Longtime Boyd-Buchanan athletic director and football coach Gus Stone will be honored at halftime tonight during the Buccaneers' homecoming festivities.

The school is naming the weightroom in his honor.

"Coach Stone will come up during the week and he'll paint, mow, line the fields. Whatever he sees that needs to be done, he does it," Boyd-Buchanan coach Grant Reynolds said. "He is a really good example to have around not only for the kids but the young coaches as well.

"It's good to have somebody like that around as a role model, and I think he enjoys doing all that he does and being around."

Stone was the school's first varsity football coach and, while leading a drive to build a football field, gave the Bucs their first winning season, 6-4 in 1980.

Davis seeks 100th

Polk County coach Derrick Davis could get his 100th win tonight, but the Wildcats have a tall order at Signal Mountain.

"I'm not going to lie. It means something. But I haven't won a single game," Davis said. "I've just been fortunate enough to hang around and have some tough kids play for me."

The Wildcats have not had a losing season since 2002, his second as a head coach.

"I'm not sure I'll get it this year. There's no guarantee," he said.

After Signal, Polk (5-1) still has games remaining with Sequoyah, Meigs County and South Pittsburg, and the Wildcats lost quarterback Duncan Coffey to a dirt bike accident 12 days ago. Davis said it was possible that Coffey could return if Polk, the current 5-AA leader, makes the playoffs.

Walters to visit Vols

Howard's 6-foot-8, 280-pound tackle Brandon Walters had a call last week from University of Tennessee offensive coordinator Jim Chaney.

"He called last Thursday or Friday and I spoke with him and then he visited with Brandon for a while," Tigers coach Michael Calloway said. "They invited Brandon and his mother up for the Alabama game."

Walters, whose team plays tonight at East Ridge, is coming off a monster game against Brainerd. He had 12.5 tackles and three sacks against the Panthers.

Barger 'hanging in'

Sequatchie County has suffered a letdown this year, beating only Meigs County in seven games after making playoff appearances the past four seasons.

"I haven't slit my wrists or hung myself," Indians coach Chad Barger said. "I'm hanging in there like a hound on a biscuit."

While youthful miscues have caused some of their problems -- two-thirds of the varsity players are freshmen or sophomores -- the Indians are averaging five turnovers per game.

"It's like last week," Barger said. "We played a pretty decent ballgame -- except for seven turnovers. It has just about become a mental thing about putting the ball on the ground, and all of [the running backs] are doing it."

Pirates limping

Last season South Pittsburg fought through a series of injuries during the regular season, got healthy during the playoffs and made a run to the Class 1A state title game for the fourth straight year.

This season, the injuries are more severe and the Pirates still have a murderers row of games remaining before the postseason, so another deep playoff run has become more of a question.

Three players, two of them two-way starters, have been lost for the season with ACL injuries. Junior two-way lineman Stephon Mitchell was injured on an extra-point attempt against Lookout Valley, junior linebacker and tight end Payne Mosley was injured making a block against Signal Mountain and sophomore receiver and defensive back Brady Petty was hurt during practice. All three have undergone surgery.

"If you made a pecking order of the people we couldn't afford to lose, Stephon and Payne would be near the top," Pirates coach Vic Grider said. "Stephon was our most versatile lineman and Payne was just a big-play guy for us, a big hitter. Fortunately all three will be back, but it's made this year a lot tougher."

South Pittsburg, which reclaimed the No. 1 spot in this week's state poll, is off tonight and will close out the regular season against 2A top-ranked Boyd-Buchanan, at 3A ninth-ranked Polk County and against 2A third-ranked Knoxville Grace.

Baylor loses three

The loss to Brentwood Academy last week was costly for Baylor's Red Raiders, who lost two receivers and a middle linebacker. Receiver Jeff Bowens (MCL/knee) is out four weeks and receiver Reggie Upshaw (broken ankle) is out for the year. Linebacker Blake Lane is still being evaluated. He might have a fracture in his hip.

Also, quarterback Nick Tiano suffered a concussion and would be out if Baylor were playing tonight. Coach Phil Massey indicated that it's questionable whether the sophomore will be cleared to play next week at Columbia.