Playoff Preview: CPA at Brentwood Academy

<p>This week consists of a strong slate of exciting playoff games and in the private school brackets, a trip to the state championship game is at stake for each matchup, including a sneakily strong game between CPA and Brentwood Academy.</p>   <p>When you look at the records of each team with CPA at 4-8 (with two postseason wins at that) and Brentwood Academy at 10-0, you might wonder how this is one of the most exciting matchups of the week, but those numbers do not tell the entire story.</p>   <p>CPA schedule this season is certainly up there for one of the hardest ever for a Tennessee high school football team as they took on their season in the DII-AAA classification, taking some time to learn how to close out wins in close games at this level.</p>   <p>This is a team that has won the past couple of DII-AA state championships and most of that core are still in the program for this season, which showed with how competitive they played the best teams in the state this season. Now, they are seemingly beginning to figure out how to win these types of close games and have won a pair of playoff games, including last week over arguably the second best team in the classification in Ensworth.</p>   <p>Can they continue to build on that momentum against an undefeated Brentwood Academy team with a plethora of playmakers is the question heading into this question. Both teams have strong rushing attacks behind offensive lines with good size and perimeter playmakers. The unbeaten Eagles have won a lot of games with dominating the perimeter on both sides and it will be important for the visiting Lions to hit some explosive plays to earn the upset.</p>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/TysonMoody3/status/1989526924746788927?s=20 </div></figure>   <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" />   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">CPA FOOTBALL IDENTITY</h2>   <p>CPA has always been a team built around running the ball behind a big, strong, and physical offensive line and this year's unit might be the best one in a while as a trio of juniors can dominate games. [player_tooltip player_id='905243' first='Skyler' last='Smith'] leads the unit in his first year at center with versatile lineman [player_tooltip player_id='1158911' first='Isaiah' last='Bryant'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1154143' first='Ben' last='Hale'] opening large rushing lanes for their star running back who is back from injury.</p>   <p>With [player_tooltip player_id='1335216' first='Rawls' last='Patterson'] back, CPA will look to return to hitting some explosive plays downfield especially off play action. A pair of brothers are dynamic at receiver for the team with Alabama commit [player_tooltip player_id='824736' first='Owen' last='Cabell'] and sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='1586170' first='Gabriel' last='Cabell'].</p>   <p>On defense, this is a team that has less individual playmaking than most years, but they play as an complementary unit and prevent big plays, making opposing offenses work to move the ball down the field. Linebacker [player_tooltip player_id='1566274' first='Preston' last='Patterson'] is the leader of the unit.</p>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/shaynep_media/status/1981864859970273551?s=20 </div></figure>   <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" />   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">BRENTWOOD ACADEMY FOOTBALL IDENTITY</h2>   <p>Brentwood Academy is a team that can hit the home-run play at any given point on both sides of the ball, but tailback Larry Sanders and linebacker [player_tooltip player_id='1318538' first='Roman' last='Jennings'] have allowed for a healthy mix of doubles to balance the team out in the play-to-play grind.</p>   <p>Surrounding those rocks on each side of the ball, are explosive and dynamic athletes. On offense, [player_tooltip player_id='834810' first='Crews' last='Jenkins'] is a very effective distributor and explosive junior receivers in [player_tooltip player_id='378855' first='Kesean' last='Bowman'], [player_tooltip player_id='1410131' first='Lexton' last='Baskin'], and [player_tooltip player_id='1118087' first='Eli' last='Ferguson'] can take it to the house on a given target.</p>   <p>Defensively, is built around putting their best playmakers in various spots around the formation to create mismatch advantages and create havoc for opposing offenses. Jennings is the anchor of the unit from his middle linebacker position and it works out from there. [player_tooltip player_id='1585726' first='Kenneth' last='Simon'] is an explosive hybrid linebacker that pressures quarterbacks at an impressive rate, but also has the ability to drop into the flat and make plays on the ball. In the secondary, junior corner Romel Koon has been stellar at shutting down receivers and veteran safety [player_tooltip player_id='212335' first='Easton' last='Jointer'] is a sure tackler, which will be vital in this game.</p>   <p>The Eagles, as is always the case, has elite special teams play to complement both of their units as well.</p>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/ESBN_BA/status/1974273145608589421?s=20 </div></figure>   <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" />   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">MATCHUPS TO WATCH</h2>   <ul class="wp-block-list"> <li>CPA WR [player_tooltip player_id='824736' first='Owen' last='Cabell'] vs BA CB Romel Koon Jr<br>CPA IOL [player_tooltip player_id='905243' first='Skyler' last='Smith'] vs BA IDL [player_tooltip player_id='1103026' first='Bennett' last='Spillman']<br>CPA OT [player_tooltip player_id='1154143' first='Ben' last='Hale'] vs BA OLB [player_tooltip player_id='1585726' first='Kenneth' last='Simon'] II<br>CPA RB Presley Patterson vs BA LB [player_tooltip player_id='1318538' first='Roman' last='Jennings']<br></li> </ul>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/shaynep_media/status/1981868848707252668?s=20 </div></figure>   <ul class="wp-block-list"> <li>BA WR [player_tooltip player_id='378855' first='Kesean' last='Bowman'] vs CPA CB [player_tooltip player_id='824736' first='Owen' last='Cabell']<br>BA RB [player_tooltip player_id='723428' first='Larry' last='Sanders II'] vs CPA LB [player_tooltip player_id='1566274' first='Preston' last='Patterson']<br>BA OT [player_tooltip player_id='1700869' first='Xavier' last='Yelder'] vs CPA EDGE Eli Dickey<br>BA WR Lex Baskin vs CPA safeties</li> </ul>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/ESBN_BA/status/1989515478021402751?s=20 </div></figure>

This week consists of a strong slate of exciting playoff games and in the private school brackets, a trip to the state championship game is at stake for each matchup, including a sneakily strong game between CPA and Brentwood Academy.