winstonblue

Good luck Cavs!

Wishing Upperman good luck in Chattanooga! Prayers from Hogeye to the entire Baxter community for the sad news after the game.

Macon County will be loaded next year, very few seniors.

Totally agree, and not dissing east Tennessee football but Macon County is legit. The Region is legit! It's 2023 and the Upper Cumberland is legit in football!

You must be feeling pretty good right now!

Upperman was battled tested by playing really good teams. The Upper Cumberland is underrated these days! Congrats to the Bees!

My mistake. So, Greeneville did not win either game nor were they ahead when the games was called? And DB finished 5-5 right?

Why all the talk about Science Hill, Dobyns Bennett, Alcoa, Knox West, Powell or Bearden? Greeneville did not play any of those teams. No one on Greeneville's schedule (counting playoffs) has won double digit games in 2023. Macon County was 11-2 (both losses to Upperman) and Smith County was 10-3. Greeneville's big advantage is playing at home and for that they should be favored but I don't understand the references to teams Greeneville did not play. This game should be a good one.

Jackson County clinches the school's first ever 3-A playoff spot with a 40-18 win over Maplewood. The school has previously make the 2-A playoffs on a number of occasions but chose to move up this season. The team started 1-3 before winning the last two games over Livingston Academy 21-0 and Maplewood 40-18.

Tyler Boling of Jackson County (8-2) led a victory over previously undefeated and highly ranked Forrest (9-1) Friday night he completed 15 of 19 for 194 and 2 touchdowns and ran 14 times for 127 yards, including the game winning 74 yard run in the fourth quarter. In his first season staying healthy he has led his team from a 2-8 season to 8-2 and a share of the region 4-A title. He has thrown for 1,498 yards and 17 TDs and defensively is tied for the team lead in interceptions with 3.

Jackson County has been underrated all year long. From 2-8 to 8-2 in a nice improvement. Not sure how far they will go but judging from Friday night vs. Forrest this team is all in!

Should Jackson County and Westmoreland win the seeding would be (1) Jackson County (2) Forrest (3) Westmoreland (4) Watertown. All other scenarios have Forrest , Watertown, Jackson County and Westmoreland.

Monterey is a very good football team! Maybe White County isn't as terrible as you think they are as Upperman struggled to win as well. Were there some controversial calls at the end of the game? I just heard rumors.

White County 39 York 21. I thought both teams played hard and the game got very competitive for a time.

By the way the White County -DeKalb County game in 2013 was 33-7 at the half and White county called the dogs off early and emptied the bench unlike what Dekalb did the previous year when they were throwing long with the first team QB vs. the White County reserves in the 4th Quarter. The final score does not always reflect the differences between two teams as much as it does the class of the teams involved!

Upper Cumberland man is delusional. But then anyone who reads the posts here knows that. White County led 5-A in scoring defense in 2013. Upperman gave up 75 in a single game. Tonight's contest was 14-6 Warriors and I know for a fact White County played every uninjured kid on the roster which includes over 70 I'd guess, just like they did last year. Frankly a Jamboree doesn't mean much no matter which team wins it. Beginning next week we will see what kind of teams these two and others have.

White County would likely have beaten Upperman last year and seeing both teams a number of times. Upperman's strengths would not have been very successful vs. the White County of 2013.

Really? Cookeville wants out of this district because it is so weak?? Yet they finished 3rd in it? Good luck with that!

Cookeville may be improved but I don't think they will be handed the Region title without a fight. They finished 3rd last year losing to White County 13-0. Rhea County will be tough and White County is not going quietly into the night after their best regular season record (8-2) in 41 years. Stone Memorial and Warren County will be vastly improved and Cumberland County should be somewhat improved. White County is a team to watch even after losing lots of players the culture of the program has completely changed over the last two seasons with the arrival of Coach Houser and his staff. The season should be an interesting one across the district. Of course one must say Cookeville finished on top in recruiting but then after a third place finish I guess desperation set in.

You understand what it's like to have some down years. Rhea County has a great team and has done a great job this year as has Cleveland. This should be an exciting game between two really good football teams. I wish both teams the best and hope for a great game. I think I may have to come over to see this one. If I do RC fan, tell me a list of places to eat and why

Negatively abounds for many people who feel the need to apologize for any success they might have. Thank goodness not everyone feels the same as you. The program is under construction but is heading in the right direction and most every supporter of this program is proud of that fact! We also led the Upper Cumberland in interceptions, have the second leading rusher in the area, and were dominant on special teams for most of the year. The team found its offensive identity which was a throwback type team, of hard nosed physical football. It was a blueprint for success for this team. Each year is different because in high school unlike college you don't recruit but have to take the players that walk through the door and mold them to maximize their talent. Isn't is always easy to pick out the losses and make statements like you make, because after all this team lost 3 games, 3 out of 11 and that hadn't happened in Sparta in a long, long time. The facts are we were within 16-10 at Sequoyah until the final 2 minutes. The fact is we led Cleveland 8-7 with 3:00 left in the first half and trailed Rhea 6-0 until the final minute of the half. There is work to do, but if you think this program would have been better off traveling 2-3 hours to play schools and having no gates at home and trying to see if the record could have been as bad as say, East Ridge, then I disagree. One final comical thing about the naysayers in general; If you lose and go 0-10, 1-9, or 2-8 whatever the program is bad because you lose, if the program wins you are bad because you don't play anyone. The glass is always more than half empty to some people, and best to just ignore them so I am finished with this conversation. Warriors, please know the vast majority of us love and appreciate you and are extremely proud of you and your OUTSTANDING season!

Nice knock on the program 90warrior. This team has accomplished so much and yet always someone who can't wait to go negative. We played 6 playoff teams in 2013, and by rule we have to play our 5 district games (3 of the 5 made the playoffs). We dropped two teams that we beat in 2012 (*2013 records in parenthesis) Coffee County (0-10) and Loudon (3-7) both of whom finished last in their respective districts in 2013, and replaced them with Sequoyah (9-2)and Chattanooga Christian (3-7). Sequoyah won tonight handily. We kept 3 local rivalry games that if we didn't play some would cry we were afraid to play them (Livingston Academy, DeKalb County and York). These three teams beat us last year by a combined score of 115-13 and we turned the tables on all 3 winning over each of them by a combined 111-27. Rhea County (10-1) and Stone Memorial (6-5) were both playoff teams that replaced Seymour (2-8) and Smith County (6-5). I don't want to hear about a weak schedule. The teams we replaced finished 11-30 in 2013 while the teams we added finished 27-15. Only one of the teams we dropped made the playoffs while 3 of the ones that were added made it. What happened tonight was we faced one of the best 5A football teams in Tennessee and we lost. No excuses, that has been the players motto this year might oughta be yours.

I just read this thread. Both of these teams are class football teams. Cleveland has a great team and a balanced offense the likes of which White County has not faced. White County does have the #1 scoring defense in 5A football. That's just a statement of fact. The top 3- White County 112, Memphis East 125 and Rhea County 127. White County has not played the caliber of competition as Cleveland that's another fact. Someone said on here that White County has already won. In a way that's true. So many firsts this season. Cleveland wants to win a playoff game for the first time in 10 years someone says. Well White County wants to win a playoff game for the first time EVER! White County is hosting the first playoff game EVER in school history. White County just beat their arch rival Cookeville 13-0 for the first win over them since 1995! I respect what both of these teams have accomplished and of course only one will advance beyond Friday night. There is no need for trash talk and disrespect on either side. These are young men that are doing the best they can and deserve the respect of those who sit here hiding behind fake names in front of a computer. Both of these teams have worked hard year 'round to get to this point. One will win and one will not. It doesn't mean the team that loses has lost its dignity. Let's remember who plays this game, these are YOUNG men not professional football players. Both teams are well coached and while Cleveland has a great football tradition all of this is somewhat new for White County. Friday night 's atmosphere was unreal in Sparta, another first in a long time event. Here are some more firsts: 1st 8-win season in 33 years (1980); First playoff home game (EVER); First win over Cookeville after 17 loses (1995); First 8-win regular season in 41 years (1972); First undefeated (5-0) regular season home record in 43 years (1970), first time a new coach has won 12 games (12-9) in his first two years since Don Farley in 1980-81. Cleveland's QB and Receivers look fantastic. The Blue Raiders also look very good on both sides of the ball upfront. On the other hand, White County has held teams to 2.8 yards rushing average on the season and have 15 interceptions including 7 by Skylar Delaney and 3 by Perry Clayton. Hunter Cantrell may well be the state's top punter averaging nearly 45 yards per kick. Little brother Luke Cantrell is 5 of 5 on field goal attempts. White County Coach Matthan Houser was at Cookeville from 2008-11 and the Jerry Joslin led staff met Cleveland 3 times with Cookeville winning all 3. I know that was before Coach Crawford and the current staff which I know is doing a great job there but again just a statement of fact to add some interesting twists to this game. Nothing in this post is meant to disparage anyone, let's just let the young men play and enjoy the night and support our teams win or lose. I know Sparta as a community is proud of the Warriors and will be regardless of what happens from here forward.

For one thing you could finish 1st or 2nd in your District and earn your way in. Then you could go 0-whatever outside the District and it wouldn't matter you'd be in. So the first priority should always be on District games. It is your way to earn your way in. If you lose those games then you really have no one to blame but yourself. So you should schedule accordingly. In 2A when we were in the Super Region with Trousdale County, Friendship Christian and Gordonsville we scheduled winnable non-District games because we knew we had to have them. We could be really good and finish 4th in the Region. This past season with the break up of that Super Region you saw 1A Monterey go out and play 6A Cookeville because they knew they had a chance to win their District and earn their way in, same with Jackson County playing 3A Upperman. So you just have to be smart scheduling and know your team and what works best for you. Like I said some teams don't play up or down to be playing up or down but simply have natural rivalries with others. For White County, those natural rivalries are (6A) Cookeville, (6A) Warren County (5A) Cumberland County (5A) Stone Memorial (4A) Livingston Academy (4A) DeKalb County. The next closest rivals would be York, Smith County, and Upperman (all 3A). Otherwise we spend hours on a school bus and our fans can't get off work in time for away games. We are not all from high population areas. So it is all about who you are and where you are located in my opinion.

I love the current system. It is not hard to figure out who is in and where you might be going. As someone who followed smaller schools for years I do not like penalizing a school for playing out of class. As a 2A school we tried to schedule up to increase gate revenue, if the larger school thinks they are going to be penalized they would likely not play those games. So it all depends on which side of the fence you are on. Now that we are in 5A I see an advantage of playing 5A teams, and of course the District is 5A and 6A, but in our area the rivalries are mostly 4A schools outside of the district because those are the cities near us. The closer the opponent in the regular season the better the gate and the more exciting the atmosphere. So it all depends on where you are located as to who you should play. The current system is fine with me. I'd just like to see some balance at the top of the brackets in each Quad but I can live with it just as it is. If they balanced the Quads then filled out the remainder with teams by geography I think it was would great. However I totally oppose going back to 4 classes as that would be a disaster for 'tweeter' school like White County. example last night we played a school with double our student population in a district game. More than 2,000 students vs. just over 1,000. We won 13-0 but that is a huge discrepancy is size.