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Yurpi. (I doubt a team that was almost taken down by one player that was last years team you beat in the finals could beat Irmo last, this, and even next year.) JL Mann last year beat a one man team that was Brady Francis in state finals. And still had to do it on the lack of sufficient refs for the game. JL Mann could also never beat Irmo even if you brought back all the people on their team last year. (Different level) AAA cant keep up with Irmo, Wando, or the old NW. (Bring them back. I bet they wouldnt win state again.) If there was a rematch of last years playoffs, it would be SA vs. Chapin.

Make more since for you. Im saying that no matter if things were said with last years team, they actually wernt that great with the supposed talent they had.

It is stupid to say the Mann team form last year would not stand a chance against Irmo. They had a group of seniors that had 5 CESA premier team players and basically ran through 3A. If you watched their run through the playoffs, they dominated. I guarantee they would have been getting a whole lot more respect if they had been in 4A because that is all people on these boards seem to care about. I would pay to see Mann's team last year play this year's Irmo.

As for this next matchup, Im not sure the young Mann team can hang with a very organized and talented Irmo team. What I saw them do against Riverside was impressive and showed how strong they are.

Mann will be very strong for years to come and will be putting some more state championship rings in coach Hosea's trophy case. then maybe they will get some of the respect they deserve.

Obviously Bar is a Chapin fan that is bitter that his or her team didnt make it to the finals. I think they lost to Eastside in last years playoffs...I also believe Mann ran through that Eastside team in the Upperstate game. So not sure how you think Chapin would have made it to the finals.

Bar, what "single" player almost took down Mann in the State Championship? Looking back at the game i believe Mann out shot SA 17-4 and dominated in every aspect. Irmo had a great team last year and arguably a better team this year, i will give you that, but i feel like last years Mann squad had more than enough talent to take down Irmo and i would love to be able to see those two teams play. I got a good laugh out of the comment that the old Mann squad could not win state again...even in 3a. 3a soccer is a bit bland this year. When you have teams like Fort Mill, Wade Hampton, and Walhalla in the Upperstate this year it just shows you how watered down it really is. Mann would have easily have beaten all those teams. In the lower state its just Chapin, a team that lost Joey DeMare who scored 80 percent of their goals last year. 3a is not the only level thats lacking overall talent, 4a is a bit watered down this year as well, yes Irmo is a very strong side with an immense amount of talent/ability, but thats about it. NW was far below the NW we all usually expect to see and for Mann, a team who is not as strong as its past 2 teams, can jump up from 3a (which you seem to think is inferior to 4a) to 4a, into the toughest region in the state i might add, and still get a region title and a trip to upperstate, shows how 4a saw a bit of a drop of from last year. While i do believe that Irmo will beat Mann pretty easily this year you cant count Mann out entirely...Irmo tends to have some trouble winning BIG games in recent history. If your last comment was reffering to the Chapin/Eastside game last year i will agree with you that Chapin was the better team and should have moved on to upperstate. It would have been a much better game to watch and probably wouldnt have been a 5-1 stomping like last year, but with Mann have 5 players who played with DeMare and against him in club, they could have easily shut him down therefore virtually shutting down Chapin's ability to score. This year i feel upperstate will be a 4-1 or 5-1 win for Irmo. They just have too many talented players for Mann to keep up with, but Nicky Watson from Mann will score his teams lone goal. He is an extremely good player and at only a sophomore we get the pleasure of watching him for 2 more years. Irmo will finally win state this year and they deserve it.

I looked back the last couple of years to see comparable records between NW, Irmo and Mann. I can safely say that there is no way Mann would have been able to hang with either Irmo or NW the past couple of years. Anybody that is saying that they could have is delusional. Irmo has had two losses the last three years combined, both came in the state championship game. NW has also had six losses over the same time, but they only had two losses over the past two years when they won the state championship. Mann has had 12 losses over the same time against weaker 3A teams as compared to either NW or Irmo. Mann is going to have to beat Irmo the next couple of years, and it is going to be difficult to do so. Irmo has a ton of underclassmen coming up, so to say Mann is going to win it all for sure the in the next year or two is being too cocky. I am not saying that Irmo is for sure going to win it all, but they are going to be strong. It all depends on how well the team gels together, injuries, and coaching.

To say that Irmo has had problems winning big games is a false statement. Irmo has two losses in the state championship game, they lost to a BETTER NW team. That is only two losses in three years. How can you say that they are having problems winning big games. They went through a tough Wando team each year to make it to the championship game.

There is a reason that 4A tends to be the only thing that people on these boards only seem to care about. That is because they have a larger school population to draw from for their talent. When I attended Irmo, we had over 800 kids in a class to draw from. There was no way that small schools could expect to compete with large schools like that that had a soccer tradition. It is just a numbers and talent pool thing. Now you do get those freaky good teams that have a ton of good players on them that are smaller schools, but those aren't the norm.

We will see who wins the game on Tuesday, but I would venture a guess that Irmo is going to win this one 4-1 or 5-1. By looking at either teams record this year, I just don't see that Mann can hang with Irmo's depth. Nothing is a done deal, but I am pretty confident that Irmo will dispose of them handily and make it to the state championship game again.

The last two Mann teams have been great teams. The one in 2009 only lost two regular season games and the 2010 walked to a state championship. The reason that Mann has a few more losses over the past three years is because they have always played in a region with Eastside, Riverside, and Greenville. That is three teams that have recently won state championships that you end up playing twice a year.(sometimes 3 times) 4a may have the most talented team every year but 3a always has a lot of depth and always seem to compete in the BC tournament where it puts 4a vs 3a. 4a does have a lot of talent but seems to think a little too highly of itself. I believe a 3a team called Greenville was National Champs a few years back. I highly doubt this years Irmo to could compete with that greenville squad that maybe gave up three goals all year.

J.L. Mann 2010 Playoffs

Woodmont 14-0
Blue Ridge 5-1
A.C. Flora 4-0
Eastside 5-1
South Aiken 2-0

Seems like walking with an exception of the final where they turned it up to a light run.

Yes they did lose to Riverside twice and they probably were a great team. But if they were the truely better than Mann they would have beat an Eastside team that got steam rolled by Mann. Last time I checked, winning the State Championship makes you the best.

"Great teams find a way to win"

Mann found a way to win through the playoffs and state....Riverside did not.