Howard is 4-0 and one of a handful of unbeaten high school football teams in the Chattanooga area. Hustlin’ Tigers coach Alvin Tarver isn’t surprised, although his team is coming off a 2-8 showing last season.
“We could’ve been pretty good last year and we weren’t,” he said. “There wasn’t a day went by that I didn’t think about the season and how to get Howard football going again.”
He has, and he says it has been senior leadership.
“That’s the difference. We have some guys that are back,” Tarver said. “We have some seniors, and I knew if those kids stepped up, we could be a team that could make a little noise.”
The Hustlin’ Tigers risk their unbeaten record tonight at No. 1 Alcoa, which has won six straight state titles.
“Being 4-0 and playing them is a lot better than being 0-4 and playing them,” Tarver said with a laugh.
“Beating Red Bank [last week] was sweet. It let our kids know if they focus and do what they’re supposed to do, that we can compete.”
Howard actually was 1-3 going into the Alcoa game last year, but the Hustlin’ Tigers gave up more than 100 points in two weeks when they lost 62-14 to Red Bank and 49-0 to Alcoa.
“The kids and the coaches this year have been determined to prove that wasn’t the real Howard,” Tarver said.
Other area undefeated teams include Baylor, Bledsoe County, Copper Basin and Signal Mountain, each 5-0 in Tennessee. Calhoun (4-0) and Dade County (3-0) are unbeatens in Georgia, and North Jackson and Fort Payne are each 4-0 in Alabama.
Baylor and Bledsoe are off this week, and each spent the extra time preparing for a big rival on Oct. 1 – Baylor playing McCallie at Finley Stadium and Bledsoe hosting Sequatchie County. Calhoun also is off tonight.
Signal Mountain tries to avoid a letdown at pass-oriented Chattanooga Christian, and Copper Basin makes a short trip to Andrews, N.C. (3-1).
North Jackson had its closest game of the year last Friday (24-6) and might be looking for another offensive outbreak against R.A. Hubbard, while Fort Payne has scored no fewer than 38 points in any game.
Dade County might be big and beefy, but the Wolverines intercepted two passes and recovered a fumble in posting a shutout over Armuchee last week. They’ll play their first Region 7B-AA game at Gordon Central tonight.
Lawn chairs at CCS
The anticipated crowd Signal Mountain will bring to CCS tonight shouldn’t cause any major problems, Chargers coach Barry Loyal said.
“They played down here two years ago when both of us were playing JV schedules, so most of their fans know what to expect,” Loyal said.
And the Signal Mountain crowd shouldn’t be much larger than the 3,000 or so Polk County fans who followed their team to CCS a couple of weeks ago.
“We have the portable facilities, and the restrooms at the gym aren’t really that far from the football field,” Loyal said. “As far as seating, we open up the field behind the track. It’s roped off, but a lot of the folks in the past have brought their own chairs and been able to see just fine. Our people do a good job. There will be two concession stands available to [visiting fans] – one fully equipped right close to the stands and another behind the end zone that will have soft drinks and some refreshments.”
This will be CCS’s fourth home game.
Brainerd strapped
Brainerd’s Panthers have been short on personnel all year, dressing no more than 40, including freshmen.
They’ll be short at least two key players tonight when they face Knoxville rival Austin-East. Quarterback William Hughes and lineman Zayquan Powell will be sidelined with concussions sustained in the team’s 20-14 overtime loss last week at East Ridge. Powell had some swelling around the brain and spent Friday night in the hospital, Panthers coach Stanley Jackson said.
Meigs celebrates
He isn’t about to break out any Superman T-shirts, but Meigs County coach Curt Jones and the Tigers got their first win last week.
“I was doing everything but naked cartwheels on the field,” Jones said. “More than anything, that win gave the kids a shot in the arm.”
The kids showered him with the sports-drink bucket with more than two minutes left in the game and were immediately chastised.
“I said, ‘Hey, guys, act like you’ve done this before.’ One of the kids looked at me and said, ‘That’s just it, Coach. We haven’t done this much before,'” Jones said. “The thing that really helped us was the defense finally put a complete game together.”