gobigblue

Being from SWVA and now working in the Knoxville area for the past 10 and living here for the past 5, and having a son playing football here I would take SWVA football over TN any day of the week. Their is alot more pad popping and close games in SWVA than in this area, and the fan base is much more stronger in SWVA. The Knoxville area has its three tiers. You have Maryville and Alcoa along with Webb (private school) who usually top their respective classifications then a few teams that make some noise a year or two then go quite for a few. Oak Ridge used to be in the upper tier, but a bad coaching staff nearly destroyed a very proud program. I think they have 9 state titles in what ever the highest class was at that time and they are 6A now. They went from playing in I think 3 straight 5A (which was the highest at the time) championship games (03,04,05?) to only making the playoffs once in the next three years with no wins. They are working their way back now and played Maryville tough in the state simi last year. Farragut, Anderson County, Powell, Austin East, Bearden, Clinton and Fulton have some good teams in cycles, then you have the private schools like CAK, GRACE, Catholic. CAK may just dethrone Alcoa this year in 3A, as they look pretty good early. Powell is the class in 5A currently and have a kid at RB/LB that is the real deal by the name of Mobely. Built much like the Johnson kid at Richlands and has all the tools at RB. He put up 265yds on 21 carries against Oak Ridge in a nail biter last Thursday night. There is a new school only 3 years old called Hardin Valley and they look pretty tough this year and could make some noise in the 6A playoffs with Maryville. Then their is the rest who usually fight for a playoff spot every few years and maybe make a run every 10. One other thing with TN football vs VA and redtiger eludes to it is student population. Don't let all the A's fool you on enrollment. Best I can tell what ever class a TN school is say 5A in TN would be a division lower in VA so 5A would most likely be Div4. The school my son plays for is 5A and only has between 1200-1300 students.