Rhea Co.

Baylor looking good on their opening drive. Broke off about a 55 yd run to open the game but stalled out and settled for a field goal. 3-0 Baylor You can watch the game here https://www.baylorschool.org/news-article/~board/school-news/post/watch-the-live-stream-of-baylors-game-in-dublin

Pretty good write up on the game tonight in the times free press https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2023/aug/24/red-bank-defense-faces-tough-task-with-rhea/

This was a defensive slugfest last year, Rhea kicking a late field goal to go up 3-0. Then Red Bank executed a transcontinental throwback pass on the kickoff to return it for a TD to win 7-3. Red Bank looked good against a down Tyner and Rhea handled business against Soddy. This will be a good measuring stick to truly see where both teams are early in the season.

We did 34-0. We should be better than last year we had 18 starters returning. We have been so young these last two years, I looking for a much better year. Looking forward to coming down the street to watch OR play in a few weeks.

LOL! Hey I do live in Clinton now. Rhea will see Cleveland here in about a month. It’s been long over due for Cleveland and Rhea to get together for some football.

Good to see Ethan Davis back healthy. O-line looks much improved. Soddy has a long season ahead of them. Soddy finally got a first down on a busted play with 2:00 to play in the half .

Go Dragons! Beat Cleveland

I’m interested in seeing how this one goes. It’s strength on strength. Bradley’s offense vs McMinn’s defense.

I know the last couple of years have been lean for Soddy since moving down. The last year they had a winning record was 2019 when they were still in 5A. I’m not real sure what has caused their downfall. I know Wittenbarger the good running back is now at Walker Valley. Sale creek has probably pulled some away especially now with Coach Fitzgerald running the show there. I would think probably Hixson may have pulled some kids from there. I know Rhea’s own Josh Owensby is now at Soddy after stepping down as head coach at Hixson. Now white county has been interesting. They actually went as an independent for a few years to rebuild their program before rejoining a region and dropping to 4A. It really has helped them in the last few years.

I have feeling this one is going to get ugly for the Wizards of OS. South Pitt should control this from start to finish.

Going into this season this could be one of the more evenly matched years and could make for some drama come play off time. McMinn has to be the favorite going into the season. They switched up their offense again back to a wing t offense. They lost a bunch of offensive production off of last years team. They do have a very good offensive line coming back so it makes sense to go to a run oriented offense with breaking in a new QB. Defense looks like it should be pretty good again. They bring back a lot of pieces that made their defense pretty good last year. I think 2-4 will be between Rhea, East Ham, and WV. Rhea returns pretty much everyone except for 4 starters from last years team. The one scrimmage Rhea played, we looked much better up front and we have a nice stable of running backs. The key will can we stay healthy and not have 17 starters out like the end of last year. East Ham comes in as the newcomer. They were a pretty good team in 4A winning their region last year. I think they can compete with 5A right way they gave McMinn a game the last couple of years. WV from what I hear is feeling pretty good about the upcoming season. They have a pretty good QB and the got Whittenbarger from Soddy in a transfer. Who is a pretty good running back at Soddy. However he is coming off an ACL so we will see if he lost a step with that injury. I think Ooltewah and Howard will battle it out for last. I give ooltewah the edge at this point and ooltewah could surprise a team or two if they over look them. Howard they just don’t have the depth to compete at the 5A level.

Looks like HC has stepped down due to health concerns after having a stroke 3 weeks ago. Former Ooltewah Owl and NFL player Sammy Seamster to take over as HC

Sequatchie Valley Jamboree Aug 11. At 6pm QRT 1 Bledsoe JV vs Sequatchie JV QRT 2 Bledsoe vs Rhea QRT 3 Grundy vs Rhea QRT 4 Grundy vs Howard QRT 5 Whitwell vs Howard QRT 6 Whitwell vs Sequatchie

Yeah I’ve heard of our scrimmages and jamboree We have one tonight at home against Lakeway Christian at 7pm Then Loudon at home on Aug 8 Then the jamboree is at Sequatchie Co again with us playing quarters against Bledsoe and Grundy on Aug 11th

The Jamboree at Finley in Chattanooga looks like this Thursday Aug 10 Tyner vs. Sale Creek, 6 p.m. Tyner vs. Signal Mountain, 6:30 Sale Creek vs. Signal Mountain, 7 Soddy-Daisy vs. Ringgold (full scrimmage), 7:30 Friday Aug 11 Lookout Valley vs. Hixson, 6 Lookout Valley vs. Boyd Buchanan, 6:30 Chattanooga Christian vs. Hixson, 7 Boyd Buchanan vs. Ooltewah, 7:30 Chattanooga Christian vs. Marion County, 8 South Pittsburg vs. Ooltewah, 8:30 Marion County vs. Silverdale Baptist, 9 South Pittsburg vs. Silverdale Baptist, 9:30 Saturday Aug 12 East Ridge vs. Brainerd, 5:30 East Ridge vs. Notre Dame, 6 Cleveland vs. Brainerd, 6:30 Notre Dame vs. McCallie, 7 Cleveland vs. McCallie, 7:30 Central vs. East Hamilton, 8 Central vs. Red Bank, 8:30

I’ve seen in the past the tssaa has held scheduling meetings to fill out schedules for the for regions and non-regions

Just my opinion- I think top to bottom the Knoxville area can make an argument for best football. I’ve heard it said in Northeast Tn and in the Chattanooga area. Knoxville is where the playoffs end for those teams. I think for small schools the Chattanooga area could make an argument with teams like South Pitt, Marion, Tyner, Meigs, maybe a lesser extent Whitwell, Bledsoe and Red Bank before they moved up to 4A. Even the last 20 years you could throw Signal Mt in there when Bill Price was there and Boyd Buc before the split. Private school and Big School- Murfreesboro (Public) and Nashville (Private) has the better football. However, recently D2 AAA has been Chattanooga with Baylor and McCallie. At the County level you have Blount, Rutherford, and Marion come to my mind about the best football year in year out.

Yeah Staten Island New York. They are usually a pretty solid football team. They had down year last year. They definitely are stepping up the non conference schedule with playing at Alcoa to start their year and at LaSalle out of Cincinnati. Alcoa should beat them.

I would throw in Bradley Central vs Cleveland Then one of the oldest and longest running rivalries is Bradley Central vs McMinn Co. This year will be the 100th meeting between the two of them. The series started back in 1927. I think in the North East it’s D-B and Science Hill.

Hopefully this sheds more light on Indiana’s system. https://legacy.ihsaa.org/Portals/0/ihsaa/documents/Tournament Success Factor/Tournament Success Factor Provisions.pdf I remember talking to the Cathedral folks about this. They were moved up from 4A to 5A when we played them. They are now in 6A because of the success factor. You can only move up one classification ever 2 years with their system.

The East Region in D-II AAA is well represented. Catholic is the only team not ranked in that poll.

I hope Kaleb has worked on his passing accuracy and decision making this offseason. If he has improved those two parts of his game he will be great from Bradley. He is already a great runner, with a lot of speed. If he gets into the open field, not many will be able to track him down. I wish him the best of luck.

I like going over to South Pittsburg nice stadium and great atmosphere

So sad to hear. I’m gonna miss Willie. Super good dude. RIP Willie

That is true