No matter how much people protest and complain, a king remained firmly in power once Friday night’s prep football results were in.
South Pittsburg continues to reign as the area’s most consistent small-school program and proved why it remains the standard with Friday’s 56-0 win over Sale Creek in a matchup of state-ranked TSSAA Class 1A teams.
It was the 29th consecutive Region 3-1A win for the second-ranked Pirates (7-1, 2-0), and it leaves them needing just one more region win this season to wrap up their seventh straight league title. In all but one win in that streak, the Pirates have invoked the state’s 30-point mercy rule for a running game clock (their average margin of victory is 56-8), with last year’s 16-point win over Chattanooga Prep by far the closest contest.
During the same six-year time frame, the three Class 2A and 3A regions that include Chattanooga-area teams have had 13 different champions.
“I told our kids last week that we finally get to begin our 1A season,” Pirates coach Wes Stone said, referring to the fact his team’s first six games of the season were against opponents from classifications for larger public schools or, in one case, a private school. “I don’t know that I ever remember seeing that, where a team doesn’t face another team from the same class until their seventh game, but I think playing those tougher teams made us better.”