Mavchamp

I've never felt Coach King has intentionally tried to run up a score on someone. Be it Marshall or any other Lobo game I've attended. Sure..... most of them in the last decade have ended up blowouts, but in King's defense..... most of them were still close games at halftime. It's full throttle until further notice. 2010: Longview was ahead 10-6 at haltime. 31-9 was the final 2009: Longview was ahead 23-22 at halftime. 47-30 was the final. 2008: Game was tied 21-21 at halftime. Final was 50-21 2007: Game was 21-7 at halftime. Final was 41-7 2006: Final was 38-35 in a failed comeback for Marshall 2005: Longview was ahead 21-10 at halftime. Final was 29-16 2004: Marshall was ahead 15-10 at halftime. Longview won 40-15 2002, 2003, 2011, and 2012 were total domination from get to go. But the other games.... King had no reason to take the gas off the pedal until late in the game. I don't fault him for any of the finals. Rivals or not....I never got the feeling Longview was trying to humiliate us. Now....some of their fans on the visitor's side is another topic. But coaching-wise. First class.

Gilmer is a freak of nature.

I hope you are right. Like I've said....we didn't land in this mess overnight....and we won't pull ourselves out of it overnight. But I do think it will happen. And I think it'll happen quicker than some think. But I think you have to be realistic about it. In the days of 2000-2009..... a non-district schedule like we have now would have been fine...and accepted as a great challenge. But when you open your season against 4 straight state ranked teams....and you're trying to rebuild. Not so much. I remember the grumbling about us playing Shreveport Huntington and Southwood, and some of the Dallas ISD schools. Bet we'd love to play 1 or 2 of them now just to build some confidence........

Until something changes..... no one can argue that.

Kilgore, IMHO, will be playing games late into December. They are 5 students from being a 4A school. Almost doesn't seem fair to some of those other 3A schools. They play smart football. They hold the ball for long dives. They don't turn it over. They make few mistakes. Few penalties. Wouldn't be shocked to see them make a heck of a run. And I base this mostly on LAST season..... but Kilgore would OWN 14-4A. We will have a pretty good idea.... because they play Marshall, PT, and Hallsville. Don't they have MP too? I'm willing to bet they run the table.

Hard to argue MP isn't the best. Granted..... Hallsville and Marshall lost to good teams. Both state ranked. But both got CRUSHED. SS..... I didn't expect them to lose like that. Of course it was a scrimmage, but Marshall played Lee much closer. That score really shocked me. Hard to see where PT really is based on their schedule. I'll be interested to see how they play Kilgore in 2 weeks. Marshall will most likely start the season 0-4. Hallsville still has Kilgore too. Not a great week for 14-4A. Congrats to PT and MP. (whaaaa??? lol)

MP was the only one in the district to look sharp last night. Three of us got crushed. Hard to gauge PT's win over Van.....but either way, they scored a lot of points. But they gave up a lot too. MP in the lead for sure.

I got it to work a couple of times last season. But nothing last night. And it's the very reason I won't purchase it. It looks great. It's a great idea. Execution" F-minus minus minus Twitter and SDC keeps me up to date free. and doesn't go down

Longview by as many points as they desire. The Lobos are reloading. Mavericks are rebuilding. We are much improved from this point last season. But we are no where near ready to challenge the Lobos. Marshall's first four games are all against state ranked teams. Not an easy row to hoe for a team trying to find itself. Not more can be said. Lobos by a lot.

Well...... I thought our defense would struggle. And it did. I thought our offense would be better. And it wasn't. Compared to last year's game.....100% better. But the outcome similar. Marshall still has much.....much work to do. Kilgore is very good. It gets no easier for the Mavs. Longview is next, who almost upset Coppell. Bossier Parkway is #5 in Louisiana 5A. And...well...I see what Whitehouse did to Hallsville. Tough road ahead for the young Mavs. But slowly.....things are improving.

same

Mav Freshmen tied 22-22 JV lost 40-13 I think the JV is going to struggle this year. Most of the best JV players are on the varsity roster. Varsity team is young. The freshmen won district last year as 8th graders. So they are a group to watch!

Article from today's Marshall News Messenger: http://www.marshallnewsmessenger.com/sports/high_school/mavs-defensive-line-learning-on-the-fly/article_47e1de50-1780-559c-85f2-6f6a2534cfb1.html Another: http://www.marshallnewsmessenger.com/sports/mavs-face-strong-kilgore-challengefor-season-opener/article_762f8e3c-1a8b-5daf-b9df-79ec3fa6ccc6.html

I agree..... it's been a great series. 2004..... Kilgore win in OT 28-27 when the Bulldog defense held on the 2 point try. Kilgore went on to win state in 4A II and Marshall advanced to the state championship in 4A I. Then the 2005 game.... I agree. That was an UNREAL game. Mavs won 7-3 in one of the best defensive games I've ever seen. Marshall advanced to the 4A I title game again. Kilore had another strong run too I think. People tend to forget the 2006. I don't remember all the ins and out of that season, but it boiled down to Kilgore and Marshall each needing a win to get into the playoffs. And each needed to win by a certain amount of points and also needed WH (who was the district champion) to beat Nac. Marshall got the win over Kilgore in a thriller 22-15. But WH had elected to sit their starters to "rest". Some accused WH of losing on purpose to avoid a first round game against state ranked Texas High. With that.... if I recall correctly, kept Kilgore and Marshall sitting at home and Nac made the playoffs by default. 2007 was another barnburner. There was a chance for a three way tie for the district title between Whitehouse, Kilgore, and Marshall. The Bulldogs came into town and won a 10-7 nailbiter. Marshall and Kilgore again had great playoff runs as Marshall advanced to the regionls that year. 2008 was insane. Marshall beat Kilgore 28-18 in September in non-district action. Then, in a playoff game Kilgore gets the ultimate revenge with a THRILLING 31-28 win to advance. 2009 Saw the same thing nearly. Marshall blew kilgore out 41-14 in September. Partial revenge for the playoff loss 10 months prior. But the true revenge was 44-7 win in the first round of the playoff before Marshall would advance to the regionals again. Even 2010 was a good game. Marshall won 24-14 in another game that was back and fourth. The 2011 game.....IMHO was the beginning of the downward spiral for the Mavs. It was a THRILLING game. And Kilgore won it in 2OT on a blocked FG run back for a TD. Bulldogs won 47-41 in 2OT. Last season was ugly. But the series.....on the whole, as you can see.... has been unreal. Great rivalry against to football programs with tons of history. Here's to continuing that Friday!

It drives me insane that towns like Marshall, Texarkana, Carthage, Jefferson..... are all forced to take the Shreveport stations over the East Texas stations. We are not Louisiana..... we are Texas. At least give us the choice of which we prefer. I'll admit....I think the news broadcasts are better on the Shreveport stations...... But I prefer the sports of East Texas. I don't really give a rip about Southwood, Ruston, and Benton. I want Longview, Tyler, Lufkin, Gilmer...... Just another thing we can thank the government for over-reaching in our lives. Territrorial rights are punshing border towns like us.

Kilgore has BY FAR been my favorite rivalry game since 2002. No love for Hallsville..... But we've dominated them most of our history. Here is to hoping for a great game Friday night.

What teams have live twitter updates?? Marshall: @marshallmavs Longview: @Lobo_football and also @LongviewLobos

What happened with this program in 2011 and 2012, outside of the losing, was inexplicable. It was a perfect storm of anything that could go wrong, did. A dip in talent. A fleecing of the staff. An exodus of participation. Mounting losses. And a spirit of negativity that couldn't be explained. It's amazing how much things have changed in a short period of time. And not just in football. Across the board. I attribute a lot of it to Dr. Marc Smith. His leadership has been UNREAL. Teachers are excited. Participation is through the roof. Was talking to a school board member and the MISD band program has gone crazy. Enrollment has quadrupled at the middle school/junior high level. Soon to return to numbers we knew them to always be at. They will be fielding 200 kids by 2015. And now that we have true leadership and cohesiveness. And someone that actually know how to present something professionally.... I'm expecting a new bond proposal this coming spring for new schools. Our elementary schools are busting at the seams and all of them are reaching the end of their days. Can't explain it. And all this district excitement has been translated into this new coaching staff and the direction they are headed in. I think we will surprise some people this season. I think we will be better than some expect. Just a matter of how much. Small steps for now. No clue how many victories it may or may not bring in 2013. But there is NO DOUBT that the cloud has lifted off the district.

Mild? I'd consider it a considerable upset. I think most would!

I'd like to see Hallsville pull out the upset, but I don't think it's going to happen. WH by ten.

Explosion in growth. About 200 kids 9-12. In dire need of more space according to the MNM. MJHS is fielding 4 teams now as well . 2 in 7th and 2 in 8th.

I was a little surprised to see that Coach Harper admitted that he kept the offensive play calling close to the vest in the scrimmages. That's usually a tactic that teams use when they are better than 3-17 in two seasons. LOL. Even so, I thought we moved the ball well against both Lindale AND Tyler Lee. So if that was keeping it close to the vest, I suppose that's a good thing. I was pretty pleased offensively in the scrimmages. Something we never saw at this time last year (or in the first five games last year). My concerns, based on what I've seen thus far has been our defense. We gave up some HUGE plays against Lindale and Lee. Both of them had plays that went for over 90 yards. Lee had another that went for 50. If we can hang with Kilgore....and not get completely run out of the stadium like last year, that would be a HUGE step forward. I just hope the guys keep their heads on straight....because these first four games are KILLER. All against state ranked teams. Survive that, and then we can move on the next portion of the season. Can't wait!

http://www.etsupersite.com/ couple of interesting facts about Kilgore Vs. Marshall on there. Still working on getting things ready for the season. I'm running way behind because of a server change. This webmaster thing is gettting too advanced for me. LOL. About time to hand it over to a professional!

Exactly. Unless it has changed, California doesn't have state champions. They have Zone champions. LAME. Like you said.... Louisiana has an NCAA-March Madness like playoff. only 32 teams get in I think.... and it's all about glitz, glamour, media attention, and who knows who. I've seen 8-2 teams in Louisiana sit at home because they favored teams with more "history". Even worse...some places stop at City Championships. I can't imagine. I'd take our system over any of those any day.

I'm not arguing that money isn't the driving factor in why they playoffs have grown like they have. BUT..... take a bigger look at it. People always go back to say....1980 when only two teams made it to the playoffs. I'd like to see how many schools there were in Texas in 1980. Then compare it to how many we have now. New schools are popping up everywhere. Katy ISD has what? Eight high schoools? They didn't in 1980. Plano, Rockwall, Converse, Mansfield.... the list goes on and on. There is no telling how HS there are in Texas high now that didn't exist 10 years ago. Much less 20... or 30 years ago. There are almost 1300 HS in Texas. And there have been some 4th place teams not only play in state title games, a few of them have won state titles. Sure...there is alway going to be that 2-8 or 3-7 team that gets in..... and in most cases they are one and done. But we've also seen some 7-3 teams that were 4th place teams from killer districts. So I see both sides. Yeah.... the playoffs are watered down. But only for a week in most cases. Those that don't belong are usually booted pretty quick. It's a double edged sword being in a state that's so big with so many high schools. And it's not a perfect system. But I still think it's the best one in the country.