Signal Mountain’s 2011 football opponents will have a different look in the regular season and the postseason.
The Eagles know they’re moving out of District 6-A, which they won this year, and school officials think they are headed into District 7-AA.
“It could change, I’m sure, but I feel pretty confident that’s where we’ll be,” Signal Mountain coach Bill Price said.
Because of an increase of more than 20 percent in their student enrollment, the Eagles will be classified as a Class 3A team rather than Class 2A. However, they have elected to bypass Class 3A and compete for a spot in the Class 4A playoffs.
If they move to 7-AA their district foes would be Bledsoe County, Chattanooga Christian, Grundy County, Notre Dame and Sequatchie County.
“There are good football teams, and most of them have a lot of tradition and great fan support,” Price said. “We’ve had difficult games with Sequatchie and we have played CCS.”
The Eagles plan to keep 6-A rival South Pittsburg and East Hamilton on the schedule and will add Polk County and Tyner, this season’s District 5-AA and 6-AA champions.
The undefeated Eagles (10-0) are hosting Friendship Christian tonight in a 2A round-of-16 game after receiving a bye last week.
There had been talk that East Hamilton also had grown enough to be moved up.
“To my knowledge we’re staying where we are,” Hurricanes coach Ted Gatewood said after attending a District 6-AA football coaches meeting earlier this week.
East Hamilton’s grades 9-12 enrollment was slightly more than 900 last year and was listed at 1,052 after school began this year. Gatewood has beefed up the 2011 schedule with the additions of Bradley Central and likely Ooltewah.
Ooltewah has had enough of an enrollment decrease that the Owls are dropping a classification for football. They’ll remain in District 5-AAA, but for the playoffs their postseason will be Class 5A rather than 6A.
The Hurricanes have yet to play a true home game because they have no lights. The original delay arose from a stall in fundraising, and now the delay appears to be outside the school or its fundraising organizations.
“It seems as if funding is close,” athletic director Brad Jackson said. “We’re waiting on final paperwork and final approval from the [Hamilton County] central office and the school board.”
Polk’s ‘Toot’ bus
Polk County coach Derrick Davis got one charter bus for the Wildcats’ trip to Christian Academy of Knoxville and seats were given in a pecking order beginning with the head coach and the starters. Those who don’t get on the charter bus will have seats on what Davis calls the “toot” bus, a regular school bus.
“I picked that up from John Chavis when I was at UT. He used to call all the young guys rootie-tooties, and I guess it rubbed off after hearing it for five years,” Davis said.
The Polk starters went to dinner Thursday night at the Golden Corral in Cleveland.
“I have been promising the guys for a while, and we kept having to put it off,” Davis said. “It’s a reward for the guys who have gotten us where we are. They’re looking forward to it, almost as much as some of our assistant coaches.”
CAK’s Vols connection
CAK coach Rusty Bradley is the son of former Tennessee tight ends and offensive line coach Mark Bradley. He also has several former Volunteers on his coaching staff, including UT offensive lineman Jarvis Reado, defensive back Fred White and kicker Jeff Hall.
“And I’m sure Mark is either on the staff or helping out a bunch,” said Polk’s Davis.
Turf benefits Ridgeland
A year ago the Ridgeland Panthers were celebrating their second region championship in a row and were preparing to host a first-round playoff game. However, several days of rain forced the movement of the game to Finley Stadium, costing the Panthers more than home-field advantage.
“A typical first-round playoff game probably will bring in $7,000-8,000 after expenses,” said Ridgeland coach Mark Mariakis, whose team has benefited this year from the school’s state-of-the-art field turf. “Last year, after having to take the Finley rent out of our cut, we might have broke even. That really cost us a lot of revenue. It’s nice this year to know we can host a playoff game and not have to travel.”
Griffith’s status unclear
Calhoun’s Adam Griffith, rated one of the top junior kickers in the nation by scouting services, may miss tonight’s Georgia Class AA playoff opener against Manchester with what coach Hal Lamb described as a lingering back injury.
“It’s nothing serious, really just overuse, but it’s been bothering him all year,” Lamb said. “He just needs a little time off, and I believe he’ll be back next week if he doesn’t play tonight.”
Senior Hector Flores will handle the kicking duties if Griffith, who has collegiate offers from Alabama, LSU and Vanderbilt, is unable to do so.