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Tennessee playoffs(all kickoffs at 7 p.m. local time)Class 5ARhea County (9-3) at Ooltewah (10-2)Class 4AMarshall County (11-1) at East Hamilton (8-4)Class 3ANotre Dame (9-3) at East Ridge (12-0)Class 2ATyner (9-3) at Marion County (11-1)Class 1AColumbia Academy (11-1) at South Pittsburg (9-3)Division II-AABaylor (9-2) at Brentwood Academy (10-1)Georgia playoffs(all kickoffs at 7:30 p.m.)Class AAAAAGlynn Academy (9-2) at Dalton (9-2)Class AAAPeach County (9-2) at Calhoun (11-0)Westside (8-3) at Sonoraville (8-3)Class A PublicTrion (7-3) at Turner County (8-2)Class A PrivateChristian Heritage (5-5) at Athens Academy (8-2)
East Hamilton and Marion County had to believe they had played their last home games of the 2015 high school football season.
Two games into the postseason, though, both teams will be at home Friday.
East Hamilton will host Marshall County and, in one of four rematches from the regular season involving area teams, Marion County will return to its Bill Baxter Stadium against Tyner.
"Yeah, I thought we'd played our last home game. You hope but you can't live on hope," Marion coach Ricky Ross said after learning that Tyner's Rams had knocked off top-ranked Boyd-Buchanan, leaving the quarterfinal host role to his second-ranked Warriors.
Other repeat games have Rhea County going to Ooltewah, Notre Dame playing at East Ridge and Baylor playing Brentwood Academy. Earlier this season, Marion defeated Tyner 33-20, Ooltewah blanked Rhea 16-0, East Ridge won 14-9 over Notre Dame and Brentwood Academy beat Baylor 42-30.
There is something to be said for being at home rather than on the road beyond playing in familiar surroundings.
"There are a lot of nice things about being on the road, but the negative is that you go in debt," Ross said. "To me I'll take the stress of us painting the field and other things that go with hosting as opposed to the financial burden that being on the road creates."
Marion County, after splitting revenues with the TSSAA and Forrest High, whom the Warriors beat handily, lost more than $3,000 on Friday's game. The TSSAA takes 50 percent off the top of each game and the two participating teams split the other 50 percent. The home team then has to figure its expenses for lights, security, field preparation and other items.
Notre Dame won its first postseason game at home and then went on the road Friday to play at Upperman. While the Irish are not playing at home this week, they are playing only a few miles away.
"We'll probably use a school bus," Notre Dame coach Charles Fant said, "but it's nice to be playing in Chattanooga. There's so much planning that goes into going on the road."
East Ridge, which shut out Chattanooga Christian 28-0 in another rematch this past Friday, is one of seven unbeaten teams left in the state. Others are Hampton, Independence, Liberty, Maryville, North Point Christian and Wayne County. Calhoun is the lone unbeaten among area teams from northwest Georgia.
Being at home three weeks in a row in the postseason is a boost, even in a stadium where the home side stands have been condemned, as is the case at East Ridge.
"Obviously you go into the season and set the budget to buy paint for five games and now have had seven - same for security - but on the positive side you're getting three extra gates you didn't count on," Pioneers coach Tracy Malone said. "There has been some extra motivation when teams have poked a little fun at us for not having home stands, but it really hasn't been as big an issue as folks have made it out to be."
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.