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Halls fans typically travel very well. With the questionable weather this evening, and with the team being winless, I'm not sure how that will effect their numbers, but Halls has a great traveling fan base.

I agree that AC hasn't beaten a good team yet, but they did go toe-to-toe with Morristown East. It remains to be seen just how good Mo East is, because they haven't beaten a good team, other than Anderson County (losses to AE and Cleveland). That said, it looks like AC can score some points, and they appear to have a very good passing attack. Oak Ridge really exploited that last week versus the Panthers. Powell has to hold onto the football. In their 2 losses this season, fumbles have killed the Panthers. What is strange about these fumbles is that most of them could be solved by simply covering up the football. They almost came back to beat Fulton, but they got stuck in a hole that they couldn't get out of against OR. The Powell offense is all about ball control, which is a great way to slow down AC's high-scoring offense, but it doesn't work when you continue to fumble. If the Panthers can hold onto the football and have some early success on offense, this will be a close game. However, if Powell gets into a situation similar to last week, AC should cruise. I expect Matt Lowe to have Powell's defense ready for AC's passing attack (they didn't seem ready for OR's passing attack last week). However, I don't believe that this Powell team has solved their fumbling issues. AC wins, 24-14.

A talisman is a type of amulet (typically worn around the neck) that is supposed to bring good luck, and in some circles, keep evil spirits away.

OR's passing attack was deadly against Powell last week. Their front 7 did a great job slowing down the Powell rushing attack. OR wins, 28-10.

Even though they won't meet in the title game, the potential Catholic-Clinton playoff matchup will be the state "championship" game, in my opinion. I think the only other team outside of East Tennessee that could down either of those two is Henry County.

Kudos to Powell's rush defense and OR's pass offense. The Panthers did a great job slowing down the OR running attack, but they had no answer for the impressive OR passing attack. Powell still hasn't solved the turnover bug. The Wildcats made them pay for a number of costly turnovers, none more painful than the fumble returned for a TD with 4 seconds left in the 1st half. Zullinger had a great game passing for OR. The Powell secondary looked lost at times, especially when Zullinger looked deep down field. Congrats to the Wildcats. Fulton and OR have both proved to Powell that good teams will make you pay for costly turnovers.

I can't speak for HTV, but I'd suggest taking Edgemoor to Clinton Highway. That's probably a 25-30 minute drive to the stadium. With the new seating on both sides of the field, you shouldn't have trouble getting a seat as long as you get to the game by 6:30, 6:45 at the latest. I got to the game at 7:05 last week, and it was standing room only on the home side, and Fulton had nearly filled the visitor's side by then.

HTV is right. In a situation like this, games are no longer forfeited. They are simply "vacated." It will remain a loss for Halls, and Clinton will simply have one less W this season.

If the crowd that showed up for the Fulton game was any indication, it is going to be another packed house, so get to the new stadium early!

Here are a few: Oak Ridge @ Powell Anderson County @ Central Halls @ Webb Rhea County @ Bearden A-E @ Catholic

Dragons should roll, 42-7.

Concessions at Powell are run-of-the-mill, IMO. Unfortunately, they haven't added a second set of concessions/restrooms to compliment the new stadium. That was a concern for some fans after the Powell-Fulton game 2 weeks ago.

At this point, I think Halls will be lucky just to keep this one close. Webb looks like a state title contender, and I don't know if Halls will be able to slow them down. Starting out 0-3 has to be unnerving for the Red Devils, and to beat the Spartans, they will have to minimize their mistakes and tackle. The coaching advantage that Webb possesses is pretty impressive. I challenge anyone to name a high school program in East Tennessee that runs a wishbone/wing-t/triple option-type offense as well as Webb does. The real shame for Halls is that with a loss to Webb, they could be 0-6 going into October (OR and AC follow Webb). That wouldn't sit very well with the players or the fans. I have to wonder what Coach Julian's future will look like if that happens. I'm picking Webb, 34-17.

Who would have thought that Central could be staring at 0-4 after Friday night? This is a huge game for Central, who desperately needs to right the ship. The good news for the Bobcats is that this is their first 5A district game of the year. For AC, this is the beginning of a tough 4-game stretch (Powell, Halls, and OR follow). The Mavericks looked very good against CC, after a close loss to Morristown East. I just don't know how Central can avoid a loss to this talented Maverick team. AC wins 28-14.

Now that I'm caught up on last Friday's outcomes, this looks to be a great matchup. It sounds like OR destroyed Central, which I was very surprised by. I guess I assumed that the Bobcats would put up a better fight, but they have to be reeling after being beaten handily by 3 superior opponents. I'm picturing a game similar to the Powell-Fulton game from two weeks ago. Either team could have won that game, but the victor was the team that minimized those pesky "stupid" mistakes (penalties, turnovers, dropped balls, etc). Powell is still having penalty issues (they've had at least 7 per game so far this season), but they have greatly improved their turnover margin since week 0. This game has the potential to go into overtime, but I think it comes down to a made or missed kick in regulation. I'll pick OR, 20-17.

I just caught the final score this morning. Congratulations Panthers! Any comments on the game?

I'm in Columbus, so I won't be posting score updates for the Powell game tonight. Anyone else able to do it?

It sure seems like they had all of the pieces in place, so I have no idea what they were thinking.

We could ask that same question to every team that has ever cheated or broken the rules, and the answer is always the same - 'Just win baby.'

Even though they are 0-2, DB is pretty good year in and year out. I think that they've been beaten by 2 very good teams (Farragut being the other). Clinton has proved that they can beat the toughest team on their schedule already (DB). Halls is no slouch either. And that is coming from a Powell fan. I don't know if Clinton will go 10-0 in the regular season, but if you look at their schedule, I don't really see a game that will give them a lot of problems. Their next 4 games should be a walk in the park (Karns, Hardin Valley, TC Roberson, CC). I think the only question I have about this team is the same question I had last year, which is how will this team perform late in the season against deeper teams. Powell destroyed Clinton in the second half last year because the Dragons had zero depth. That is the only obvious weak spot on this team. I expect the Dragons to be 6-0 going into October. That being said, they will be tested down the stretch, with a tough 4-game stretch to finish the season (Central, Powell, OR, AC). I don't think the Dragons will make a deep playoff run, due to depth issues, but I think they have a great chance to go 10-0. This is all speculation, and it obviously means nothing this early in the season, but Clinton's next big test will likely be against the top team out of district 4 (Catholic) in the playoffs. Aside from Catholic, the only other team from districts 1-8 that I could see stopping Clinton from making it to the title game is McMinn County.

I think North Greene has the longest active losing streak at 19 games.

Those are four rather small schools. I can only speak for the stadiums that I've physically been to (Cookeville, Cumberland County, Cleveland, East Ridge, Bradley Central, Austin-East, Bearden, Carter, Farragut, Fulton, Gibbs, Grace Christian, Hardin Valley, Karns, Knox Catholic, Knox Central, Knox Halls, Powell, South Doyle, TSD, Knox Webb, Knox West, Morristown East/West, Jefferson County, Maryville, Alcoa, Heritage, William Blount, Sevier County, Seymour, Kings Academy, Anderson County, Clinton, Campbell County, Oneida, Union County, Hampton, and Happy Valley). My personal favorites are Sevier County and Anderson County. McCallie (Chattanooga) and Tennessee High (Bristol) also have excellent stadiums.

AC will be too much for CC. The Mavs will cruise, 38-7.

Both of these teams have been battle tested early this season. Halls is in danger of starting the season 0-3 for the first time since 2004. Strangely enough, Powell has won 4 of the past 5 meetings in this series (Halls won 10-7 in 2007). Powell was close to pulling off a big win last week, but a couple of key turnovers in the first half really hurt their chances. The Panthers really battled back in the second half, with an excellent balance of run and pass. The Panthers continue to use 3-4 different tailbacks, in addition to that two-platoon system, which has really worn out both opponents this season. Look for the Panthers to spread out the Halls defense, running DeShawn Mobley, Montario Washington, and Nick Webb early. This really opened up the passing game against Fulton on Friday. However, Powell has really struggled with turnovers and penalties so far this season (averaging about 3-4 turnovers and 10 penalties per game). Halls almost came away with a big win last week as well. The armchair QBs are already out in force for the Red Devils, but remember, it is still very early in the season. A win for the Devils would give this team a huge lift. A loss would really put this team in a hole. It sounds like the Devils don't have those textbook "big uglies" up front, which has really slowed their wing-t offense. The Panther defense has been solid. They really played well against Fulton, with the Falcons scoring 14 of their 21 points on turnovers. The Halls defense has also played well, slowing down a powerful Clinton offense and holding Sevier County to 17 points. I expect a relatively low-scoring game. My prediction: Powell has too many young weapons for the Halls defense. The two-platoon system will likely claim its third victim of the season. Powell wins 20-10.

The single play of this game that still stands out in my mind is the fumble by the Powell wideout inside the 15. The News-Sentinel was completely incorrect when they stated that the ball was stripped and fumbled. The receiver caught a slant, broke a tackle, and there was no one between the receiver and the end zone - he just flat out dropped the ball on his way to a touchdown. There were two Fulton DBs trailing the play, and one of them fell on a gift-wrapped fumble. Not only was that a 14 point swing, but that took all of the momentum out of Powell's sails. Powell was running the ball at-will before that play, and they couldn't get anything going after that turnover before halftime. Kudos to the Panthers for driving the ball almost 90 yards on the opening drive of the second half and for staying in the game. That two-platoon system did its job in the second half, because the Fulton defense was completed exhausted in the 4th quarter. Fulton made the plays they needed to make to win that game, and they made Powell pay on two of those fumbles in the first half (I do agree that Fulton got jobbed on that fumble that was ruled down by contact). Penalties were a problem for both teams. There were holding calls that were not whistled on both teams. Dametrius Thomas was the star for Fulton. The Falcons could have run that sweep play all night long. I'm a bit surprised that they didn't, because Powell couldn't stop it. This was a great game to watch, and either team could have come out on top. Fulton made the plays they needed to, however, and they earned the W.