TSSAA State Championships: 4A-6A Important Prospect Matchups

<p>It is TSSAA football state championship week for both public and private schools inside Tennessee and there is an exciting slate of nine games to watch later in the week with intriguing prospect matchups in each one of them.</p>   <p>Football can be a game of matchups in marquee outings such as this and the big time players that can rise above and make big time plays in big time moments can help win their team a championship.</p>   <p>In each of the three biggest public school classifications (4A, 5A, and 6A), there is an important individual matchup to monitor throughout the entire game that will be of high-importance to both teams with a trophy on the line.</p>   <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" />   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">4A: Pearl-Cohn QB L.J. Funk vs Alcoa LB [player_tooltip player_id='1656088' first='Cade' last='Stinnett']</h2>   <p>Pearl-Cohn quarterback L.J. Funk has had to step up during the Firebirds run to the state championship and he will have one more game this season that he will need to step up in yet again.</p>   <p>Alcoa has a strong group of linebackers that they use in a variety of alignments and there is no better example of that than senior [player_tooltip player_id='1656088' first='Cade' last='Stinnett']. He is among the leaders on the team in tackles and tackles for loss due to his ability to stop plays from the inside linebacker and edge positions.</p>   <p>As Pearl looks to establish a run game early, it will be important to identify where Stinnett and the rest of the linebacker core is at pre-snap to throw some early punches and create momentum against a strong opponent.</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/joe_spears7/status/1994587423825957132?s=20 </div></figure>   <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" />   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">5A: Sevier County TE [player_tooltip player_id='1577078' first='Parker' last='Newman'] vs Page SAF [player_tooltip player_id='540028' first='Knight' last='Wilson']</h2>   <p>When I was at the Page-Kirkwood game, the Patriots defense played an excellent game outside of a lone touchdown that they allowed. How was that scored? By a long and athletic receiving tight end that could carve them up over the middle of the field.</p>   <p>Well, Sevier County has one of their own with versatile athlete [player_tooltip player_id='1577078' first='Parker' last='Newman'] that will be able to line up in different spots across the formation to create mismatches and give his brother and quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='1142902' first='Cooper' last='Newman'] a reliable target all game long.</p>   <p>Page safety [player_tooltip player_id='540028' first='Knight' last='Wilson'], an Air Force commit, will have a massive responsibility on his hands to communicate on the back end and help contain the presence of a strong tight end group including Newman.</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/ByNoahTaylor/status/1994562889257292118?s=20 </div></figure>   <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" />   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">6A: Oakland RB [player_tooltip player_id='856867' first='Craig' last='Tutt'] vs Ravenwood LB [player_tooltip player_id='1373099' first='Matthew' last='Anderson']</h2>   <p>What better way to finish this article than with two staples of this series in Oakland tailback [player_tooltip player_id='856867' first='Craig' last='Tutt'] and Ravenwood linebacker [player_tooltip player_id='1373099' first='Matthew' last='Anderson'].</p>   <p>Tutt is the soul of the Oakland offense and it will be essential for Ravenwood the contain him if they want any chance to win the state championship this year and that all starts with their middle linebacker who had his own argument for a Mr. Football semifinalist label.</p>   <p>While Tutt is the bigger player, Anderson has been a sure tackler for the vast majority of this season and that will need to continue as he will meet the standout running back in a gap around the line of scrimmage on play after play after play.</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/connersmith04/status/1994583636054601746?s=20 </div></figure>

It is TSSAA football state championship week for both public and private schools inside Tennessee and there is an exciting slate of nine games to watch later in the week with intriguing prospect matchups in each one of them.