Private School Championship Slate Set For Chattanooga

<!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">The opening day of the Tennessee HS football championships are scheduled as Friday evening in the Semi's we saw six teams advance and looking ahead, two of the games are re-matches from earlier this season. </h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>One part of the championship schedule for Chattanooga in two weeks has been completed as on Semifinal Friday night, six teams won their matchups to advance and compete for D2 Class A, AA and AAA state titles.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The private school ranks are a week ahead of everybody else in the state when it comes to semifinal action, so Friday night was prime time for many teams to punch their tickets to Chattanooga and several shined bright under the big lights.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Everybody penciled Baylor against McCallie for the D2-Class AAA championship and that's what we will get as both teams won and advanced but neither had easy paths to get there.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Red Raiders received an outstanding game from Knox. Catholic as the Fighting Irish fought tough and nail, tying the game several times until they ran out of gas in the 4th quarter, falling to Baylor 49-35.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Knox. Catholic received an outstanding game from <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='139272' first='Jayden' last='Neal'] </strong>and underrated senior wideout <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='150282' first='Braylon' last='Harmon'] </strong>but the Red Raiders offense, led by <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='323145' first='Whit' last='Muschamp']</strong>, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='148873' first='Amari' last='Jefferson'] </strong>and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='305883' first='Max' last='LeBlanc'] </strong>proved to be too much. What Baylor gets now is a second shot at beating McCallie as the Blue Tornado defeated the Red Raiders earlier this season but now this game will be on a neutral field. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"id":603179,"width":"366px","height":"auto","sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"none"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img src="https://prepredzone.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/01/mleblanc.jpg?w=350" alt="" class="wp-image-603179" style="width:366px;height:auto" /></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>McCallie advanced to the D2-Class AAA championship after a close, hard fought defensive affair against MBA where the Blue Tornado outlasted the Big Red, 33-15. The game was much closer than the final score as it was a tie or one score game for most of the contest until McCallie pulled away late, led by multiple scores from senior back <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='959429' first='Javon' last='McMahan']</strong>.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Blue Tornado meeting up with Baylor for the D2-Class AAA championship will be one of the marquee title games from all classifications down in Chattanooga on November 30th with the Red Raiders looking for revenge in what should be a very entertaining game.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>CPA is returning back to Chattanooga for the third year in a row after defeating FRA at home, 37-16 in what was a close game at halftime but turned out to be a blowout by the end of the contest.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Lions established themselves early by taking a 16-0 lead but lost it quickly after some resiliency from the Panthers as they would tie things up at 16 a piece going into the locker room. The CPA coaching staff and their players made adjustments at the break and took over the 2nd half behind four rushing touchdowns from senior backer <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='228694' first='Crews' last='Law']. </strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"id":589878,"sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"none"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://prepredzone.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/01/claw2.jpg?w=400" alt="" class="wp-image-589878" /></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Last year, CPA fell in the D2-Class AA title, so they will look to remedy that but they must be done against a talented and undefeated Boyd Buchanan team that is led by one of the best head coaches of all time in <strong>Gary Rankin.&nbsp;</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>He has led the Bucs on a dream season up to this point that continued on Friday night with a 36-24 victory over Davidson Academy. The contest remained close until late when sophomore <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='402534' first='David' last='Green'] </strong>started to take over, pushing the Bucs to a 14 point win.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Boyd Buchanan has their biggest challenge of the season ahead of them as CPA will be the best team they have faced this season and a veteran squad that knows the terrain at the championships in Chattanooga. The Bucs have the talent to get the job done but it will be hard as the Lions are just as talented, if not more.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The D2-Class A state championship looks like how many felt like it would be headed into the playoffs as the two best teams from the 2023 season in Middle TN Christian and Friendship Christian will meet up in Chattanooga to compete for the Gold Ball.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Both these teams met up earlier in the season when MTCS barely squeezed by FCS, 16-14 and I don't expect this second contest to be any different.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Cougars made it to Chattanooga by defeating Columbia Academy, 35-27 while Friendship Christian absolutely smashed NCS, 56-14 behind a big game from Mr. Football semifinalist <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1027726' first='Tyson' last='Wolcott']</strong>. MTCS received more of a scare from the Bulldogs while FCS dominated but both teams should provide an outstanding D2-Class A championship because they are evenly matched teams that lean on their run game.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Semifinal Friday was a fun night of action for these private school teams but they now must regroup and get healthy because the biggest games of the season is upon them, starting in less than two weeks down in the Scenic City of Chattanooga.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"id":837522,"width":"509px","height":"auto","sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"none"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img src="https://prepredzone.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/05/Tyson-Wolcott1.jpg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-837522" style="width:509px;height:auto" /></figure> <!-- /wp:image -->