Here are the five biggest surprises from the first full week of high school football in the Greater Chattanooga area:
1. All hands on deck
With just three offensive and one defensive starter returning from last year’s 15-0 Class 1A state championship, plus none of the four seniors on the roster having played a down for last year’s team, South Pittsburg was expected to take a step back. However, nobody expected the level of struggling the team experienced in its 20-point loss at Oliver Springs. The Pirates — who had beaten the Bobcats twice last season, including a 25-point road win in the semifinals — managed just 117 yards of total offense, lost two of their four fumbles and were called for 10 penalties.
2. Mariakis magic
With his history of building programs, Signal Mountain was expected to show improvement in Mark Mariakis’ first season. But the level of progress in the 45-29 thumping of McMinn Central was eye-catching. The Eagles scored 28-plus points only three times all of last season but jumped out to a 28-0 lead in the first quarter of last week’s opener on the road. The tried-and-true wing-T that Mariakis has utilized to a good amount of success — including when he guided Ridgeland to the 2012 Georgia Class 4A title game — was humming from the get-go as Bo Cooper totaled 280 yards and Cash Keene threw for 197.