TNHSFB Round One Statewide Recap

<!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">We kicked off postseason play last week with an exciting first round of action that saw multiple upsets take place along with our top teams continuing to roll. Here we recap some of the top action from the "1st Round" of the Tennessee High School Playoffs in our Statewide Recap. </h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>First Round Top Stories&nbsp;</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>- It's hard to say that this year's playoffs have provided as many first round upsets as we have seen in the past but we saw several surprising wins take place, including a few possible state title teams watching their seasons end. Possibly the biggest upset of round one saw <strong>Lawrence Co.</strong> go into <strong>Rhea Co. </strong>and knock off the Golden Eagles, 38-20. I know I didn't see that happening and I'm sure many others didn't as well. Rhea Co. was a #1 seed that I personally picked to make it to the 5A semifinals due to their ball control offense but the Wildcats proved to be the better team.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>While the Lawrence Co. defense did a great job of plugging up the Golden Eagles run game, they received a masterful performance on offense from junior running back <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1668515' first='Carter' last='Pettigrew']</strong>, who ran through the Rhea Co. defense like a hot knife through butter. The Golden Eagles defense didn't have an answer for Pettigrew. His ability to break long runs while also keeping drives alive, proved to be daggers into the Rhea Co. heart that put their 2025 season to an end. For the road Wildcats, they now advance into the second round against <strong>Knox. Halls </strong>and I wouldn't be surprised to see Lawrence Co. win again.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"id":2044029,"width":"233px","height":"auto","sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"none"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img src="https://prepredzone.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/11/cpettigrew.jpg?w=400" alt="" class="wp-image-2044029" style="width:233px;height:auto" /></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>- - - - -&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>- Another Class 5A upset that took place in round one came by the hands of <strong>Columbia</strong>, who put forth their best performance of the season in their 70-42 win over <strong>East Hamilton</strong>. I don't know if anybody saw the Lions producing 70 points versus the Hurricanes but it happened with junior <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1885892' first='Daniel' last='Booker'] </strong>being a major cause in those efforts. The Lions signal caller ran all over the Canes defense, generating 276 yards rushing with five touchdowns on the night along with using his arm to move the ball on occasions as well. The Lions rushing attack proved to be too much for the Hurricanes as Columbia ran for a total of 760 yards on the ground and nine total scores. That has to be one the best team rushing performances of all-time. It was a great opening performance from Columbia but they must maintain that strong play into round two as they are set to host a very good <strong>Knox. Central </strong>team, which is led by Mr. Football semi-finalist <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1104268' first='Kaden' last='Long']</strong>.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>- - - - -&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>- The first round upsets didn't just take place on the 5A level as they occurred in the 6A ranks as well. Two of the better teams from the East Tennessee region in <strong>Jefferson Co. </strong>and <strong>Oak Ridge</strong> saw their season's come to end as the Patriots fell to <strong>Bradley Central</strong>, 31-20 while the Wildcats nearly escaped with a win but took defeat to <strong>Science Hill</strong>, 35-31. I didn't see either of these upsets taking place but you have to give credit to Bradley and Science Hill for coming up with good game plans and executing on the road in front of crowds that were against them.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Jefferson Co. had produced several good wins this year but ran into a Bears team that was hungry and proved to be a tough matchup, especially on defense where <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='927765' first='A.J.' last='Westfield'] </strong>made things difficult up front. Oak Ridge yet again put together a strong season that showed flashes of being state championship caliber but couldn't live up to the hype. The Wildcats defense in particular had a hard time with <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1577633' first='Lane' last='Clement'] </strong>and the Hilltoppers receivers. Oak Ridge held a lead late but couldn't slow down the Toppers passing attack in the 4th quarter and it proved to be their demise. The 2025 regular season was good to Jefferson Co. and Oak Ridge but the playoffs were not and now both must start the off-season early and form together teams for their 2026 campaigns.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"id":2044032,"width":"308px","height":"auto","sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"none"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img src="https://prepredzone.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/11/lclement.jpg?w=1000" alt="" class="wp-image-2044032" style="width:308px;height:auto" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Photo: Tri City Sports</figcaption></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>- - - - -&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>- All the top teams from the 2A level that have their eyes on a state championship remain intact. Looking at the action from round one, we did not have any upsets take place as the best teams won and advanced with a few of them looking quite impressive. The one game that might be considered an upset was three seed <strong>Grundy Co. </strong>taking down two seed <strong>Cannon Co., </strong>38-28 but other than that, what we expected to happen did take place. Top tier teams like <strong>East Robertson</strong>, <strong>Fairley</strong>, <strong>Gordonsville</strong>, <strong>Happy Valley</strong>, <strong>Lewis Co.</strong>, <strong>Marion Co. </strong>and <strong>Milan </strong>all performed very well in round one, looking like teams that have their minds focused on making it to Chattanooga.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Happy Valley and Lewis Co. might have had the most impressive victories out of that group as both competed at a high level while dominating their opponents. When you have the best teams win, you end up with big time matchups and that's what we have coming in round two. Some of the best games to look forward to include <strong>Bledsoe Co. </strong>at Happy Valley, <strong>Huntingdon </strong>at Lewis Co., <strong>Peabody </strong>at East Robertson, <strong>Mt. Pleasant </strong>at Milan and <strong>East Nashville </strong>at Fairley. Round one proved to be chalk for the 2A teams but the second round should be much more exciting!&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>- - - - -&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>- Moving into the 3A level, we saw two region champions in <strong>Waverly Central </strong>and <strong>White House-Heritage </strong>take defeat and put an end to their 2025 seasons. I have to admit that I picked one of these upsets as I saw <strong>Sycamore </strong>sporting a great shot at winning and they did, defeating the Patriots, 30-27. Behind the running of <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1199149' first='Hicks' last='Hunter']</strong>, the War Eagles had a strong game plan and it worked to near perfection. The Patriots ended their year earlier than they wanted to but they do return a nice core of <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='317160' first='Xavier' last='Murray'] </strong>and <strong>Mar'Shaun Fletcher </strong>for the 2026 season, so Heritage has nice building blocks to grow their team around.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>For most of the 2025 season, Waverly had been undefeated but over the last two weeks, the Tigers picked up their only two losses with last week being the biggest as they took defeat at home to Maplewood, 24-6. The Tigers offense was held down and unable to get off the mat by the hands of the Panthers defense, which played well up front, stopping the Waverly rushing attack. It's tough to go out the way they did, losing their final two games of the year and not showing up in the first round but hopefully it's something next year's team can learn from and grow.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>- - - - -&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>- The 4A level saw one of their top teams go down in round one as <strong>Lexington </strong>went into hostile territory and knocked off one seed <strong>Haywood</strong>, 25-22 in one of the bigger upsets from the first week of postseason action. While many picked the Tomcats to advance, including myself, I could see a scenario where the road Tigers could pull off the upset and that's what happened as their defense did a great job of keeping the Haywood offense in-check while the Lexington run game did their job, scoring enough points to move them into the second round. It was an impressive road performance from the Tigers that might propel them to more wins as they are set to face another tough challenge in round two versus <strong>Springfield</strong>. For the Tomcats, it's a disappointing finish to their 2025 season as they had aspirations of making it to Chattanooga but they must get back to the drawing board and figure out some roles as several key players like <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='811046' first='Caden' last='Harris'] </strong>are graduating.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"id":2044050,"width":"309px","height":"auto","sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"none"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img src="https://prepredzone.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/11/lexington-crop-1081x710-1762790141.jpg?w=800" alt="" class="wp-image-2044050" style="width:309px;height:auto" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Photo: Lexington Progress </figcaption></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>- - - - -&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>- While there has been a lot of winning up at <strong>Clarksville </strong>over the past several years, advancing in postseason play has been a problem and that remains the case as the Wildcats fell in round one to <strong>Independence</strong>, 27-20. It was a hard fought, close game that went into overtime but once again, the Wildcats couldn't find a way to close things out and find themselves on top. Credit must be given to Indy for competing hard and staying focused to pull out the win but Clarksville had their chances to advance, however they couldn't find the answers to move on.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Eagles could be a team to watch for this week in round two and possibly further. They have faced strong competition all season, so they won't be phased by who is in their path. They have a veteran O-line, led by seniors <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='425163' first='Syler' last='Green'] </strong>and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='402527' first='Caden' last='Liebler'] </strong>and a capable passing attack, spearheaded by junior quarterback <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1150069' first='Matthew' last='Horner']</strong>. Their defense is solid too and will be a unit needed to perform at a high level against an athletic <strong>Whitehaven </strong>team in round two.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Going back to Clarksville, the Wildcats have a good thing going under Coach Shelby and his staff but they have to figure out a way to defeat top level teams moving forward along with advancing past the first round. They sit in a city that is under the radar but growing with talent, so they have a chance to not only build their program but provide a great opportunity for players to play on the 6A level and continue growing a town that has potential to become a winning city.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>- - - - -&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>- The one classification where we didn't see any surprises was the private sector. Pretty much everybody we expected to win in round one did. All the top title teams impressed in the first round and kept their hopes alive of making it to Chattanooga and competing for a state championship. The one upset we did see on this level came from <strong>CAK </strong>as the Warriors went into Nashville and knocked off three seed <strong>Goodpasture</strong>, 42-35. Behind strong running from <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1216777' first='Ryan' last='Gibson']</strong>, the Warriors exploded offensively to outlast the Cougars in what came to be an entertaining game. It was a tough loss for Goodpasture but they had a good season and got back to winning after several years of down football years.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>On the D2-Class AAA level, we had a close contest between <strong>Knox. Catholic </strong>and <strong>Christian Brothers </strong>that saw the Fighting Irish come out on top, 21-18. This was a strong win on the road for Catholic as they had to travel all the way from Knoxville to Memphis for this matchup and while it wasn't pretty, they did enough to advance. Their defense in particular was impressive as they did a good job of slowing down the run while not allowing too many explosive plays. Their linebackers <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1655483' first='Dominic' last='Daddabbo'] </strong>and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1715706' first='Gavin' last='Jones'] </strong>were excellent as they had strong games against the Purple Wave rushing attack. Catholic will need another strong defensive performance in round two as they face the top team in the state right now with <strong>Baylor</strong>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"id":2044051,"width":"254px","height":"auto","sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"none"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img src="https://prepredzone.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/11/ddaddabbo.jpg?w=400" alt="" class="wp-image-2044051" style="width:254px;height:auto" /></figure> <!-- /wp:image -->