Your weekly look at the latest rankings.
Welcome to our GameTracker on CoachesAid.com, featuring some of the top high school sporting events of the coming week. This week’s Tracker is packed with games that could accurately be called district championship games. (All football rankings are CoachesAid.com’s):
Maryville (6-1, No. 2 in 6A) at Farragut (6-1): These two perennial East Tennessee powers haven’t squared off since 1992 - and that’s a shame, because both teams historically play great football. The winner will be crowned District 4-AAA champion. Farragut rolled Bearden last week, and QB Reece Browning’s return to form could spell trouble for the Rebels.
Gallatin (5-2) at Beech (6-1, no. 5 in 5A): Historically, the Green Wave has had the Bucs’ number - Beech has only defeated their Sumner County neighbor twice in school history. 9-AAA rivals Gallatin, Beech, and Hendersonville are all vying for 2 spots in the postseason, and the winner of this game gains the inside track to the playoffs. The biggest factor Friday night may be the field at Beech - already mangled by recent rainy games, the field has been saturated by heavy rains all week. CoachesAid will be LIVE at this game Friday night.
Mitchell (6-1) at Whitehaven (6-1): The Tigers travel down Shelby Drive to try and claim the 16-AAA title. Both teams have virtually locked up spots in the postseason, but that will do nothing to slow the hitting in what could be a 100+ point total offensive shootout.
Harriman (5-2) at Knoxville Grace (6-1): The winner of this game claims the 3-A title, and the chance to avoid South Pittsburg for as long as possible in the playoffs. Harriman had their noses bloodied last week in a step-up game last week, and are spoiling for a fight. The Rams will have to come ready to play physical football.
Oakland (5-2) at Blackman (7-0): Yes, Blackman is undefeated. However, they have feasted on a fairly easy schedule so far - none of their first seven opponents have a winning record - and now face a brutal finishing schedule that begins with the visiting Patriots. Oakland’s two losses have come at the hands of top-ranked teams, and both were heartbreaking overtime losses. How good are the Blaze? We’ll find out.
Evangelical Christian School (6-1, no. 2 in II-AA) at First Assembly Christian School (7-0): ECS lost their first game of the year last week, but it was against II-AA power Christian Brothers. The Eagles are a good football team, and could be on their way to Cookeville. We’ll know how good a team FACS really is after this one.
Elizabethton (6-1, no. 5 in 3A) at Johnson County (5-2): The Fighting Cyclones have yet to lose in the state of Tennessee this year (their only loss came in Asheville, NC), and had a week to prepare for Friday’s visit to Mountain City. A win cinches the 1-AA district title - this is the best game of the week in the northeast corner of the state.
Soddy-Daisy (3-4) at McMinn County (5-2): Both teams are clawing for the second automatic berth available in District 5-AAA (Ooltewah has one locked up already). The Trojans’ record is a bit deceiving - three of their losses were against top-ranked teams like the Owls and McCallie. Last year’s tilt, a 21-10 win for Soddy-Daisy, was riddled with controversy, and the Cherokees are more than motivated.
Austin-East (4-3) at Gatlinburg-Pittman (7-0): The overall records look radically different, but these teams are an identical 3-0 in District 3-AA play. The difference? The Roadrunners’ schedule was packed with tough non-district road trips. They pressed top-ranked 6A Ooltewah harder than anyone this year, falling 7-6. They traveled to the hostile home of no. 4 ranked CAK and lost by two. We don’t believe that Austin-East is intimidated by the Highlanders’ perfect record, and Gatlinburg-Pittman will have their hands full in their toughest test of the season.
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