Round one is in the books and the pickins as they say are slim! No region one teams survived in 1A, 3A, 5A and with exception of Jefferson County in 6A.
The 9-2 Hampton Bulldogs host the Warriors of Bledsoe County (9-2) (Pikeville, TN.) in Hampton Friday night and the winner gets to host the quarterfinal round next week against the Fighting Alvin Yorks of York Institute and Oneida! 2A is probably the most wide open of all the classes in Tennessee.
In 4A: Gibbs (9-2) makes the trip to Burley Stadium In Greeneville to play the 9-0 Greene Devils. Gibbs won an overtime thriller verses Northview Academy (Kodak, TN.) 28-27 and Greeneville won 48-14 over Fulton, the other side of the bracket has one of the most anticipated games of the week ,in any class, as Elizabethton a 38-0 winner over Knox Carter playing in Clinton against the Mavericks of Anderson County a 49-0 winner over Sullivan East! The winners meet in the quarterfinal round in week 3 of the playoffs.
I will include Jefferson County in the post because they are technically in Region 1. The Patriots have has a massive turn around thanks to Spencer Riley who played guard at Tennessee in the late 90's and was a member of the 1998 National Championship team. Riley is a O-Line and TE guru and his team just lines up and mauls you! Jefferson County (10-1) hosts Bearden (8-3) and the winner gets the Maryville (7-4) versus Bradley Central (11-0) ...good luck stopping Boo Carter in that game!
Get out and go to a game, the kids need your support and the TSSAA needs your money!
Well the regular season is over and what an odd regular season it was, with multiple teams missing games due to weather. The Big 3, in 4A all are legitimate state title contenders ( Greeneville, Elizabethton and Anderson County) and will eliminate each other by the semi-final round. I will focus on the local teams and will update it weekly until the "locals" are gone!
In 1A. Cloudland (6-4) hosts Greenback (4-6) on Roan Mountain the other side of the bracket has the Huskies of North Greene (4-6) travels to Oliver Springs (7-3) and the other 1A team Unaka (2-8) plays it's last game of the year at Coalfield.
In 2A. Polk County (4-6) makes the 3 1/2 hour bus trip to Hampton (8-2), the winner plays the winner of South Greene (8-2) @ Bledsoe County (8-2) and the other Region 1 team Happy Valley (7-3) hosts Oneida (7-3).
In 3A: Johnson County (6-4) takes the long trip to Kingston (7-3), Austin East (3-7) makes the drive to beautiful Erwin to take on Unicoi County (7-3) and Chuckey-Doak (6-4) make the ill-fated drive to Alcoa (9-1)! Maybe the team could just Blacksburg Alcoa and take the Alligent Flight to Sanford, FL for the weekend!
In 4A: The Bareknuckle Cage Fight is about to throw down! Greeneville (8-0) takes on Fulton (2-8), Elizabethton (8-1) takes on Carter (6-4), and Sullivan East (6-4) travels to Anderson County (6-4). If Betsy' and AC win then the Cyclones travel to AC next week.
In 5A: Tennessee High (7-3) hosts Powell (7-3) and Boone becomes the Sacrificial Lamb for Knox West (9-1)
In 6A: Dobyns Bennett (5-4) makes their first road exit at Bearden (7-3) and Science Hill (7-3) hosts Maryville (6-4) at Kermit Tipton Stadium in Johnson City and finally in 6A West Ridge (5-4) gets the long ride to Bradley Central (10-0 to visit Tennessee Commit Boo Carter!
I’m really excited for this game Friday night. It’s strength on strength. Abingdons Oline and running game against the Union front. 7.
Abingdon is a PHYSICAL football team, they will beat you up! The QB is sneaky good and like to possess the ball and hold it. In the GC game GC had the ball exactly 3 times in the first half for a total of less than 5 minutes. They play like the old Appy teams, size and ball control! I think Union athletically is far superior but Abingdon will be more physical. I like Union to score late and win just too many athletes to stop!
For the players who have worked so hard and came so close many times this year, I hope the Blues win. To secure the victory it takes an overall effort, the players have given their best and played their hearts out, but they're being hindered by poor play calling in tight situations and no support from the coaching staff IMO. If you look at the overall, Marion will win, but if you look at the hearts of the players, Richlands will win. I for one am tired of hearing the coach blame the players for not being motivated! I have seen determination and motivation with the players all year, but no determination, and no motivation from the coaches, just an "Oh well, that's the way the cookie crumbles" attitude. I know some will disagree and that is fine, we all have an opinion and mine is, "IT"S TIME FOR A CHANGE IN COACHES!!!! CLEAN HOUSE!!! CHANGE ALL COACHES!!!
Marion 21---Richlands 13
Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it and take it from a long suffering Blue Devil fan good coaching can't take the place of not having enough talent! It's amazing when the talent increases the coaching does too.
I have heard that Gate CIty has some injuries. Does anyone know if this is true?
Gate City has been fighting injuries for several weeks, especially since the Abingdon game! No excuses just need to build depth and they are very weak on the OL-DL.
I have seen games at every active stadium in Southwest Virginia at one time or another in my 40 years of fandom. My memories range from the horrible to fantastic. There was a quaintness to Cummins Stadium and the Popcorn was next level! Haysi was kind of dumpy and had terrible sightlines. The cream of the crop as far as facilities are Virginia High, Mitchell Stadium, Richlands and Ridgeview. The coziness of Bullitt Park and Legion Field where you literally sit within feet of the bench is what stadiums should be! Riggs was great too as far as atmosphere!
It's so politically screwed up now, I think it would have to be someone from outside of the area with a different prospective than SWD football. That is something to think about, but IMO will never happen in the politically charged system we have in Tazewell County. Too many hands in the pot.
Ask the folks from Lee County how that has worked for them.
I was at the fence too lol and I thought he had just gained possession. But it’s a bang bang play and I wouldn’t have been mad either way. Very tough play to call.
I seen the play from the 45 yard line visitors bleachers and I don't think he ever had possession of it! I don't expect the officiating to be perfect and I think the call would have been okay either way! They don't have the benefit of replay and have to make a judgement call! I got some funny looks from my hometown fans for GC but I don't think he ever caught the ball!
Gate City plays quite a few underclassmen also. That being said, I can see Union blowing them out of the water after last years games but then again every time I've ever expected us to get whipped we seem to find a way to be in the game. Luckily I'm not a betting man.
Excited for the game, going to Bullitt for the first time in quite awhile! I expect a good, hard fought quick game!
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2023 TSSAA Playoffs
in SWVA Football
Posted
Round one is in the books and the pickins as they say are slim! No region one teams survived in 1A, 3A, 5A and with exception of Jefferson County in 6A.
The 9-2 Hampton Bulldogs host the Warriors of Bledsoe County (9-2) (Pikeville, TN.) in Hampton Friday night and the winner gets to host the quarterfinal round next week against the Fighting Alvin Yorks of York Institute and Oneida! 2A is probably the most wide open of all the classes in Tennessee.
In 4A: Gibbs (9-2) makes the trip to Burley Stadium In Greeneville to play the 9-0 Greene Devils. Gibbs won an overtime thriller verses Northview Academy (Kodak, TN.) 28-27 and Greeneville won 48-14 over Fulton, the other side of the bracket has one of the most anticipated games of the week ,in any class, as Elizabethton a 38-0 winner over Knox Carter playing in Clinton against the Mavericks of Anderson County a 49-0 winner over Sullivan East! The winners meet in the quarterfinal round in week 3 of the playoffs.
I will include Jefferson County in the post because they are technically in Region 1. The Patriots have has a massive turn around thanks to Spencer Riley who played guard at Tennessee in the late 90's and was a member of the 1998 National Championship team. Riley is a O-Line and TE guru and his team just lines up and mauls you! Jefferson County (10-1) hosts Bearden (8-3) and the winner gets the Maryville (7-4) versus Bradley Central (11-0) ...good luck stopping Boo Carter in that game!
Get out and go to a game, the kids need your support and the TSSAA needs your money!