Because you always want to start the season with some sort of mantra – and apparently every school then prints that mantra on T-shirts – here’s a few bold prep football predictions inspired by the “go big or go home” mentality.
* Baylor (Division II-AA), Signal Mountain (Class 4A), Boyd-Buchanan (2A) and South Pittsburg (1A) will make this an unprecedented season for the area by all playing for state championships.
Somewhere, the coaches of those four programs just cursed my name.
Even without Mr. Football Jacob Huesman, the Red Raiders have a stable of runners and a guy in Matthew Oellerich who has loads of offensive experience. The defense should again be salty and Baylor will be playoff-tested long before the postseason since all 10 of this year’s opponents were playoff teams last season.
Signal Mountain’s point-a-minute scoring average will drop, but not by much with the talents of quarterback Reese Phillips, receiver Jon Patton and running back Tim McClendon. And while the Eagles’ streak of 14 straight games of scoring 40-plus points will likely come to an end with a nondistrict schedule that includes Tyner, Polk County, and South Pittsburg, no District 7-AA foe will come within 20 points of them. The biggest speed bump on the way to a second state title will be Greeneville, the defending 4A champ.