Rosman at Murphy!

[Tigertown_a_Rick]

The Rosman Tigers will travel to Murphy this friday with 3rd place in the SMC at stake....The Bulldogs have basically owned the Tigers since the turn of the new Millineum, and haven't lost to the Tigers since the new century started back in 2000 when the Tigers used a Pick-6 by Jeremiah Galloway to secure a 27-16 victory over the then 4th ranked Bulldogs, in Rosman....

In 2001, Rosman was undefeated(4-0) when they opened conference play in Murphy against the Bulldogs...The Tigers had just beaten Hendersonville on the road 29-13, which is the last time Rosman has beaten the Bearcats...Anyway, the game was a struggle for both teams as both teams were pretty good defensively that season...Murphy lead 18-13 with under 2 minutes to play, and the Tigers were deep in Bulldog territory when a Murphy INT inside their own 20yd line sealed the fate of the Tigers....That was the last time that Rosman realistically had a chance to beat the Bulldogs....

Since that 2001 game, Rosman has lost 15 straight, and most of those games were lopsided affairs...In fact, Murphy has scored NO fewer than 40pts in each game, since 2007...A span of 10 total games, including playoff losses in 2012 & 2013...

Last year in Rosman, Dalton Kent threw a long TD pass on the first play of the game, and the rout was on as the Bulldogs smashed the Tigers 48-21 in Rosman...Kent was lost for the season a week or so later, but he and McRae had a big night last year in Rosman....

Looking back thru the years, Rosman and Murphy first met on the gridiron way back in 1966 when Murphy was a 2A member, and the Bulldogs shutout the Tigers that year 32-0 in that first meeting between the two teams...

The Bulldogs and Tigers briefly became SMC members in 73' and 74' with Murphy winning both games handily....The 74' Murphy team featured one of the best RBs to ever play in the Mountains as Willie Brown ran wild that night, rushing for an amazing 457yds against the Tigers in a 56-14 win over Rosman....That Murphy team would later go on to win their only state 2A championship, beating Robersonville 32-22...Of course, Robersonville is the home location of today's relatively new Eastern 1A school South Creek, which is poised to have their best season this year....

Anyway as one might expect, Murphy holds a commanding series lead of 28-6 in the 34 previous games played between the two teams....

One of the best Regular season games in this series happened back in 1993 in Murphy when Rosman rejoined the SMC...It was a tough and physical battle right down to the end with Murphy missing a 27yd FG attempt in the final seconds as Rosman prevailed, and won a nailbiter by a 12-10 score....It was the first time that Rosman had beaten both Swain and Murphy in conference play in the same season...A feat that was repeated in 1998, which was the last time the Tigers have beaten the Maroondevils...

The 97' game in Murphy was one that I personally will remember for some time because Murphy led 20-0 at the half before the Tigers roared back in the 2nd half only to fall short in a 27-21 loss to the Bulldogs....A game in which I watched the 2nd half from the parking lot as I was escourted from the football field by a couple of Murphy's finest that night after some choice words that I had for the head official who made a bogus holding-call that wiped out a Tiger TD early in the 3rd quarter...And yes, I did verify later the next week that the call was indeed "bogus"...lol!

As for the game this friday night in Murphy, it will be the first time that Rosman and Murphy have closed the season, and it will also be the first time in quite a while that a conference game this late in the season has held this much meaning for the Tigers....There's just really NO way to tell at the moment whether Murphy will be in the big or small 1A playoffs because qualified teams can "opt-out" which could shift the Bulldogs one way or the other since they are basically on the cut line, but it is a big game for both teams because a 3rd place conference finish receives an automatic bid instead of being seeded as a Wildcard?....The Tigers have lost 3 games this year but 8pts or less, and have yet to lose on the road this year....The Bulldogs seem to have finally settled on a QB as the Curry kid took most of snaps at Swain with Kent being moved to TE...Once again, a wet field will probably be the case this friday as rain is in the forecast....The Tigers will of course be without Sr. RB/DE Tanner Green, but should be well rested after the Bye week, and may be as healthy at the start of the game as they've been since the game with Brevard?....How well those former injured players play, is another question that will be answered on friday night?....

As usual, turnovers and penaltys will play a vital role in this game, but the more important factor may be whether or not the Tigers believe themselves that they can actually beat Murphy?...As mentioned above, a lot of this year's Tiger Seniors were 2/3 year old kids when Rosman last beat Murphy 15 years ago, and the underclassmen were probably in diapers, so what will be the team's mindset when they get off the bus after making that 2+ hour bus ride to Cherokee County?....On another note: What will be Murphy's mindset having lost to rival Swain County last week?...Remember, the Bulldogs have never played a conference game after playing Swain County since moving down to the 1A class in 1985, so what can we expect from the Bulldog players on Senior night in Murphy?

Guess we are fixing to find out on friday?

Roar Tigers Roar!

 

[smash mouth]

Finally starting to get back to full strength. Music to my ears

 

[knine1]

Great write up as usual Rick. Im hearing Murphy is possibly getting a KEY piece of the oline back this week but who knows? In the end though, none of the X and O's matter in my opinion until the avalanche of penalties starts to subside. 10 weeks in and the Dogs still haven't showed they can consistently line up onside and stay onside until the ball is snapped. Just been a mess. On the bright side the Dogs defensive front 7 has played very strong the last 2 games and will have to play well to keep Rosman's rushing attack from running wild. A veteran Tiger team that can play a clean game will have their best shot for a win in this series in a while..........

 

[mbdfan]

great information as always Rick

 

[knine1]

Rick I believe Willie Brown set the then NC state record 457 yards vs Swain in a 62-8 victory.

 

[Tigertown_a_Rick]

Rick I believe Willie Brown set the then NC state record 457 yards vs Swain in a 62-8 victory.

You're probably right...He might of only rushed for 456 against the Tigers that night...lol!

He was, and is one of the most legendary players to ever play in the Mountains and State...Amazing to think of all the talent in the SMC back in those days with Brown at Murphy, Jim and Steve Streater and LBer Ronnie Smith at Sylva-Webster, and that's just two SMC teams....Both Franklin and Swain also won state titles during that 70's era with some stars of their own, and we all know what Robbinsville accomplished as a 1A school with multiple talented atheletes competing in the same conference as those 2A Heavyweights....Amazing talent, and Amazing era of High School Football for the SMC during those 1970s...

I once asked former Rosman Coach and AD Lee Powell why the Tigers left the SMC in 1974, and he told me that it was simple that Rosman was trying to build a football program, and was having to scrap, beg and borrow to just get enough football equipment and weightroom equipment to start a football program whereas Murphy, Sylva and all the other SMC schools were already established Football Programs when Rosman joined the SMC in 1973, which made it diffiucult if not downright impossible for the Tigers to compete against those teams....Think Cherokee found themselves pretty much in the same boat when they started a football program, so they along with Rosman left to form the old Appalachian Conference with Edneyville, NCSD , Polk Central and Tryon in 1975....

Personally, I think that looking back with the benefit of hindsight that it was a good decision for the Tigers to leave the SMC after that 74' season because it gave the Tigers an opportunity to see where their football program needed the most work, and it allowed the Tigers to address those needs over time, but more importantly it allowed Rosman to experience some success, and win some conference championships which would have been very difficult too accomplish during that era of High School Football in the SMC....Of course, it didn't get much easier in the mid 80's with Pickens and Shuler, but believe that Rosman showed when they returned to the SMC in 1993 that they were finally able to compete with most of the teams in the SMC at least until the new Millineum began...

Hopefully, the Tigers can be more competitive with the Bulldogs this year than they have recently....

We shall see?

Roar Tigers Roar!

 

[Mbulldog42]

Stafford back practicing today. Should help come Friday.

 

[Go4itKnights]

LOL, Rick I find it hard to believe that you were escorted from the field (by the police no less) because of "choice words" uttered about the head official. You are cool on calm on this board ... do you do a Jekyl/Hyde thing when you are in a live situation?

 

[Tigertown_a_Rick]

LOL, Rick I find it hard to believe that you were escorted from the field (by the police no less) because of "choice words" uttered about the head official. You are cool on calm on this board ... do you do a Jekyl/Hyde thing when you are in a live situation?

Unfortunately for the officials, YES I am a Jekyl/Hyde type person on friday nights...lol!

I do know that you can't cuss or threaten an official, or you will be watching or listening to the game outside the stadium, so my "choice words" nowadays are more measured and tame than they were when I was younger, and just didn't care what I said when I felt the Tigers were getting shafted by the Zebras....

Nothing I hate worse than a dishonest and biased official, and there are some of those around just like there is in any other profession...

Hopefully, the officials on friday night won't try to dictate the game, but rather will let the kids from Murphy and Rosman decide the outcome, which is the way that it should be....

As far as the game this friday, looks as though both teams will be back close to full strength for the final game of the regular season, and hope it stays that way for both teams....

Roar Tigers Roar!

 

[knine1]

It's funny that the ref that I think Rick is talking about REGULARLY put the screws to the Dogs back in the day. Finally left the SMC and those poor folks in Georgia had to deal with him LOL !!

 

[Wildcat10fan]

You're probably right...He might of only rushed for 456 against the Tigers that night...lol!

He was, and is one of the most legendary players to ever play in the Mountains and State...Amazing to think of all the talent in the SMC back in those days with Brown at Murphy, Jim and Steve Streater and LBer Ronnie Smith at Sylva-Webster, and that's just two SMC teams....Both Franklin and Swain also won state titles during that 70's era with some stars of their own, and we all know what Robbinsville accomplished as a 1A school with multiple talented atheletes competing in the same conference as those 2A Heavyweights....Amazing talent, and Amazing era of High School Football for the SMC during those 1970s...

I once asked former Rosman Coach and AD Lee Powell why the Tigers left the SMC in 1974, and he told me that it was simple that Rosman was trying to build a football program, and was having to scrap, beg and borrow to just get enough football equipment and weightroom equipment to start a football program whereas Murphy, Sylva and all the other SMC schools were already established Football Programs when Rosman joined the SMC in 1973, which made it diffiucult if not downright impossible for the Tigers to compete against those teams....Think Cherokee found themselves pretty much in the same boat when they started a football program, so they along with Rosman left to form the old Appalachian Conference with Edneyville, NCSD , Polk Central and Tryon in 1975....

Personally, I think that looking back with the benefit of hindsight that it was a good decision for the Tigers to leave the SMC after that 74' season because it gave the Tigers an opportunity to see where their football program needed the most work, and it allowed the Tigers to address those needs over time, but more importantly it allowed Rosman to experience some success, and win some conference championships which would have been very difficult too accomplish during that era of High School Football in the SMC....Of course, it didn't get much easier in the mid 80's with Pickens and Shuler, but believe that Rosman showed when they returned to the SMC in 1993 that they were finally able to compete with most of the teams in the SMC at least until the new Millineum began...

Hopefully, the Tigers can be more competitive with the Bulldogs this year than they have recently....

We shall see?

Roar Tigers Roar!

Oh those were the days ! Loved watching the Streeter boys. Also I will never feel sorry for a athlete from NCSD after they put my Wildcats out of the State playoffs in Basketball. People with disabilities can compete. Now my profession is working with people with disabilities. The greatest job I've ever had

 

[mbdfan]

As far as the game this Friday, looks as though both teams will be back close to full strength for the final game of the regular season, and hope it stays that way for both teams....

For Murphy, Posey and Davis are done for the year (starting corners and top two wingbacks) but 'Dogs have played the whole season without Posey and since Week 3 without Davis, so they've somewhat adjusted. If Stafford is even 90% of what he regularly is, this will be a big boost for Murphy's o and d line.

For Rosman, Green is a big loss but having Rice and Tesnow back in the lineup balances things out.

No team is going to be completely injury free this late in the year, so this about the best both teams could hope for.

 

[Mbulldog42]

Wingback has been hard hit this year. This week is no exception. Creelman is nursing a knee injury and Colby Hensley is coming off a concussion against Swain. They've worked my son at wingback we'll see what happens Friday.

 

[mactazheels]

Wildcat10fan............ Also I will never feel sorry for a athlete from NCSD after they put my Wildcats out of the State playoffs in Basketball. People with disabilities can compete. Now my profession is working with people with disabilities. The greatest job I've ever had

What the heck you mean? Don't feel sorry for us ? We had a great team and one of the best team NCSD ever had. Stacey Rogers is older brother of Rodney Rogers that went to WFU. (now unfortunately paralyzed from ATV wreck few years back.) Stacey had some influence over Rodney for liking basketball. Anyway Stacey Rogers and Buddy Hill put on a show that night at NCSD. You guys were pretty good. If I remember correctly, you guys shot very well outside. The con about our team that time was we were not tall....I think Archie Elliott might be about 6' 1"

We went to play Cullowhee and got knocked out. They were mighty tall and good. One of our player told coach to tell us to slow down and play "Four Corner" offense for a while midway through 4th Q geez....we shouldn't have. I told him many years later....Tall guys would outrebound us and go down court to score. Why you tell the coach that? .....Oh Well....Cullowhee had two tall players Cloud and Poole? Am I correct? They beat us 52-50 and even beat Tryon (another great team) 51-50 the following game! We were looking ahead to play Tryon for fourth time that year and didn't due to a very good team in Cullowhee. What happened to Cullowhee after they play Tryon?

We can play football, basketball and run track really well in late 70's and very early 80's. Rick can tell you for sure. We won two Co-Champions twice in Appalachain Conference. We pretty much ran the conference in track for a long time. Tryon had great basketball teams then mid 80's Edneyville came along and went to State twice. (won once I think)

We, deaf people do not have disability .....we just can't hear. That is all we could not do. Most of us don't consider us being disabled. It is pretty hard to overcome at times but we do all right. By the way, I respect Andrews after playing them that night. Some of us thought we would walk over them since they were way up in the mountains! I was the scorekeeper that year and in that game too since I had torn ligaments for playing JV basketball that year against Tryon. (great great team...Tony Cunnigham and Miller Boys who were on Varsity I believe)

If any of you guys tell me what happened to Poole, Cloud, Tony Cunnigham and Miller Boys....please tell! I miss those days. Those Cherokee boys were real good too..... Tiny Taylor, Pepper Taylor... gosh Brown from Rosman. oops I better stop writing a novel. Back to Football guys!!!! How about it Rick TigerTown???

 

[mactazheels]

By the way. good luck Rosman....beat Murphy...never care for them since they played real dirty against my boys at NCSD AT Murphy in 78' Referees were MIGHTY terrible in that game.

 

[mbdfan]

By the way. good luck Rosman....beat Murphy...never care for them since they played real dirty against my boys at NCSD AT Murphy in 78'

Why is it you think Murphy played "dirty" in the first place? Murphy has never been known as a dirty team that I'm aware of. From the stories I have heard the reason that Murphy was playing "dirty" was only because they were retaliating towards NCSD for playing dirty themselves. And I tend to believe that version of events based on other stories I've heard about how NCSD played.

One such occasion I can recall is talking to Coach Gentry in the pressbox at a JV game about 10 years ago and he said that NCSD was the dirtiest team he's ever coached against. He told us that when he was coaching at Edneyville and they played against NCSD that the NCSD players would bite, spit, scratch, poke, prod his players. He said just about the only thing they didn't do was cuss them.

 

[Tigertown_a_Rick]

Don't really want to take this discussion in another direction, but will give props to NCSD for their atheleticism back in the day...Played them in 76' in Rosman, and shutout the Bears and John Avery 28-0, I believe?...Can't remember for sure if Craig Brown was injured, or had graduated the year before?...Friend of mind played against Brown in 75', and said he was hard to corrale...Think he may have rushed for over 2,000yds in 75'...He was a very good RB?...Can't remember for sure cause it's been a year or two since that time..lol! Our team finished the Appalachian Conference that year with wins over Polk Central( Ronnie Leonard FG as time expired), Tryon(Beat them pretty good down there), NCSD(Shutout the Bears in Rosman), Edneyville(Beat the Yellowjackets on a very cold night in Edneyville to clinch our first playoff berth of the modern-era, and remember a very big Rosman crowd that traveled with the team that night)...Lost to Cherokee(9-7) on a Monday night after the game was postponed from the previous friday....Believe that we ended up with 3 teams tied at the top of the conference that year, but we beat the other 2 teams head-to-head, so we got the playoff berth that year as Conference Champs....

NCSD did sometimes hit you after the whistle, but I believe most of the time was because they couldn't hear the whistle...Coach Manuel called a quicky-jump pass for me in that game near the Bears' 2yd line, and I was hit by it seemed the whole Bears' team about the time the ball arrived, and so I missed the chance to score my only offensive TD of my career, but did score a defensive TD later that season against Edneyville in the season finale which was the only TD of my short Football career...

As for the game this friday night in Murphy, it should be a dandy as both teams appear to be pretty close competition wise with each losing to Swain and Robbinsville by a TD each...It does help that Rice and Tesnow will be able to go, but question is how productive will they be, since both have been on the shelf for quite a while?

The Stafford kid from Murphy will likely make a big difference in the Bulldogs ability to run the football, which should be concerning for the Tigers as they head over to the Hill this friday....

Of course, I'm hoping for a Tigers win, but more importantly I'm just hoping that both teams will come out of the game with NO additional injuries with the playoffs starting next week....

Roar Tigers Roar!

 

[mbdfan]

Should be a dandy Friday night. Hopefully either Creelman or Hensley plays, because if not Murphy is going to be down to their 6th corner at one spot.

 

[Mbulldog42]

Looks like they'll both be able to go. Hensley may be a little more limited because he didn't get a full day in pads. We'll have to wait and see. They should be ready to go tomorrow.

 

[mbdfan]

Looks like they'll both be able to go. Hensley may be a little more limited because he didn't get a full day in pads. We'll have to wait and see. They should be ready to go tomorrow.

whether they both play or not I still hope your boy gets some playing time at wingback Friday night 42, his speed is a difference maker

 

[Mbulldog42]

Well that's a coaching decision and I'm sure they'll do what's best. Riley's limitation is knowledge of that position. We'll see if he plays much on Friday. He probably get some time.

 

[knine1]

Since the 78 Dogs were attacked I'll give a short rebuttal. Murphy was the 1978 SMC Champions, 9-1 record. This was a VERY good team, led by probably the best all around athlete to ever come thru MHS in Ricky Lyles. NCSD was beaten pretty badly, not by a dirty team, but by a BETTER team. Just because Ricky was much faster than anybody they had, and Zeke Johnson ran em over doesn't make them dirty. Macetzheels can take a long walk off a short pier. Carry on

 

[mactazheels]

I know what I saw. I was statistician for NCSD. Murphy was a good team that year but we were ahead at halftime. Murphy ran the kickoff return in 2nd half for TD and that was it. I remember that OD Smith, which was our QB that year ran a lot of sweep. When he run out of bound, Murphy players hit OD a lot of times OUT OF BOUND and our coaches told the referees what was going on. Heck I even saw one referee saw the whole play and shook his head and told our coaches quote " I did not see anything wrong here" Give me a break. Hey if Referees don't call it, then why should Murphy stop pounding our QB (which was our best player that year) out of bound. OD Smith were mighty sore whole weekend and he said to me that was the worst pounding he had for a good while. He got hit a lot while he was on the ground out of bound PERIOD. I think we were ahead 22-18 then end up losing 40-22. We were not a bad team but had a terrible coach. We finally got real good coach two years later and end up 7-2 1980 season.

Now When Gentry was at Edneyville, I don't when he started coaching there. Our first year we play them for Conf. Championship game and beat them 6-0 end up having Tri-Champions along with Tryon. Edneyville made fun of us making odd sounds and imitate our signs and yelling. We are deaf but surely not dumb or anything like that. We are proud to be deaf and there were no need to made fun of us. That when the rivalry started and we never care for each other. Edneyville started that. Craig Brown score the only TD of the game. I am sure many of people in Mountain area and Western part of the state were not familiar with deaf people and we still have that today but not as no where near as bad. I would say Edneyville top that chart and I do know that Cherokee didn't care for Edneyville either. Shoooooooot I remember some of kids were throwing apples over the fence to hit our players at Edneyville HS Field. There were a lot of apples around that HS.


I also remember well that Edneyville ran up the score 1978 (the same year we play Murphy) to 59-0 and had first string starters in 4th Q with the game out of reach. Needless to say, our distaste for Edneyville grew. We went down to Edneyville following year and lost 15-8 (critical fumble on the last drive) We beat Edneyville at our home two years later 20-9 with that great kicker for Edneyville (Messer?) That was real sweet for our "Senior guys on the team" . Edneyville ran up the score AGAIN the following year at Edneyville when we lost like half of the team due to a lot of SR's the year before.

I moved to Triad area and finally saw Murphy play Thomasville for Western Regional final. I was glad that Thomasville shut them down big time and show how Piedmont boys could play. I have no beef with Tryon, Polk Central and Cherokee. Rosman was in between.

RicktownTiger----- 2nd year that we had Co-Champion, Y'all beat us 28-0 like you said. We had Arnold Ross who was All Conference that year. Craig Brown aged out that year. He was and still remember as our best ATHLETE we ever had at NCSD. Stacey Rogers were our best Basketball Player we ever had and we have pretty good ones in BB. Our 1975 team probably was our best team in the history along with 1960 team that went to state final with Charles Crowe (bless him, a great Warrior) . 75' team end up 9-1 and didn't even go to playoff due to Tri-Champs doing a darn tootin' coin flip. Edneyville end up going to playoff and lost the first game. GEEZ. Coin flips made me sick. We lost to Tryon that year 15-14 at East Burke HS 2nd game of the year. I have to check how many yds Craig Brown had that year. He was a stud and you know what, He still is. He played basketball and softball well into 50's. He lives in Kannapolis area I think. His son did graduated from Brown HS a good while back.

 

[mbdfan]

I moved to Triad area and finally saw Murphy play Thomasville for Western Regional final. I was glad that Thomasville shut them down big time and show how Piedmont boys could play.

That was not an elite Murphy team by any means, they lost 4 games that season and they lacked overall team speed. It didn't help things at all that Murphy's starting QB (and also their best LB) had a bad case of the flu the week of the game.

Yes, that was a great Thomasville team in '05 and would have beat many Murphy teams over the years but let's not act like the years that Murphy has an elite football team that they can't matchup with anyone in 1A/1AA.

 

[mactazheels]

i never said that Murphy was a elite team that year. They did reach the Western Regional Final though but would not beat Thomasville or Albermale. Wallace Rose Hill was a great great team that year and Thomasville beat them at Winston-Salem 21-20 after being down 20-6 at halftime. Nate Irving played for WRH and end up playing at NC State. Heck he even went to Denver Broncos and played there. Murphy didn't lose to 1A school until Thomasville. That is pretty darn good but not great like other Murphy team though.

Thomasville was undefeated 2005 and 2006. Both team were special but not quite as good as 95' team. That is another story though!

 

[mbdfan]

I wish a healthy Murphy and Thomasville could have played in '91, both had elite talent that season.

 

[mactazheels]

Thomasville won State Title that year (beating West Brunswick 21-6) and only lost one game to North Davidson by 2 points. That might be a good game but we were pretty stout on defense that year. They only gave up 64 points while Murphy gave up 192 points. I think Thomasville could compete with HP Andrews which won 3A state title that year. Murphy was good but gave up way too many points to compete with T'ville. Murphy beat Franklin by 37-34 and Franklin lost every game that year.

It would be a great game I think but will be a two tds win by Red Bulldogs due to defense. Just that year alone, we played very good ball teams bunch of 3A schools. Both school do have great traditions in football indeed!

It looks like Thomasville finally got a stout defense this year. Thomasville held West Montgomery to 13 points which is the lowest output by them whole season.

 

[BK13T-$]

91+Murphy = 2A.

 

[mbdfan]

Thomasville won State Title that year (beating West Brunswick 21-6) and only lost one game to North Davidson by 2 points. That might be a good game but we were pretty stout on defense that year. They only gave up 64 points while Murphy gave up 192 points. I think Thomasville could compete with HP Andrews which won 3A state title that year. Murphy was good but gave up way too many points to compete with T'ville. Murphy beat Franklin by 37-34 and Franklin lost every game that year.

It would be a great game I think but will be a two tds win by Red Bulldogs due to defense. Just that year alone, we played very good ball teams bunch of 3A schools. Both school do have great traditions in football indeed!

It looks like Thomasville finally got a stout defense this year. Thomasville held West Montgomery to 13 points which is the lowest output by them whole season.

What you're failing to realize by basing your opinion on box scores is that Murphy played the entire regular season with major injuries, they didn't get even remotely healthy until the playoffs and even then they didn't have everyone back (1,000 yard back never played a down). That type of thing doesn't show up on a stat sheet. That's why I clearly stated in my original post I would have liked to have seen '91 Thomasville play a healthy '91 Murphy. Along with '87 that was the deepest and fastest group of skill players Murphy has ever put on the field.

It's a miracle that the '91 team only lost one regular season game with as many injuries as they suffered and speaks to the overwhelming talent of that team that they could overcome all that. Since you are such a big stats guy you can look at the playoff scores Murphy posted when they started to get somewhat healthy, big difference between those numbers and the regular season ones when they were ravaged by injury.

Thomasville still might have won against a healthy '91 team but it would've been a lot closer than two scores, this coming from people who actually watched both teams play in the title games that year, not from assumptions based on stat sheets without context.

 

[Tigertown_a_Rick]

Couldn't make the long ride last night to Murphy, due to health issues, but did listen to the game....

Congratulations to the Bulldogs on the 21-6 win over the Tigers....

Don't know if Rosman will ever beat Murphy or Swain County again in my lifetime, but the Tigers did play both very tough this year....

Time to refocus for the playoffs!

Roar Tigers Roar!

 

[Bigtime478]

Couldn't make the long ride last night to Murphy, due to health issues, but did listen to the game....

Congratulations to the Bulldogs on the 21-6 win over the Tigers....

Don't know if Rosman will ever beat Murphy or Swain County again in my lifetime, but the Tigers did play both very tough this year....

Time to refocus for the playoffs!

Roar Tigers Roar!

Rick, last night the Tigers reminded me of a team early in conference play last season. This was the worst I have seen our Tigers play all year. I'm not hating on the Bulldogs but this Murphy team couldn't have licked the bottoms of their squad last year's cleats. The Tigers had a good opportunity to come out 3rd in the conference before the game started last night. We came out flatter than a pancake. Having no energy from the start of the game can kill a team. Rosman hasn't been known for coming out of the gate real strong this year but last night was exceptionally worse. I will say this Murphy has the most accurate arm under center that I've seen in the SMC this year. That sure did help last night against our secondary. Although the Tigers only lost by 2 touchdowns, I feel we could've came out of Cherokee County with a better result last night. Hoping our Tigers get some motivation going into the first round next week!

 

[knine1]

Bigtime Murphy has been known to jump on teams early at The Hill. have to credit the Dogs defense to they have played lights out against the run last 2 weeks vs Swain and Rosman. Tigers have a very dangerous team headed to playoffs