Region 4-3A at a glance
* Team to beat: Upperman reached the Class 3A state semifinals last year before falling to Notre Dame. The Bees should have at least nine, and possibly all 11, starting defensive players returning.* Watch out for: Preseason prognostications — and recent success — seem to define a clean line between the top and bottom half of the region. Sequatchie County or Smith County could snag a playoff spot along with Upperman, DeKalb County and York Institute.* Best game: DeKalb County heads to Upperman on Oct. 23 with playoff situations likely yet to be defined on that night.Dream schedule: York Institute opens with three games at home against comparable competition. The Dragons also end the season at home against Smith County, which may be for a playoff spot.* Nightmare schedule: DeKalb County has cornered itself by opening with three consecutive road games. So the first home game could have crickets as the largest part of the crowd, or the crickets could be kicked away with early road victories.* Players to watch: Upperman’s Austin Butler is a 200-pound bruising runner. Trench-warfare lovers should enjoy Grundy County junior Barry Grooms as well as Sequatchie County’s Zane Swanger, who weighs about 240 pounds but will start the season standing on the sideline due to mono. DeKalb County junior quarterback Steven Jenning has earned such a quality reputation that one opposing coach said, “All I hear about is the quarterback at DeKalb.”* Predicted order of finish: Upperman, DeKalb County, York Institute, Sequatchie County, Smith County, Grundy County, Cannon County.
Grundy County High School has existed since 1928.
That’s long enough for five generations of one family to pass through the halls of the various buildings, most of that time in Tracy City but since 1998 in Coalmont, on state highway 56 near state highway 108.
Freshmen on the current football team will be around to see the 90th anniversary of the school.
“The story about this team is that we have a lot of players,” coach Casey Tate said. “Folks will need to buy programs to know who’s on the field.”
Most of the players will be newcomers to playing on Friday nights this season. Tate is new on the sideline, too, sort of. He played on the offensive and defensive lines or the Yellow Jackets before his graduation in 1998. He coached both lines as an assistant coach in 2011-13 and then started coaching and propping up the middle school program.
“He’s a hometown guy that we felt good about. He understands the community, and sometimes it’s more difficult for an outsider to build things back,” Grundy County principal Jamie Ruehling said upon Tate’s hiring in January. “He has a definite plan that includes how to run the high school, middle school and even peewee programs.”
Grundy and rival Sequatchie County are part of a new high school alignment: Region 4-3A. Other participants in the new region include Upperman, DeKalb County, York Institute and Cannon County.
Upperman, DeKalb County, York and Sequatchie are the unofficial favorites to reach the playoffs in 2015.
“I have about 55 young men that are kind of eager to work, and eager to taste a little more success than they’ve had in the past,” said Sequatchie coach Adam Caine, who also is new to his program as a head coach. “You always miss the senior kids who graduate, but I feel that here we have a good and talented senior class.”
Caine’s squad will be led by that group, which includes running back Brandon Rudd, two linemen and two defensive backs – all of whom have the potential to play next year at small colleges. Another senior, cornerback Brady Meeks, and junior defensive linemen Alex Meeks and Josh Hoback are playing for the first time.
“Some kids are hoping to make a tackle, but these kids embrace the physical part of the game,” Tate said. “For them to step in and make a contribution is helpful. If they weren’t there, we’d feel it.”
Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP.