Among the Chattanooga area’s public schools, the cluster of neighboring football programs in the rural Sequatchie Valley has already established itself as the toughest group and most likely to make noise once the TSSAA playoffs roll around.
That point was made loud and clear on Friday, when five of those teams — Bledsoe County, Marion County, Sequatchie County, South Pittsburg and Whitwell — had impressive shutout wins. All but Whitwell defeated opponents from a higher classification, with the combined five-game margin 194-0.
The early dominance is not a surprise considering the amount of experience returning to the majority of those teams. Sequatchie County brought back 17 starters from last year, while Marion County returned 16, Bledsoe County 15 and Whitwell 12. Among the group, only reigning Class 1A state champion South Pittsburg came into the season as an inexperienced team, with just four starters back for the Pirates.
Bledsoe, Marion and Whitwell all stand at 2-0 and have outscored those six opponents a combined 201-13. Sequatchie’s lone loss was at Bledsoe in the first week, making the Pirates’ season opener at Oliver Springs the only loss to a team outside the Sequatchie Valley by those five schools — and the quintet’s defensive dominance has produced several impressive stats.
Marion County, a Class 2A program, limited 5A’s East Hamilton to gains of 2 yards or less on 28 of 40 snaps (including 13 plays that went for zero or negative yards) and forced three turnovers. That came just one week after the Hurricanes had two players accumulate 333 offensive yards in a blowout win over Hixson.