateness, on the part of the offender or anybody else. SMC games are usually very physical, and this kind of thing happens. And he was penalized for it. There didn't seem to be any bad blood on the field like there sometimes is in very physical games. I think it was handled correctly.

 

[goknightgo]

i was there and it was a cheap shot, but yes things do get chippy. I payed a lot of attention to the player after the play and the coaches need to recognize what the kid does on the sideline. Holding a towel in your hand and trying to pop players with it or acting like your going to while the ref is standing there with his back turned is poor sportsmanship from that kid in all aspects

 

[tigereyes27]

I DID see the play, and it was definitely a late hit. Didn't seem to me to be particularly vicious or that the Swain player was trying to hurt anybody; he was just doing what he did all the rest of the game, but for whatever reason he got there late. Again, I can't judge motives, but it didn't look to me like an intentional cheap shot. And there were no other plays that came even close to that kind of lateness, on the part of the offender or anybody else. SMC games are usually very physical, and this kind of thing happens. And he was penalized for it. There didn't seem to be any bad blood on the field like there sometimes is in very physical games. I think it was handled correctly.

When ya knock the starting QB out of the game it disrupts the rest of the offensive scheme so no need for anymore. Now u just concentrate on stopping Orr. Just Sayin !!!

BELIEVE IN THE JOURNEY !!!

 

[Tigerfinatic]

No sour grapes gal,just fact. Cheap shot. Should have been ejected. Had it been your player hit , I'm sure you'd agree.

 

[Football hillbilly]

When ya knock the starting QB out of the game it disrupts the rest of the offensive scheme so no need for anymore. Now u just concentrate on stopping Orr. Just Sayin !!!

BELIEVE IN THE JOURNEY !!!

Just like breaking the elbow of a fullback.

 

[Football hillbilly]

With a helmet

 

[tigereyes27]

With a helmet

What are ya talking about. If our QB got put out of the game with a legal hit that wasn't called for a penalty I would not have commented at all. Come On Man

BELIEVE IN THE JOURNEY!!!

 

[gal durnit]

Get over it and move on. It was a late hit apparently. Like I said I didn't see it.so now someone is saying he targeted him to knock him out of the game. Late hits happen. Chippy play happens. I don't like or condone either nor do the coaches. But news flash...they happen in every game from every team. Sorry the young man was hurt and hope it wasn't too serious.