Here are the top five surprising results from last week’s high school playoff football action in the Greater Chattanooga area:
1. Wildcats break drought: Old-fashioned, tough, physical football helped Polk County deliver its first playoff victory since 2013 with Friday’s 14-13 road victory over Happy Valley.
The Wildcats rushed for 200 yards and had both of their scores come on 1-yard touchdown plunges from senior Cade Brewer and sophomore Jesse Holden. It was Holden’s fullback dive followed by his successful 2-point rush with 2:44 left in the third quarter that provided the difference.
Legendary coach Derrick Davis’ 5-6 team is led by senior linebacker Logan Baxter, who has produced seven games with double-digit tackles to go along with five forced turnovers, while David Lands (6-5, 270) has been a star on the offensive and defensive line, where he has over 30 pancake blocks to go with five forced fumbles and 80 tackles.
2. Minton magic: Having taken reps at quarterback each practice over the last two seasons, Hunter Minton was ready for the call to duty for Sequatchie County. The sophomore soared in his first varsity start at quarterback and threw for 333 yards and six touchdowns on seven completions in a 49-6 opening round home playoff victory over McMinn Central.
Minton became the first local quarterback to throw six touchdown passes since South Pittsburg’s Kamden Wellington accomplished the rare feat in a 42-19 win over North Jackson in 2022.
Sequatchie County (10-1) will host Central (7-4) in the second round Friday at 8 ET. The Indians could be looking to air it out again as the Purple Pounders allowed 365 passing yards in a 47-35 playoff victory over Watertown.
3. Resilient Purple Pounders: Central could have easily let off-the-field noise distract them early on this season, but instead a motivated bunch has produced an extremely memorable season.
The Purple Pounders have had the back of interim coach Glen Carter throughout the season, especially in a season-changing 26-23 region home win over Tyner on September 13.
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton/ Central senior Ronye Watson is two touchdowns away from reaching 100 in his prep career as the Purple Pounders travel to face Sequatchie County in the second round of the Class 3A playoffs on Friday.Senior Ronye Watson said coming into the season that one of the things he was looking forward to the most was his team getting to display its talent and have the hard work pay off in front of their home crowd for the first four games of the season.
The Purple Pounders have won five straight games in which they have outscored opponents 218-107. The winning streak has produced more wins than the program had last season when they narrowly missed out on the postseason.
An explosive offensive and opportunistic defense will look to continue to deliver in big ways on the road this Friday against Sequatchie County in what will be Central’s first second round playoff appearance since 2017.
4. Golden Eagles, Mustangs go down fighting: In a tough road venue, Rhea County entered the fourth quarter in a scoreless tie with Oak Ridge in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs.
Despite falling 7-6 to the Wildcats, the Golden Eagles delivered one of their best defensive showings of the season in which they also shut out Walker Valley and held Red Bank to seven points.
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Rhea County senior Keshawn Smith (21) had over 100 receiving yards and his seventh interception of the season in the Golden Eagles’ season-closing playoff defeat against Oak Ridge.Senior Keshawn Smith ended his prep career with a bang as he hauled in eight receptions for 102 yards while also recording five tackles with a tackle for loss as well as his team-best seventh interception of the season. Seniors Ace Robinson and Kaden Knox also combined for five tackles for loss and finished the campaign with 211 tackles and 22 tackles for loss.
Meanwhile, Walker Valley fell on the road 41-35 in a three-overtime thriller against Lenoir City.
The Mustangs overcame a two-touchdown deficit in the second half and took a 21-14 lead with just over a minute remaining on a 21-yard touchdown pass from Dosen Stum to Hudson Makuch. However, the Panthers responded with a game-tying score with 18 seconds remaining and ultimately prevailed despite a four-touchdown night from Roman Eulo.
5. Seahawks six-game win streak: Silverdale Baptist head coach Mike Connor has seen a world of progression in a year’s time from his team.
The Seahawks (9-2) have more than doubled their win total from last season as they won their sixth straight game and improved to 6-0 at home with last Friday’s opening-round Division II-AA playoff victory over Evangelical Christian.
For the fourth season in a row, Silverdale has rushed for over 2,000 yards with senior Landon Deitch leading the way with 1,165 yards and 14 touchdowns.
Not only are the Seahawks physical up front on both sides of the ball, but their passing attack has taken off under sophomore Connor Jenne. Over his past five games, Jenne has thrown for 15 touchdowns and zero interceptions while also adding four rushing scores. Jenne’s offensive line has provided him ample time to connect for big hitters to a strong trio of receivers in Cannon Rogers, Boone Perry and Tanner Bayne.
Silverdale will have another full house on hand Friday night as the team tries to provide the biggest win in program history in a state quarterfinal home game against Franklin Road Academy (10-1), which is ranked 12th overall in the state by MaxPreps.com.
Contact Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com.