jangel

It depends on how you look at it. Do you want to know which team wins if they suited up today vs each other or which had the best results vs their competition? Modern teams are generally superior to those from decades ago. It's all relative.

Congratulations to Macon Co Tigers!! You represented the rural small town schools well today. What a great run!

This game was hard to watch. Congrats to Marion. Hope the Milan QB heals up quick.

I agree that this Macon team is very reminiscent of 2005 LA with Wilson Cates. He was a dynamic back and defensive do-it-all much like the two Borders.

How will the team respond when the hype is gone and they're the underdog? I'm hoping they focus and finally live up to their potential, or even play beyond it.

Gabe was "blocked" or he may have got the tackle on that play, though LaRue probably does have the better top line speed. What makes the Borders great are the intangibles to me. They seem to always be in the right place to make the play. I fully expect Melrose to have great team speed as well. They beat a well coached and talented PC team, which is very impressive. The misdirection may be effective for MC if they over pursue.

Calls went both ways. Macon was the better team tonight.

I was there 😀

It's not the first time so they will figure it out. They will never have a bigger win at home so it was guaranteed.

My only prediction for this game: it will be the loudest fans and road environment Anderson Co has played in this season, and possibly ever.

Since we are discussing the region alignment, my casual observation is that TSSAA may be attempting to do a pseudo urban/rural or some type of competitive split with these regions as a test run. I haven't looked at every class to see if this has happened consistently, but it looks like it could have happened in 2A. They have previously taken over region schedules in a bid to increase "competitiveness" (revenue) in the past few years. Maybe this is the next step.

That is true. It was an amazing season to be proud of.

I doubt anyone other than Upperman fans would have had them favored over Alcoa last year. Alcoa beat the 5A champion by 3 scores and had only 3 competitive games.

Macon has been a different team since the second half vs DeKalb. White Co. is playing their best ball at the right time. The difference in the first match up, as others have said, is that Pinion was able to track down the Borders twins to prevent breakaway runs. On the other side Macon gave up several long touchdown plays. I expect those to be cleaned up in this game. Macon has the rare chance to avenge both of their in-season losses in the playoffs. Can they pull it off?

Smith county had negative yards in the first half and no first downs until the 4th quarter. Monterey scored on every possession and had approx 300 yards in the first half. It was a dominant performance on the line. WILDCAT referred to Play 1 because they scored on a 70+ yard run.

Clay and York should both be in the top 10.

Monterey may have an opinion on who has the better QB.

I'm not sure what you expect. We were competitive against a team with 22 upperclassmen representing several returning starters while many of our players were in their very first career start (and some in their first high school game). Two region championships in 3 years including upset wins against 2 of the best Region foes in the history of school is a pretty good record after having only one region title in the previous decade. The last year we lost the Region was also the last time we lost to Gordonsville. Like this year the team was young, and by season's end we took top 5 White House to the wire in the playoffs. I've been following this team closely for over 25 years, and 2 of our 3 best wins in that time have come under Coach Dyer. He is a special coach based on what the players say, and a true blessing to the program based on the on-field results. I personally hope he is our coach for the rest of his career. I plan to be in the seats supporting this team, these players, and this coach every time I am able to make it.

Upper Cumberland Reporter on Facebook and Dtc3.tv have great broadcasts available.

Great game by the Tigers and congratulations on the big win to kickoff the season. I was very happy to see only a handful of flags in this game, unlike past years. The refs did a great job and both teams executed well for the most part. The experience on the line was the difference in the game. Smith Co. showed several promising signs in the passing game. We had an advantage deep and around the ends. I believe if we went with the empty backfield the entire second half it would have been a different game. Even still we had a chance to tie/take the lead late in the 4th which is all you can ask for. Smith Co. has a long way to go but I expect dramatic improvement in this young team throughout the year, just like 2021. Gordonsville is poised for a great year. Clean up the snap, get healthy, and they will be a force. Good luck the rest of the way!!

ER did play badly but it was anyone's game til the last first down.

Completely agree.

Body language, not even being engaged when the play isn't to you.

Congrats to Riverside on your first gold ball!

ER looks like they are missing the intensity they had throughout the playoffs.