Preseason Picks: 6A teams to watch in your area

[dou]

I think you have a great thread going. I will start by saying I am a Millington Trojan fan, but I will try to be as unbias as possible about the little I know about the west. We know we have not faired well in some years against the rest of the State, and we hope this year may be different.

The way I see the top teams in the west are and no particular order:

 

Millington: only lost 6 starters from last years team, and returns a very experienced senior and junior class, The seniors are undefeated in regular season play in three years of playing, they are 35 and 2 as a class, the juniors are 21 and 2 as a class. This could be the best team we have had but will have a tough time proving it with the schdule they have.

 

Whitehaven: always tough and returning some very good players.

 

Whitestation: well coached and I believe has a number of defensive players back.

 

Cordova: always competitive and offensively wiill be tough.

 

Brighton who I believe is 6A now may be a sleeper.

 

There may be more, please help me out West fans I know I am missing someone or some Info.

[Lost Old Dad]

Started this post awhile back in hopes of clear-eyed analysis of 6A state-wide. I agree with and understand most of what's been said about my own end of things (east), but am left in a fog on the mid-state. Basically, it sounds like any 6A south of Vanderbilt is just ferocious. Can anybody offer some systematic analysis beyond, "I think my team is the best?"

 

Outside of some personal back and forth that doesn't make sense to the rest of us, haven't heard much from 6A in the west. Will the Memphis area field a serious contender? Who? Why? Can anyone tell us who, if anyone in the last 10 years, has won in the old 5A outside of Middle Tennessee?

 

 

The main reason that no one can predict how most Mid Tn 6A teams will do is the fact that there is no one dominating team anymore. It used to be there were only a couple of what I would call really good teams in Middle Tn. Now they ALL play sound football and beat up on each other ALOT.

 

This also happens to be probably the best section of the state for 6A football as ALL of the State Champions have come from here in the last 5-6 years. Only exception was Germantown from West Tn and Oak Ridge before Stevens took them down and even he did NOT win State.

 

Right now from Rutherford County there is Oakland, Riverdale, Smyrna and Blackman, and Siegel that could all give any team in the state a good game. LaVergne is also a solid team now that they are not losing their best players to Smyrna.

 

When you move over to Williamson County you have almost the same problem as they are all pretty solid also. They are also good enough to play the privates in their area.

 

When you say what about Sumner county you have two very solid teams in Gallatin and Hendersonville with Beech playing catchup to them. Now they also have Wilson Central and Lebanon in their mix for slots in the playoffs.

 

Now you know why it is truly hard to pick one 6A team from Mid Tn that will dominate.

[falcon23]

i saw smyrna scimmage lincoln county and smyrna has one of the fastest teams in the state

[BigAir]

Helpful posts dou and Old Dad.

 

Sounds like Millington has some powerful variables working in its favor to come out of the west.

 

In addition to Old Dad's summary of those playing solid ball in the mid-state, I'm struck by how high the concentration of 6A schools is in a relatively small area of the state. In other words, more than a third of the 6A teams are coming from the middle third of the state, and the numbers alone would make it a tougher call to make than west and east.

 

Lost Old Dad and others, let the rest of us know when it appears that some of these teams seem to get separation from the rest.

[SCBisondad]

The main reason that no one can predict how most Mid Tn 6A teams will do is the fact that there is no one dominating team anymore. It used to be there were only a couple of what I would call really good teams in Middle Tn. Now they ALL play sound football and beat up on each other ALOT.

 

This also happens to be probably the best section of the state for 6A football as ALL of the State Champions have come from here in the last 5-6 years. Only exception was Germantown from West Tn and Oak Ridge before Stevens took them down and even he did NOT win State.

 

Right now from Rutherford County there is Oakland, Riverdale, Smyrna and Blackman, and Siegel that could all give any team in the state a good game. LaVergne is also a solid team now that they are not losing their best players to Smyrna.

 

When you move over to Williamson County you have almost the same problem as they are all pretty solid also. They are also good enough to play the privates in their area.

 

When you say what about Sumner county you have two very solid teams in Gallatin and Hendersonville with Beech playing catchup to them. Now they also have Wilson Central and Lebanon in their mix for slots in the playoffs.

 

Now you know why it is truly hard to pick one 6A team from Mid Tn that will dominate.

Did you forget about Mt Juliet or are you thinking they won't compete?

[Blackhawk77]

Started this post awhile back in hopes of clear-eyed analysis of 6A state-wide. I agree with and understand most of what's been said about my own end of things (east), but am left in a fog on the mid-state. Basically, it sounds like any 6A south of Vanderbilt is just ferocious. Can anybody offer some systematic analysis beyond, "I think my team is the best?"

 

Outside of some personal back and forth that doesn't make sense to the rest of us, haven't heard much from 6A in the west. Will the Memphis area field a serious contender? Who? Why? Can anyone tell us who, if anyone in the last 10 years, has won in the old 5A outside of Middle Tennessee?

 

 

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.

[ORWildcat1]

My pick for east Tennessee this fall:

 

1. Ooltewah

2. Maryville

3. Kingsport DB

4. Farragut

5. Oak Ridge

[Lost Old Dad]

Did you forget about Mt Juliet or are you thinking they won't compete?

 

 

Did NOT forget about Mt Juliet, but I thought they would be 5A and not 6A this year. If I am wrong I am sorry. Just have not been keeping up like I should. I see them beating WC and the Lebanon game a toss up right now. MJ has the basis to totally dominate Wilson County. Lebanon's biggest problem is the lack of depth and no consistancy from game to game. They are literally a Dr Jeckel and Mr Hyde team. And yes I know I have probably spelled a couple of words wrong but it is way too early to get the dictionary out. /rolleyes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":rolleyes:" border="0" alt="rolleyes.gif" />

[Lost Old Dad]

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.

 

 

Germantown not only had a team in it, they WON it by beating R'dale 10-7. This was during the stretch of R'dale being in the Blue Cross Bowl like 6 years straight. I really cannot see why folks in West Tn are totally overlooking Germantown. They have the chance to totally dominate West Tn football at any minute. Coach there is solid and produces solid teams in the past. They are like Lincoln County in that they can rear up and bite you at any time.

 

Dickson is also a team that can bite folks if they are taken for granted. They have proved this by being one of the few schools that have beaten R'dale AT R'dale during their dominating streak in the old 5A.

[Blackhawk77]

Germantown not only had a team in it, they WON it by beating R'dale 10-7. This was during the stretch of R'dale being in the Blue Cross Bowl like 6 years straight. I really cannot see why folks in West Tn are totally overlooking Germantown. They have the chance to totally dominate West Tn football at any minute. Coach there is solid and produces solid teams in the past. They are like Lincoln County in that they can rear up and bite you at any time.

 

Dickson is also a team that can bite folks if they are taken for granted. They have proved this by being one of the few schools that have beaten R'dale AT R'dale during their dominating streak in the old 5A.

 

 

what year did they win it? 03 maybe?

[Lost Old Dad]

what year did they win it? 03 maybe?

 

02 I 'think'. Probably was as it was before my son was a varsity starter. 03 we lost to Brentwood 10-7 and won it all in 04. 05 threw the semi game away at Oak Ridge and it has been down hill ever since.

 

Hopefully this year R'dale is going to turn it around and get back on our winning track.

[dou]

Germantown not only had a team in it, they WON it by beating R'dale 10-7. This was during the stretch of R'dale being in the Blue Cross Bowl like 6 years straight. I really cannot see why folks in West Tn are totally overlooking Germantown. They have the chance to totally dominate West Tn football at any minute. Coach there is solid and produces solid teams in the past. They are like Lincoln County in that they can rear up and bite you at any time.

 

Dickson is also a team that can bite folks if they are taken for granted. They have proved this by being one of the few schools that have beaten R'dale AT R'dale during their dominating streak in the old 5A.

 

 

 

Overlooked because if you have seen their freshman and Jvs for the last 4 years, there is not much talent, however you never know