The football playoff picture
Two weeks away from the post season.
Two weeks away from Tennessee Secondary School Althletic Association seeding for the 2022 high school playoffs.
Anderson County High School locked up the Region 2-4a Championship Oct. 7 with a 55-24 beatdown of Gibbs High School.
The Mavericks have two games left in the regular season
Friday night, (Oct. 21) they will face a very good Bearden High School football team — a powerhouse 6A squad out of Knoxville.
While this Friday’s game doesn’t mean squat on the Region 2-4A crown, it’s a source of pride for the Mavericks.
“It could be the cherry on top,” Anderson County Head Coach Davey Gillum said of this week’s match up.
The Mavericks don’t “need” this win. They are already region champs.
But another win (Science Hill, Rhea County) could make a statement. Of Course, the Mavs have a long bus trip to Scott High (0-4, 0-8) for the finale of the regular season. And Scott is no wilting flower. The Highlanders would like nothing more than to end a six-season region unbeaten streak held by the Mavs.
Scott High ain’t that bad.
Regardless of the next two week’s outcomes, Anderson County will likely play Seymour in the first round of the playoffs.
That’s likely.
Elizabethon and Seymour will meet in the last week of the regular season. The loser of that game will travel to 130 Maverick Circle for the first round of the playoffs — unless the tie breaker in Region 1-4A puts Grainger at ACHS in the first round.
All of Mavland is, however, looking at post season round three. That could be the Anderson County vs Greeneville shoot out that just draws out the football fan in everyone.
Clinton High School, despite all the promise Head Coach Darell Keith’s program had, just fell flat.
The Dragons started out slow in too many games, losing to region opponents by less than a touchdown after giving up easy points in the first half.
Friday, Oct. 7, the Dragons were eliminated from post season play with a 24-20 loss to Lenoir City.
The 2022 season was shaping up like the 2021 season: The Dragons needed Oak Ridge to beat Karns High School last year to make the playoffs.
That didn’t happen and the Dragons missed the playoffs despite a 6-4 record.
That was last year.
Coach Darell Keith’s squad have Gibbs at home in week nine (this Friday) and play Karns, at Karns (a Region 3-5A games), in the final week of the regular season.
The Dragons are talented, well-coached, and are now playing with a chip on their shoulder.
A much-injured and thought to be driftwood in Region 3-5A Oak Ridge squad came alive last week to bolster its chances as a number 2 seed in th epost season.
Oak Ridge outlasted Karns, 56-28, last week in their final regular-season home game at Blankenship Field.
With Thursday’s victory over the Beavers (6-3 overall, 2-2 in Region 3-5A), Oak Ridge (4-4, 3-1) could finish second in the league with a win at Campbell County on Oct. 28 in the regular-season finale for both schools.
A second-place in the region would net the Wildcats a first-round home playoff game.
Oak Ridge travels to Kingsport to face Dobyns-Bennett Friday in a non-region tilt between a pair of longtime rivals.
