Forney Fans

[Rabbit93]

I heard through a friend of mine that someone (cates) took a full page ad out in the Messenger about Max. Is it true, if so, what did it say? I don't live in Forney so I don't have a way to check. Kaorder are you still in town? Any help would be appreciated.

[kaorder1999]

Yeah,,,its true...can you belive it? The ad says and I quote..."A a spectator and a fan, Mel Maxfield is solely responsible to blame for the loss against Everman." It goes on to say that Maxfield needs to be replaced...he says that the only reason Max has a good record is because of the talent in Forney...it says that Max cannot coach at all...it actually made me laugh...you need to go pick it up. I just cant believe that the Messenger ran it. Im going to write a response to it...it wasnt fair to Max that they ran it.

[oldbuff78]

HEY GUYS, I DONT LIVE IN FORNEY, BUT COUSINS TELL ME MAX LOST THE GAME FOR YOU'ALL LAST YEAR AGAINST LAGRANGE LAST YEAR. IS THAT TRUE?

[Rabbit93]

Not true, The OC called two pass plays that fell incomplete at a critical time and we ended up fumbling the ball on LG's five late in the fourth.

[aamove]

I read the Messenger today also. I am peeved that they ran it at all. And they will probably want to charge for any responses. Where was this yahoo when Forney won 11 straight. Like most Forney fans I was depressed when we lost it to Everman. But the things happened are all in the past and it's time to move on and not cry about it. I guess my search for the town idiot is over and his name is Michael Cates.

[rholl]

Bam...naming names...I love it!!!! if it was him...tell him to be sure and put in his application....since he seems so qualified!!! Hope he wants to get his name and family dragged through the mud in the local paper!!!!!

Good luck Coach Max
From an Everman fan

[Rabbit93]

did he even play ball when he was in school? I'm sure it wasn't for Max. I played for the man and it would sure piss me off to know that Cates is doing this and doesn't know jack about the program.

[eye of the tiger]

Almost sounds like slander to me. Forney has an incredible football program that many schools would die for. There are some schools that havent had 11 victories in the past five years put together. Maybe the booster club should run a counter ad.

[the claw]

I agree, when a program has had continued success under a coach there is no reason to even say things about him. You especially should not run an article in the town newspaper about it. The paper should be ashamed they even ran an article of that nature. Is there anywhere I could read the article? And hopefully some of the replies published later?

[Endword]

Some people's audacity (stupidity) never ceases to amaze me. It seems that the longer a coach puts together winning seasons, the level of stupidity of some fans increases. We had a minor version of this in Abilene dealing with Coach Sandifer when Vernon knocked us (Wylie) out in the first round. Some "fan" wrote a letter to the editor (that the paper published) blaming Sandifer and his "lack of following his game plan" for the defeat! Call me silly, but I thought Vernon's football team and play that night had something to do with our being beat. Wylie Bulldogs 14 and 1 last year and 10 and 1 this year; gee what a telling indication of "coaching incompetence". As a fan of high school football my hat is off to Coach Maxfield, Coach Sandifer, and all of those still spending the countless hours working with our kids!

[eye of the tiger]

Doesnt make sense does it endword Wylie is 24-2 over the last two years and some are calling for coachs head. The Booster club and fans need to publish suport for the coach. The disenters in Wylie and Forney dont know how good they have it. Some programs are estactic for 5-5 years. I hope the school boards in Wyle and Forney dont listen to people like that.

[This message has been edited by eye of the tiger (edited December 07, 2001).]

[Idiot]

Believe me, Wylie Coach Sandifer will NOT be getting the boot,all the talk about wanted him gone is from people who know nothing about football

[oldbuff78]

FORNEY AND WYLIE ARE GREAT PROGRAMS
THEY ALWAYS WANT TO BLAME THE COACH OR PEOPLE FORGET THESE ARE HS BOYS LIKE I ALSO USED TO BE. COACHES HAVE TO MAKE TOUGH CALLS AT TIMES, IF THEY WORK YOUR GREAT. IF NOT, THEY WANT TO FIRE YOU. TAKE IS FROM THIS COACH.

[Endword]

Eye, I think the powers to be are searching for a "filter" to put on Sandifer's phone line to keep other programs (HS or college) from contacting him about job openings!!!! Anybody that knows anything about football is probably doing the same to Maxfield's lines in Forney. Coaches are sometimes "victims of their own success" in that you do it one year, you should be able to do it every year! I guess that is a good problem to have though since there are many programs that are ecstatic simply to have a winning season.

[Idiot]

As far as colleges contacting Sandifer, they already have, for a few years now, but from what i understand he doesnt want to go any where until his kids are out of school.

[Rabbit93]

"victims of their own success" in that you do it one year, you should be able to do it every year! I totally agree with that. Max has built a successful program and now just being in the playoffs isn't enough.


[This message has been edited by Rabbit93 (edited December 07, 2001).]

[rabbitforlife]

guys-been a rabbit-always been a rabbit-player and fan...Max is a good guy but no imagination..with the state sprint relay on the team and at least one quarterback who can throw 60 yds. why depend on one runningback for your whole offense? Walter Payton couldn't do it for Chicago, DeBryan couldn't for us. Quit speaking with your emotion and use your brains...Forney shoulda had back state champions...this isn't personal against Max, heck yeah he's got a good record but when it comes to having to win on coaching and we can't out talent the other team, we NEVER win that game!

[Rabbit93]

Rabbitforlife if you take away the fourteen that Everman got off of turnovers we're still playing this weekend, maybe. Everman is a great ball club. And do you really think that we make the playoffs year in and year out with the best talent on the field. No. Forney has to rely on COACHES to teach these kids what to do and motivate them to give everything they have during a game. Coaching only gets you so far and then talent has to kick in. Man for man Everman just had more. And anyone that says Max is the reason that we lost is looking for a scapegoat.

[rabbitforlife]

Not looking for a scapegoat-probably have heard in the stands "they know what your gonna run coach" "watch the clock coach" "throw the ball coach" more times than you are years old.... Forney was a 2-3 touchdown better team than Everman..Forney got outcoached! YOU explain why we didnt have an offense that could spread out the defense when we had the tools to do it! They scouted us and knew all they had to do was stop Blanton as much as anybody could stop Blanton.. pure and simple!

[rabbitforlife]

absolutely-its too late to try to develop your passing game when you're in the state finals getting your butt beat!


Originally posted by oldbuff78:
HEY GUYS, I DONT LIVE IN FORNEY, BUT COUSINS TELL ME MAX LOST THE GAME FOR YOU'ALL LAST YEAR AGAINST LAGRANGE LAST YEAR. IS THAT TRUE?

[left2soon]

what kind of work do you do for a living rabbitforlife... what kind of imagination to you have...do you work for someone..or are you responsible for over 100 16-18 yr. old kids...does anybody look over your shoulder and tell you that you suck at what you do? let me tell you, you have no clue what goes on on a coaching staff...or the first thing about it. why dont you encourage the boys..or go get a degree and coach yourself..its and easy job..i am sure you could handle it...you have watched football for so many years...bet you are an expert. it never ceases to amaze me. i know several hundred schools that would love to have mel maxfield and the program he has put together.

[Big D]

Rabbit4life, why don't you explain your passing game scheme. I would love to hear your extensive knowledge of offensive football, attacking coverages, protection schemes, etc. You don't have a damn clue.

[rholl]

Did someone say Forney 2 or 3 touchdowns bettter than Everman???? I'm thinking that someone is a little bitter about that loss.

[rholl]

And don't forget about the 30 mph wind that Forney was going against in 4th. Its easy to do when you are sitting in the stands critcizing.

[Matthew328]

Forney 2 or 3 TD's better than Everman..whoa..I think those two teams are equal...two of the most evenly matched teams I have ever seen..they play 100 time Everman wins 50 Forney wins 50...neither team is 2 or 3 TD's better than the other

[Rabbit93]

Forney was not that much better than Everman. Give credit where credit is due. I've RUN Max's offense for him and it's based on people getting blocks and being where you need to be. What do you think would have happened if Forney started throwing the ball. E's quick DB's would have intercepted a few. And with that wind you would have had a ball that fell incomlete all night. Max was trying to avoid that, trust me. You tell me a 3A team that runs a spread offense effectively. The majority of the 3A teams RUN the ball.

what it comes down to is that everyone in Forney thought that this year was the year and it didn't happen so now everyone is pissed and looking to Max for the blame. If the bad snap and and fumble hadn't taken place we're still playing and everyone in Forney is still happy (especially Michael Cates).

Besides we're getting away from the fact that someone is trying to ruin another man's career and a fine one at that. Cates has no idea what he is talking about. Except for the last 3 years Forney HAS not had exceptional athletes. We won with great coaches who taught us how to play the game right and motivate us to give our all each time we played. It's easy for anyone to sit up in the stands and call a game while sipping a Coke. I challenge anyone to do half the job that max does with half the dedication and class that he does year in and year out. Some schools aren't lucky enough to have a coach like him and I am damn proud to say that I played under one ofthe best in the state.

[dogdad]

You are right Matt. Forney and Everman are evenly matched. I felt that Forney played well that night and Everman played a little better. I also told my wife after the game that I thought Forney should have thrown a little more to try to keep Everman honest on defense. That doesn't mean that I know more than Mel or that I think he is a bad coach, it is just my opinion as an astute fan. However, it is a far different thing to take out an ad in the newspaper and try to berate Mel in public. This guy does not have that right. No player has ever played a perfect game and no coach has ever coached a perfect game. People should stop trying to place blame and appreciate their blessings. There are about a thousand other schools who would love to have Forney's season in 2000 & 2001.

[rabbitforlife]

dont confuse your respect for max as a person-and a damn good one-with the fact that he is an average coach-everman and forney were evenly matched because everman had real good athletes and an real good coach-forney had several exceptional athletes and an average coach-which made'm pretty even for that game-but-you put a coach who knew how to use all his offensinve weapons with the talent forney had this year and forney is 2-3 tds better - one other point- forney has had some exceptional coaching over the last several seasons - but those coaches have all moved on to better jobs

[aamove]

Show me another (average coach) that has had the same sucess that Maxfield has had. You tend to use the word average in an area where it doesn't apply. Granted we had talent on the field this year. But, even where there is talent, if it doesn't have the right direction it will not produce results. Let alone a 11-1 season. Everman won the game based on talent and circumstances. Up until the circumstances, they were evenly matched teams. Both coaching and playing. As a coach Mel brings out the best in his atheletes and they tend to give more than they would if he were just an average coach. His kids respect the heck out of him and it shows with the discipline they show on the field. As a coach and A.D. he has to deal with over a hundred student atheletes in any given year.That also means that he has to deal with over 200 parents in the same time span. Let alone all us fans in the stands that are second guessing every play and call. We all have sat on our butts in the stands saying should of, could of would of. But now is not the time to relive one night when we happened to lose..... to a very good team. Now is the time to let that player and yes even that coach know that we appreciate the eleven wins.
With winning seasons in all major sports last year and state ranked programs in Football, Baseball and Track I would dare say he is better than average at what he does. Mel has a winning program here in Forney and we should support him and the teams.

[rabbitforlife]

again-don't confuse things-we had a ranked track team because we were faster than anyone else, we had a baseball team because of several talented kids and one heck of a coach who we are losing, and we had a great football team with kids who played their hearts out - and mel played a great part in motivating them-the shame of it is that he truly is a good guy,he may be able to hire good coaches, and he can motivate the kids, but his one track attitude in not using all the talent he has available is unbelievable -its not fair to the kids- and it gave our opponents the freedom to stop the run and stop forney-forney had almost a dream team-good quarterbacks, good receivers, and good runningbacks-so we lived and died with the running game-how many times do we have to endure this?

[lugnut]

If you're smart you'll endure it until Mel's ready to retire!!!

[Endword]

Rabbitforlife: I've got an idea for you. Do a little research and find the coaches that have a better record or one equal to Maxfield's over the last two or three years. Then find out which of those coaches would be willing to move to Forney. Until you find one of those, you might want to appreciate what you have. Just an idea from someone who "doesn't have a dog in this fight!"

[rabbitforlife]

nobody yet has addressed the problem-why - with so many offensive weapons did forney only have a running game - as cates said - one dimension? dont give me the garbage about defensive sets, etc. - everman and lagrange didn't stop our passing game - we didnt have one going in-and the few passes we completed were sheer raw talent of the players-why didnt forney keep the defense honest by passing and then let blanton run? we're not talking about max being a bad coach-just not imaginative enough to win the big ones he should win!

[SintonFan_inAustin]

There's a reason why forney's coach might have stuck to the running attack. Sinton's Coach Davis as an ex:We know what will work for us and what will not. This is not the time to try something new. Key statement:We have had all season long to work on and develop our game and this is where it is going to be put to the test. Forney did not prepare its offense to when it would face well coach teams, by working on the passing game during the season when they had the chance to do it.

[Rabbit93]

So lets just throw everything we've done until now and start throwing the ball every down. What a joke. Why in the hell do you get away from what has worked for you all year and start doing something new. you don't because mistakes get made that way. You don't go all year doing one thing just to turn around and start doing something else in the playoffs.

Rabbitforlife let me ask you this, why does it matter to you what offense the high school is running. I love the Rabbits, but my world did not end when they lost. Max is good for those boys and that is the important thing.

[This message has been edited by Rabbit93 (edited December 11, 2001).]

[rabbitforlife]

you are exactly right 93 - and thats the point - doesnt it ever occur to anyone that blanton might've gotten injured earlier in the year? then what? or we might find a team that could defense blanton - then what? working on a diverse offensive attack shouldve begun at the first of the year - not in the playoffs - if mel could find a top notch offensive coordinator and then let him run things - even that has possibilities-why do i have an interest? i have followed the rabbits for many years and no i dont have anyone playing and yes i think max is an honorable man and no i dont necessarily agree with putting an ad in the paper - but the point of this conversation is still that he had the tools and couldnt or didnt use'm and thats one of the things he gets paid for

[WHO FIRE WHO HIRE]

BUNNY FOR LIFE...DID YOU EVER PLAY FOR ANYBODY..LEARN SOME FOOTBALL, MAKING GAME PLANS, AND SHUTTING YOUR MOUTH...YOU AND CATES NEED TO GET SEASON TICKETS NEXT YEAR TOGATHER SO THE TRUE RABBIT FANS CAN KICK YOUR BUTTS AT THE SAME TIME...YOU HAVE GREAT COACHES WHO MAKE AVERAGE PLAYERS INTO KIDS WHO LEARN HOW TO WIN. NOT DIV.1 PLAYERS I SAID AVERAGE HIGH SCHOOL PLAYERS. COUNT THE NUMBER OF DIV.1 FORNEY HAS HAD IN THE LAST 15 YEARS MAXFIELD HAS BEEN THERE. JACK AROUND AND LOSE HIM AND HIS STAFF TO ANOTHER SCHOOL AND THEN LETS HEAR ALL YOUR ANSWERS..

[tylerrose]

How many DI players did Forney have this year? (1)Idiotforlife your ignorance is astounding. Is it Max's fault that a ball sailes over the punters head? Is it Max's fault that that Blanton fumbled at the Forney 20? Forney wins that game with the same offense that he has been running for the last 16 years if not for those two mistakes. YOU HAVE NO FREAKIN CLUE!!!!!

[Rabbit93]

Rabbitforlife what year did you graduate? If you don't mind.

[kaorder1999]

You know what? I'm tired of this crap. People...get this through your heads. This is high school football. Not college football and surely not professional football.
Sure...in the NFL, fire the coach if the team doesn't win. Sure..in college football, fire the coach if they can't produce. But in Forney's case, fire a coach after going 11-1 and losing to the eventual state champion by four and lost the previous year in the state championship. Come on...thats a bunch of crap.
What will it take for Forney people to be satisfied with their football program? Take Mabank for example....That town is still partying because they made the playoffs and lost to a VERY good Forney team. You think people over there are talking about firing Dowdy. Hell no!
Since Forney made it to a State Championship one year ago, this town will no longer be satisfied with anything less and that is pretty sad. In 1998 Forney didn't even make the playoffs and within two years Max had Forneyplaying in a State Championship. Sure...fire him.....idiots!
When do the player's start getting any blame. Yeah...you might be right...I think Max told his guys to snap the ball over Cuva's head...yeah...and later on in the game he asked Blanton to fumble the ball. So, since he did that...go ahead and fire him.
I'll tell you what...you idiots taht like writing about how bad of a coach max is...esecially you Cates and RabbitForLife....grow some balls and go talk to Max face-to-face and quit giving your opinion on paper and the internet. I bet he's be intersted to hear your comments...but...no...ya'lls arent big enough to do that!!!

[rabbitforlife]

you didnt read anywhere that i said he should be fired, hell-what i know of him i like him- and none of you answered any of the questions i raised-which was why not have a plan that included something besides "run at em left run at em right"-you never read me question the coaches character-i just disagree with his lack of imagination-now quit your slobbering and name calling and tell me why we wouldnt rely on something besides blanton to get us there-just in case some team figured out how to stop the run-if you want to use this forum to show your ignorance-youve done that - now tell me if youve gotem why not usem?

[kaorder1999]

Do you even understand the game? Hell....Miami is averaging ungody amounts of passing yards a game...thats their game..they dont run the ball..they do what wins them ballgames and that's throwing the ball. You think they are going to go into the Rose Bowl game, the National Championship and start runing the ball more. No...they arent going to change their game. They are going to throw the ball left, right, and down the middle.

People's excuse for Forney is "see, when they threw the ball against Everman, they completed it"...sure....you're right...it was the element of suprise. Thats the only reason they were successful at throwing the ball. Those Everman DB's were huge, fast and hit hard. Forney completed the ball when Everman didnt expect it. Thats wha the element of suprise is....look at teh Commece game in the quarterfinals last year..Forney suprised them on the first play of the game....and did it once more late in the game...so you think they should have thrown more in that game. No! They won with the run. In the Sate Championship Forney completed a LONG pass to Blanton...why? The element of suprise.

You cant ask a 3a program, the athletes, to change up their game for one game. You go with what got you there. You go with what had you ranked #1 in the State. You go with what allowed to you beat teams in the regular season by an average of about 45.

Everman did not shut down Forney's running game. Forney did with mistakes. Forney had the ball for the entire fourth quarter...they werent being stopped. If Bryson converts that last fourth down....you people wouldn't be talking about this crap.

Forney was a running team...end of story....they lost to a GREAT ball team. Get over it. The season is over. Blanton wont play football for Forney anymore. What's sad is Forney could go four or five rounds deep next year and you idiots still wont be satisfied.

Max teaches this guys a lot more than just winning ballgames. He turns high school athletes into good young men. I think that's a little more important than winning a football game. Thats what high school athletics is for. To turn kids into men or women. Teach them responsibility and humility. Teach them what's going to get them further in life. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. What are you teaching them? You're teaching them how to come up with excuses for failure. Blame this or blame that....come on people...football is a game. i wanted Forney to win just as much as anyone else in the State of Texas. But at the same time...I realize that it's just a game. Put yourself in Max's shoes...put yourself in Max's kids shoes....at school now they hear that their Dad is a failure because he cant win a football game. I promise you that hurts Max more than anything that can be said about his coaching.

[evebulldog01]

Hey Forney Fans I know you guys are mad because you lost but did any of you listen to the coverage of the game on the net. "Your caoach said I made a mistake at the end of the game maybe by not giving it to Blanton but that Everman D was keeying for him." In all fairness he admitted he might have made a mistake yes but then again lets say you give it to Blanton and the same thing happens then what do you still gripe at the coach and claim he needs to be fired. I mean it seems to me that Evermans D did shut down Blanton lets not forget he got caught from behind on a long run. He only really broke 2 runs all game. It took him 32 carriers to get 165 yards we didn't shut him down but we did contain him for the most part.

[evebulldog01]

Hey Forney Fans I know you guys are mad because you lost but did any of you listen to the coverage of the game on the net. "Your caoach said I made a mistake at the end of the game maybe by not giving it to Blanton but that Everman D was keeying for him." In all fairness he admitted he might have made a mistake yes but then again lets say you give it to Blanton and the same thing happens then what do you still gripe at the coach and claim he needs to be fired. I mean it seems to me that Evermans D did shut down Blanton lets not forget he got caught from behind on a long run. He only really broke 2 runs all game. It took him 32 carriers to get 165 yards we didn't shut him down but we did contain him for the most part.

[oldbuff78]

GIVE MAX A BREAK!!!!
HE IS NOT A BAD COACH, IF THE DEEP SNAPPER HAD'NT MADE A ERROR OR BLANTON FUMBLED, IT COULD HAVE BEEN A DIFFERENT STORY. GIVE EVERMAN CREDIT, THEY DID WIN. LET YOUR COACHES COACH.

[aamove]

Just to let people know. There were four responses in this week's Forney Messenger in response to the Cates letter. Three from Rabbit supporters and one (a full page) from the editor of the paper. The editor explained that although he did not agree with the Cates letter, he had to print this opposing opinion in order to maintain a free press. And he also went to great length to express his support of Coach Maxfield and his staff. My thanks go out to the three other people who responded and to the Editor of the Messenger for giving his explanation of the reasons for printing it and his praise for Mel. And a very special Thank You to all of Y'all that have expressed support for Coach Maxfield.

[rabbitforlife]

hey 1999-if you pay attention-i said i didnt agree with running the ad-and i didnt say change the offense for one game-if you can respond without calling someone names who doesnt agree with your point of view-forget about miami-tell me why that if you had a good quarterback and good receivers to go along with blanton and brown you wouldnt develop that part of the game all year long? youre right-when your rear is in a bind is not the time to change up-but tell me why you wouldnt plan for the time that you might have to rely on the pass if the running game was being defensed

[tylerrose]

Why don't you just keep your mouth shut? It is obvious that you have no life and know nothing about football. If you really have that big of a problem with the coaching at Forney then go up to the fieldhouse and voice that opinion to the coaches instead of hiding behind this message board. I'm sure they would be happy to discuss it with you.

[rabbitforlife]

rose-if telling me to shut up is the best answer you can give-then dont tell me i dont know anything about football-or is this forum just for those who agree with you? by the way - check the paper this weekend and see if any team who won or advanced did it with a ground game only

[tylerrose]

Did you even see Forney play this year. It would have been ignorant for them to not use the best weapon on their team. I'll explain this to you one more time, and read this real slow so maybe it will sink in this time. Forney lost the game because of untimely mistakes not because of a lack of passing the football. Since you are so intelligent, go back and research and tell me how many of the 3A state champs the past 20 years have been passing teams. I'll go ahead and tell you - zero. There is a simple reason for this-numbers. In order to run that type of offense you have got to have a stud at QB year after year and a bunch of recievers. You act like Forney never worked on the pass in practice. Which I doubt you ever attended one. Since you feel like passing was the key to beating Everman, did you happen to check out the box score of the Everman-Sinton game. Sinton a one back shotgun passing team threw 3 picks and they work on throwing the ball all of the time. I guess you need to get Sinton fans to post that they needed to run the ball more, and spend more time on that. Since they only ran for 59 yards that is pathetic. I really do not think that they will though because they are probably a little intelligent about what brought their team to the state championship game.

[oldbuff78]

LETS LEAVE THE COACHES AT FORNEY ALONE FOR NOW. DONT THINK THEY ARE HURTING, GO BY AND SEE THEM.THE COACHES HURT JUST AS BAD AS THE PLAYERS DO.THEY JUST CANT SHOW IT BECAUSE OF THE PLAYERS. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL. TRUST IN GOD.

[rabbitforlife]

one more time-and this is it-i've watched plenty of rabbit games-now try to understand this-forney did have a couple of qb's who could throw-and some outstanding receivers-regardless of whether sinton or most 3A teams had all those tools or not - forney did! of course build the offense around blanton but what i'm trying to get someone to tell me is why forney shouldnt have developed the passing game in conjunction with blanton and at least make the d have to defend the pass instead of putting everyone on the line to tee off on blanton-you know there's nothing you can say to dispute that-and since you are so intelligent i would have thought you would have noticed that 50% of evermans score was made by passing-duh !

[SintonFan_inAustin]

I have to agree with rabbit4life. Everman coaches adjusted real good when they noticed the running game was not consistant and burned sintons secondary cheating to stop the run. Same for sinton, everman secondary was geared to stop the run and they got beat twice for TD's and sinton had open receivers throughout the game but did'nt complete them.

These two teams knew that to win u needed a balanced attack.