Copper Basin is 8-0 and already assured of the Cougars’ best showing since 2000, when Mark Stone coached them to an 8-4 season.
With another win they’ll be on ground a Copperhill team hasn’t touched since Lynn Rowe’s 1992 Cougars went 9-3. The Cougars face Boyd-Buchanan this Thursday night at Finley Stadium.
It is likely, though, that Copper Basin trods upon virgin soil now after moving up to No. 2 in the latest Associated Press Class 1A state poll. Jo Byrns and Copper Basin leapfrogged South Pittsburg, which dropped from No. 1 following its 42-7 loss last Friday at Polk County, now No. 4 in 3A.
Joe Byrns is 9-0 and South Pittsburg is 7-2. Wayne County, which had been No. 3, dropped to No. 6 following a 50-48 shootout loss to Perry County.
“I didn’t know that,” Basin coach Patrick Daly said Monday. “I never look at the rankings. All they do is inflate your head.”
Daly knows there is little control, other than trying to confiscate every daily paper that might cross the Copperhill town limit, over polls and conversation that grows from those polls.
“We want to control what we can control, and that’s between the lines,” he said. “It’s good for the fans, but then we don’t have any control over that.”
He doesn’t know how much control he’ll have Thursday night, either, at Finley.
“It’s going to be a challenge just to keep the kids from looking around the stadium,” Daly said. “None of them have played there, and I doubt that many have ever even seen it.”
That’s one problem; another is Boyd-Buchanan.
“Boyd has a good football team. Yeah, they have some losses, but those are to big schools and to South Pittsburg, which is a pretty awesome team,” Daly said. “They have good athletes that are well-coached, and they’re huge compared to us.”
The Buccaneers are ranked 10th in Class 2A, where unbeaten Signal Mountain remains No. 2 behind Trousdale County.
Despite beating Brentwood Academy earlier in the season, both Baylor and Ensworth are ranked behind the Eagles and No. 1 Knoxville Webb in Division II-AA. Baylor fell from first to fourth while Ensworth climbed from fifth to third after giving Baylor its first loss of the season last Friday.
In Class 3A, Polk moved one spot, Tyner moved up a notch to No. 9 and Howard fell to No. 10. There are no Chattanooga-area teams ranked in Class 4A, 5A or 6A.
Ward Gossett is an assistant sports editor and writer for the Times Free Press. Ward has a long history in Chattanooga journalism. He actually wrote a bylined story for the Chattanooga News-Free Press as a third-grader. He Began working part-time there in 1968 and was hired full time in 1970. Ward now covers high school athletics, primarily football, wrestling and baseball and University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestling. Over a 40-year career, he has covered ...
Or login with:
New Account