Three area teams that earned first-round byes step on stage to join the TSSAA football playoff dramatics this week. Fourth-ranked Baylor in Division II-AA, second-ranked Signal Mountain in Class 2A and second-ranked South Pittsburg in 1A all host second-round foes, including Baylor’s Red Raiders at home against chief rival McCallie.
The Blue Tornado (4-6) traveled to Memphis and upset Briarcrest Christian in double overtime to advance to the second round.
Prep football playoffsFriday, Nov. 12TENNESSEE SECOND ROUNDClass 6AOak Ridge (7-4) at Bradley Central (9-2)Soddy-Daisy (7-4) at Riverdale (8-3)Class 4ARed Bank (7-4) at Maplewood (10-1)Class 3APolk County (10-1) at CAK (10-1)Sequatchie County (8-3) at Goodpasture (10-1)Class 2ABoyd-Buchanan (7-4) at Hampton (9-1)Friendship Christian (9-2) at Signal Mountain (10-0)Class 1ACopper Basin (9-1) at Sunbright (8-2)Moore County (7-4) at South Pittsburg (8-2)Division II-AAMcCallie (4-6) at Baylor (8-1)GEORGIA FIRST ROUNDClass AAAWoodward Academy (9-1) at Ridgeland (9-1)Class AAManchester (7-3) at Calhoun (10-0)Dade County (9-1) at Heard County (7-3)Class ATrion (6-4) at George Walton Academy (9-1)ALABAMA SECOND ROUNDClass 5AArab (8-3) at Fort Payne (11-0)Class 4AFlorence-Central (10-1) at North Jackson (11-0)
Although Baylor (8-1) defeated McCallie 27-6 on Oct. 1 in front of 12,000 fans at Finley Stadium, the score was tied 6-6 in the final minute of the first half before Baylor struck for a 52-yard touchdown pass, then dominated the second half. The Red Raiders held the Blue Tornado to 36 rushing yards on 24 carries.
“Our kids know we got a few breaks with turnovers and penalties to continue drives,” said Baylor coach Phil Massey, who noted that this week’s game will not be moved to Finley Stadium. “McCallie’s a good football team, much better than their record. To be honest, after I was able to get a film on Briarcrest, we spent last week preparing for McCallie because we felt that’s who we would see.
“I think the one thing you try to guard against is not putting too much emotional pressure on playing a rival. You want to guard against too much emotion. We know this is an opportunity for them to rectify an earlier loss to us, so we can’t go in thinking that we can just go through the motions because we beat them once.”
This will be the first time since 1997 that Baylor and McCallie have met in the playoffs.
Signal Mountain (11-0) hosts seventh-ranked Friendship Christian (9-2), which whipped Marion County 45-8 in the first round. Friendship’s Commanders have five shutouts this season and have allowed more than one touchdown only twice, but the Eagles are averaging 51 points per game.
“They’re fundamentally sound,” said Signal Mountain coach Bill Price, who used the night off to scout Friendship live. “They run a lot of formations at you on offense and play really good defense. We know we’ve got a tough game coming up and we can’t overlook anybody. We just have to take care of our business this week.”
South Pittsburg hosts Moore County, which avenged a regular-season loss to Eagleville with a 14-0 win Friday. Copper Basin (1A), Boyd-Buchanan (2A), Polk County (3A), Sequatchie County (3A), Red Bank (4A) and Soddy-Daisy (6A) all survived first-round tests and will travel this week.
Fourth-ranked Polk County (10-1), which held off ninth-ranked Tyner in the first round, will be at third-ranked Christian Academy of Knoxville (10-1). The winner of that game likely will travel to top-ranked, six-time defending state champion Alcoa (11-0).
Four Northwest Georgia-area programs also join the postseason as the GHSA playoffs begin this week. Ridgeland hosts Woodward Academy in Class AAA, while Calhoun hosts Manchester and Dade County travels to Heard County in AA. Trion will be at George Walton Academy in Class A.
Alabama’s playoffs also reach the second round this week with second-ranked North Jackson hosting Central-Florence in 4A and Fort Payne hosting Arab in 5A.