Bucs host in surprise

Friday, January 1, 1904

photo Boyd-Buchanan's Austin Bailey (55), Colton Robinson (53) and Austin Hall (10) run through their team banner at the start of the playoff game against Rockwood Friday.

THE PLAYOFFSTennesseeClass 1ASouth Pittsburg (10-2) at Coalfield (10-1), 7Class 2AFriendship Christian (9-3) at Boyd-Buchanan (10-1), 7Division II-AAChristian Brothers (9-2) at Baylor (9-1), 7GeorgiaClass 2ABrooks County (9-2) at Calhoun (11-0), 7:30Class 3ARidgeland (7-4) at Peach County (10-1), 7:30

Surprise! Boyd-Buchanan will be at home another week in the Tennessee Class 2A high school football playoffs, and Baylor's Division II-AA playoff semifinal opponent will be Christian Brothers rather than Brentwood Academy.

Two of the three remaining Chattanooga-area teams in the TSSAA playoffs will be at home Friday. South Pittsburg will play a Class 1A quarterfinal at Coalfield, which eliminated Lookout Valley this past Friday.

There are two area teams still in the Georgia playoffs. Calhoun will host Brooks County in Class AA while Class AAA Ridgeland travels to Peach County.

Fort Payne and North Jackson were eliminated Friday from the Alabama playoffs. Ooltewah, Brainerd, Bledsoe County, Polk County and McCallie joined Lookout Valley in ending their 2011 Tennessee seasons.

Most Boyd-Buchanan supporters were sure they were on their way to Trousdale County, a matchup Buccaneers coaches liked, but Friendship Christian ended that notion with a 24-14 road victory at Hartsville.

"They played Trousdale close during the season and we thought they might give them a good game. They did and beat them," Boyd-Buchanan coach Grant Reynolds said. "To some maybe it was unexpected, but we as coaches knew it was possible."

The upset allows the Bucs, seeded higher than Friendship, another home game.

"Being at home helps a lot," Reynolds said. "You don't have to worry about getting a bus and eating on the road, especially after last year when we had three playoff games on the road and two of them [Hampton, Wartburg] being out of town."

Baylor coaches knew they'd be at home if their season continued but most figured Brentwood Academy would be the opponent.

Red Raiders coach Phil Massey even had a film swap set up for Saturday morning with BA coach Ralph Potter, but Massey also called Christian Brothers last week with the idea of swapping video that would have arrived at each school not later than last Friday. CBHS coach Kevin Locastro declined, apparently certain his team's season would end last week.

Massey said he had nothing on the Purple Wave other than a couple of scouting reports.

"We'll have film Monday morning," he said.

He might be surprised that Baylor's opponent is not Brentwood Academy, but he isn't stunned. It is, he says, the nature of the league.

"Obviously I knew how good Brentwood was," Massey said, referring to the Red Raiders' only loss of the season (10-7 in Nashville). "But when you start trying to compare scores in this league, you start getting in trouble. It's this league but it's also tough because of all the travel."