After 10 weeks of positioning, it all comes down to this. Region championships and playoff fates are on the line Friday night when Tennessee high school football’s regular season comes to a close.
Five of the eight regions housing teams from the Chattanooga area will determine their champion – along with the top seed for the postseason and the home-field advantage that comes with it – while another four regions have matchups that are essentially playoff elimination games for local teams.
Only the top four teams in each public-school region advance to the TSSAA postseason, while the top five in each Division II-AA region qualify and the top 12 overall in DII-AAA earn a spot.
No other area region has more questions to be answered than 3-2A, where the state’s most high-profile matchup – top-ranked Meigs County (8-0, 4-0) at fourth-ranked Marion County (8-0, 4-0) – will decide the league crown, while 2020 region champion Bledsoe County (4-3, 1-3) travels to Polk County (4-5, 1-3), where only the winner advances with the fourth and final playoff berth. Tyner is locked in as the third seed.
“We’ve got one of the strongest regions in the state from top to bottom, no doubt,” Bledsoe coach Dewayne Tabor said. “If you can just get into the playoffs, you won’t see anybody who’s any better than the teams in our region, so you’ve got a good chance to advance.”