#TNHSFB: Week One Recap
What a way to start the 2021 high school football season! Opening weekend provided a lot of stellar games, including several with big time programs competing against each other and making statement wins.
Here we recap some of the biggest stories from Week One of TN high school football.
Power Programs Make Statement Wins
Opening night of high school football here in Tennessee provided a great schedule of games where you saw multiple high caliber programs compete against each other and several walked away with big victories.
The two most impressive teams from the Week One slate have to be the Big Red of MBA and the Spartans of Summit. Both these teams had impressive showings and it wasn’t just because of how they won but because of who they won against and how dominating their victories were.
MBA took on a talented Ravenwood team that has multiple Power Five prospects on it but it didn’t phase 2023 quarterback Marcel Reed Marcel Reed 6'2" | 185 lbs | QB MBA | 2023 State TN and his Big Red team as they destroyed the Raptors, 56-28.
Possibly even more impressive was the road victory for Summit over the home Henry Co. Patriots. The Spartans and star quarterback Destin Wade Destin Wade 6'3" | 205 lbs | QB Summit | 2022 State TN walked into Paris, Tennessee and dominated the game from the opening possession to the end, winning 50-13.
The Patriots had a hard time stopping, let alone slowing down Wade and his Spartans offense and they proved to be too much to handle for the Patriots defense.
Lipscomb Academy hosted a strong program in Greater Atlanta Christian that have several P5, D1 quality prospects on their roster but that didn’t phase the Mustangs as they put a whoopin on the team from Georgia, beating them 76-7.
It was an impressive opening showing from (QB) Luther Richesson Luther Richesson 6'3" | 200 lbs | QB Lipscomb Academy | 2022 State TN and his Mustangs offense. Boston College commit, running back Alex Broome Alex Broome 5'8" | 190 lbs | RB Lipscomb Academy | 2022 State TN had a monster game as well, putting up three rushing touchdowns in the victory.
CPA opened their 2021 season in great fashion as they went on the road to compete against a talented Independence squad and walked away with a 48-21 win. The Lions had to fight early as the Eagles came to play but as the game went on, CPA and their senior laden team eventually took over.
The Lions led by Vanderbilt commits, (QB) Cade Law Cade Law 6'1" | 210 lbs | QB CPA | 2022 State TN and (LB) Langston Patterson Langston Patterson 6'1" | 210 lbs | LB Christ Presbyterian | 2022 State TN will receive a fight from every team they play this season but they have the talent and leadership to take on all comers and continue their march back to Cookeville.
Blaze Pull Off Big Win Over Brentwood
Blackman is under a new regime with head coach Chandler Tygard at the helm and he opened up his Blaze career in grand fashion with a huge victory over the Brentwood Bruins, 38-35.
This was a back and forth contest that was not settled to the very end, so the victory was earned for the Blaze and it’s a win the team can build on and use as a spark towards the rest of their season.
The Blaze is led by new quarterback Jack Risner Jack Risner 6'5" | 220 lbs | QB Blackman | 2023 State TN and he had a strong debut for his Blackman team and was a big factor towards their victory over the Bruins. The Blaze defense had its moments of good play but it was their offense that kept them in the game and eventually was the key reason towards earning the win.
The Bruins are having to replace several key players from last year’s team and you could tell Brentwood was missing them but they still had enough pieces to win this game, especially with the arm of senior quarterback Davis White Davis White 6'2" | 180 lbs | QB Brentwood | 2022 TN leading the way.
In the end, it was Blackman that made more plays than Brentwood and this is a victory that Coach Tygard and the Blaze can build on and start taking this program into a whole new direction.
East Tennessee Shootout Ends in a Panthers Victory
If anybody was at Powell high school on Friday night, they were in attendance of possibly the best game of the weekend where you had both offense’s almost scoring at will, throwing blows at each other until the very end where the home Panthers came away with the win, 60-48.
This was a fun game to follow as every time you would look up, one of these teams was scoring and then immediately the other team would respond.
Anderson Co. had control of this game early with a double digit lead but the Panthers didn’t flinch. The Powell offense finally woke up and started going blow for blow with the Mavs and would eventually take the lead in the 2nd half and did not look back.
Two big reasons why both teams were able to score at will is because of two talented quarterbacks in Panthers junior Jordyn Potts Jordyn Potts 6'0" | 190 lbs | QB Powell | 2023 State TN and Mavs junior signal caller Walker Martinez Walker Martinez 6'1" | 185 lbs | QB Anderson County | 2023 State TN . Both of these 2023 passers can sling the rock and put the ball almost wherever they want and they did just that on Friday night.
Powell might have come away as the victor but Anderson Co. should not look down on themselves as they have a very good team that can do a lot of damage this year. The Panthers just so happened to have a little more juice with the offense on Friday evening and won the game.
Watch out for both Anderson Co. and Powell going forward as both teams have the talent and makeup to compete for a Class 5A state title.
Other Games of Note
BGA 42 Nolensville 32
Cleveland 17 Red Bank 10
Beech 20 Farragut 7
Baylor 35 Rabun Gap (Ga) 21
Daniel Boone 23 South Greene 14
Macon Co. 34 East Robertson 12
Riverdale 37 Franklin 0
DCA 48 MTCS 16