Friday was a historic night for what is already the most tradition-rich section of the Chattanooga area as all five programs from the Sequatchie Valley advanced to the quarterfinals in the same TSSAA postseason for the first time.
Those five teams advanced across three different classifications as Sequatchie County rallied late to knock off Unicoi County 28-27 in Class 3A, while Bledsoe County also scored late to beat Happy Valley 21-17 and Marion County cruised past Oneida 35-0 in Class 2A. In Class 1A, South Pittsburg blasted Jellico 62-7 and Whitwell held off Cosby 54-46.
This marks the third straight season that Bledsoe, Marion and South Pittsburg have all reached the quarterfinals. Marion played in the BlueCross Bowl at Finley Stadium the past two years, winning its fifth state championship in 2024, while South Pitt is looking to reach the title round for a fourth consecutive season and sixth time in seven years. The Pirates, who won their eighth state championship last year to go with eight runner-up finishes, have never won back-to-back titles.
The key to such an incredible group accomplishment was having three teams — Bledsoe, Sequatchie and Whitwell — earn upset wins while playing on the road against higher-seeded opponents.
Bledsoe scored on a 9-yard run by Noel Smith with just 1:20 remaining to pull out a 10th win in its past 11 games. (The only blemish during that streak was a 27-0 loss to Marion on Oct. 2.) Prior to Bledsoe’s current streak of three straight trips to the quarters, the program had advanced that far just twice (1972, 1983).