Trezevant's effect in rural West Tenn

The Commercial Appeal in Memphis first reported this afternoon the football program at Trezevant was temporarily shut down today after an internal academic audit found plenty of discrepancies in student-athletes’ transcripts.

Trezevant High forfeits football games, launches full-school audit after reporting grade discrepancies

The big question for football fans here is how does this affect teams in rural West Tennessee?

Trezevant is the defending Class 2A champion and considered by many the favorite to get to Cookeville from the western end of the state again this season.

Here’s the playoff situation for Trezevant.

There are two regions in 2A made of Shelby County schools – Regions 7 and 8. That means eight teams from that county make the playoffs to determine who goes to the semifinals.

The one who makes it out of Regions 5 and 6 will travel to the 7/8 winner for the semifinals the Friday after Thanksgiving. Last year, Trezevant traveled to Trinity Christian.

So this mainly affects the final team standing among the eight who make the playoffs between Hickman County and Halls.

Keep in mind, Trezevant football is shut down and all games forfeited until the school’s investigation is complete.

That means Trezevant could return next week the week after or not at all. Because Trezevant is in a five-team region, the team needs only to win one region game to make it to the postseason.

Their final regular season game on Oct. 28 is against Hillcrest, so as long as the investigation concludes in less than a month, Trezevant is probably still making the playoffs.

There’s not much reason on the field to believe any of the other seven teams who make the playoffs from Shelby County will be good enough to eliminate Trezevant. So if Trezevant makes the playoffs, they’re virtually already in the semifinals playing Adamsville or McKenzie or Scotts Hill or Waverly or Jackson Christian or Trinity Christian or Halls or Gibson County or Riverside or Lewis County or Hickman County or Loretto.

So to fans of any of those teams who are celebrating Trezevant’s demise, do so with caution that Trezevant could return and still wreak havoc in November.

Brandon Shields is the high school sports columnist for The Jackson Sun. Contact him at 425-9751 or at bjshields@jacksonsun.com. Follow him on Twitter @JSEditorBrandon or on Instagram at jacksonsunsports.