TSSAA board approves new regions

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The TSSAA Board of Control on Thursday approved the proposed Division I football regions including the four-region, Class 6A division that will have 32 teams with all advancing to the postseason. The new regions will go into effect beginning with the 2015-16 school year.

No changes were made in Division II.

There were only four schools that were moved from the originally proposed region alignments: Oakdale from Region 2 to Region 1 and Greenback from Region 1 to Region 2 in Class 1A and York Institute from Region 2 to Region 4 and McNairy Central from Region 8 to Region 7 in Class 3A.

York joins a region that includes Grundy County, Sequatchie County, Cannon County, DeKalb County, Smith County and Upperman.

The change also sweeps out the current playoff format that had teams from different classifications in the same district. The new plan calls for the top four teams in each region to advance to the postseason with the top two teams in each region hosting at least a first-round playoff game.

Baylor 'mission trip'

There had been a debate regarding Baylor's travel plans for its game at Christian Brothers in Memphis tonight.

The Red Raiders opted to leave this morning rather than Thursday after practice.

"We did this three years ago when we played MUS in the quarterfinals and had pretty good results," coach Phil Massey said. "We didn't win the game, but we didn't have that lag you sometimes have from traveling all day."

The plan was for the players to report to school as normal, eat breakfast and then depart. They'll stop in Nashville and do a walk-through at Father Ryan.

"We're have lunch delivered and eat on the bus," Massey said.

They'll then stop in Jackson to stretch their legs and then drive the rest of the way to Memphis, stopping for a pregame meal before arriving at Christian Brothers for the 8 p.m. EST kickoff.

"It gives the kids two different chances to get out and stretch and move around, and it is also two chances to stop watching movies or listening to music and get their minds on playing a football game," Massey said. "We have told them this isn't a field trip but a mission trip."

They plan to return immediately after the game, probably reaching the campus around 4 a.m. Saturday.

Jets' McCaslin resigns

Ted McCaslin resigned his position as football coach at Cumberland County this week.

McCaslin coached the Jets for three seasons, compiling a 2-28 record. They were 0-10 this year. He will remain on the faculty and continue to coach track.

Cumberland County, which played Chattanooga-area teams Bledsoe County, Rhea County and Grundy County this past season, is scheduled to move into a Region 4-4A next season with Central, East Hamilton, Hixson, Livingston Academy, Sequoyah and Stone Memorial.

Cumberland County soon will begin taking applications to fill the position, but no timeline has been established for hiring a new coach.

Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.

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