Can anyone top Milan or Bolivar in Region 7-3A football?

JACKSON – Class 3A football in West Tennessee primarily boils down to one region as Region 7-3A stretches from Martin to Selmer to Covington and all relevant points in between.

The only 3A team in the area not in this region is Camden, who’s in 5-3A, which is on the other side of the Tennessee River.

Bolivar has been a program whose stock has been on the rise over the past three seasons under head coach Woodrow Lowe, Jr.

“I think he’s done one of the best jobs if not the best of coaching overall in bringing a program up in this area in the past 20 years. The only two I can think of off the top of my head that competes with that is what Brandon Gray did at Adamsville and P.A. Pratt at Crockett County.”

That statement was made by Milan head coach Jeff Morris, whose Bulldogs have eliminated the Tigers each of the past two years in the first round of the playoffs. Both games were close battles that weren’t decided until late in the fourth quarter.

The teams are now in the same region and expected to be the front-runners for the championship, pitting Bolivar’s athleticism and depth against Milan’s tandem of running backs (Anthony Ballard and Jacquez Norman) running with a couple other foundational pieces of Milan’s perennial success on the gridiron — a solid offensive line and strong defense.

After that, most people agree it’s a free-for-all for the other two playoff spots in the region.

South Gibson returns plenty of talent from its team last year that started 7-0. McNairy should be stronger after going 5-5 last year without standout running back Kylin Wynn, who will be back this year.

Covington has been competitive with Bolivar and teams in Memphis the last two years and should be competitive in this league.

Westview is more experienced after struggling through an 0-10 in 2016, and a better non-region schedule will help prepare the Chargers for region play.

Camden should be able to compete in Region 5-3A. It’s a seemingly wide open league as the successful teams last year had significant losses to graduations and the less-successful teams were young and inexperienced.

The Lions compete for region championships nearly every year, and they appear to be in that conversation again this year.

Reach Brandon Shields at bjshields@jacksonsun.com or at 731-425-9751. Follow him on Twitter @JSEditorBrandon or on Instagram at jacksonsunsports.