the way it sounds is the way it is. 6a football south of vandy is as u said ferocious, whoever makes it out of williamson county and whoever makes it out of rutherford county will be in the state game. its the way it has been in the past and i dont see it changing anytime soon. i think the last time east tn had a team in the state game was in 05 when ravenwood beat them, a williamson county team, and i cant even remember the last time west tn had a team in the big game.
some of the wilco teams to look at:
franklin - has two great running backs returning from last years team. they lost their qb from last yr not sure who the new one will be
independence - has a good team lead by qb alex heckman who got indy to the state game when he was a sophmore. the schedule is definately a tough one playing oakland, MBA, hillsboro, along with the other williamson schools.
brentwood - has an experienced group of skill players from a team that got to the 3rd round of the playoffs last yr before losing to franklin who went to the state game. most if not all those guys returned
ravenwood - always has a good team that is capable of winning a title
but anyway whoever emerges from this group should be in the state game from the west, they have had it on lockdown for a majority of this decade.