McCallie’s Deangelo Hardy (10) tries to get past Baylor’s Grayson Panter (33) during the intracity rivals’ matchup last October at Baylor’s Heywood Stadium.BAYLOR RED RAIDERS (3-4, 1-2) at McCALLIE BLUE TORNADO (7-1, 3-1)
Storyline: The city and Division II-AAA East/Middle Region rivals match up again. McCallie has won the past two meetings (by an average of 31 points) and three of the past four after Baylor had won six straight in the series. The last time the game was won by single digits was Baylor’s two-point win in 2012. Since then, the average margin has been nearly 30 points. The Blue Tornado occupy the top spot in the DII-AAA poll and are coming off a huge upset of then-No. 1 Brentwood Academy last week, setting themselves up to earn the second seed in the state playoffs – and possibly even the top seed should BA defeat Montgomery Bell Academy next Friday. Dual-threat QB DeAngelo Hardy ran for 211 yards and a touchdown and also threw a touchdown pass in last week’s win, and the junior has nearly 1,800 total yards this season. Riley Jenne and Noah Martin are Baylor’s tackles leaders, and the Red Raiders’ Seth Johnson and Thomas Latimer have six tackles for loss apiece.
SOUTH PITTSBURG PIRATES (7-0, 2-0) at WHITWELL TIGERS (7-0, 2-0)
Storyline: Aside from county bragging rights, the Region 3-1A championship will be decided by the outcome. Whitwell’s only two losses last season came to the Pirates, including a regular-season heartbreaker in which the Tigers were stopped on fourth down inside the Pirates’ 5-yard line. South Pittsburg has won 28 straight in the series. This season, the Pirates have shut out five of their seven opponents, including each of the past three, and have given up just 13 points in all. Whitwell has been held to fewer than 41 points only once this season. Tigers QB Warner Ashworth has 1,404 yards of total offense and 19 TDs, and fellow senior RB Josh Wingo has rushed for 823 yards and averaged 10.8 yards per carry. Pirates junior Ronto Tipton has picked off four passes and leads the team with 534 rushing yards and nine TDs.
RED BANK LIONS (6-0, 3-0) at BRAINERD PANTHERS (3-4, 2-1)