Rhea County is the highest ranked Chattanooga-area team in Tennessee's preseason high school football poll.
The Eagles, who host Baylor this Thursday evening, are ranked No. 2 in Class 5A.
Baylor is the sixth-ranked Division II team.
"It doesn't mean anything," Rhea coach Mark Pemberton said Monday evening, delivering a sentiment felt by most coaches across the state. "It's an honor, obviously, but we haven't proven anything this year yet. I'm sure a lot of that comes from last year's accomplishments.
The Eagles reached the state semifinals and rallied from a 28-0 deficit to tie before falling in the game's waning seconds to Knoxville West, which is listed No. 1 in this first poll.
There are 10 other teams from the area listed in the TSSAA's respective top 10s. McCallie is tied for No. 4 in Division II, Whitwell is No. 6 and South Pittsburg No. 9 in Class 1A, Notre Dame No. 4 and McMinn Central No. 9 in Class 3A, East Hamilton No. 10 in Class 4A and Ooltewah No. 5 in Class 5A.
Four of Region 3's teams are in the initial Class 2A top 10: Marion County (No. 3), Boyd-Buchanan (No. 6), Tyner (No. 8) and Meigs County (No. 9).
"We appreciate and we're thankful, but like anything else it doesn't matter where you start," Marion coach Ricky Ross said. "We'd like to finish higher than that, and our goals are higher than that."
To get there, his Warriors are going to have to survive what he and his 3-2A peers feel is the toughest region in the state.
"This poll just cements our thoughts that our region is loaded with really good, well-coached teams," Ross said.
Pemberton, meanwhile, is too much the veteran to be taken in by the hype of a preseason poll and wasn't about to allow any false confidence among his player, especially with Baylor going to Evensville in a couple of days.
"It's a new year and we have a lot of work to do, especially before Baylor gets here," he said. "We'll have our hands full, no doubt about it."
When asked why, the coach barked a harsh laugh and replied, "That's one of the big private schools and they play really good football. Too, I like Phil (Massey, Baylor's coach). He's done a great job down there."
Pemberton, who had a state championship team at Knoxville Catholic, played Baylor twice when he was coaching the Irish and was the offensive coordinator at Rhea County when the Eagles hosted the Red Raiders several years further back.
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.