Hargis: Rhea staff to be commended for opening with Baylor

Rhea County's Noel Patterson slips past Baylor's Charlie Glascock during the season opener for both teams Thursday night at Rhea County High School. Few Chattanooga-area schools have been willing to play Baylor or McCallie since the TSSAA's 1997 public-private split.
Rhea County's Noel Patterson slips past Baylor's Charlie Glascock during the season opener for both teams Thursday night at Rhea County High School. Few Chattanooga-area schools have been willing to play Baylor or McCallie since the TSSAA's 1997 public-private split.

It was a gamble, but one Mark Pemberton believes will pay off once the prep football season goes from August heat to November's playoff chill. While some coaches prefer to play an easier out-of-region schedule, others believe tougher competition - and even an early loss - can benefit a talented team by helping identify the areas that need improvement for a deep playoff run.

Pemberton, who is doing a marvelous job of rebuilding Rhea County's proud program, is clearly among those who don't mind putting their teams to the test right away. By opening the season Thursday night at home against Baylor, Pemberton made a statement that he believes his team has the potential to equal last year's run to the state semifinals.

In a scenario eerily similar to last season's heartbreaking playoff loss to Knoxille West, the Eagles showed plenty of grit in rallying from a huge deficit to tie Thursday's game before a late scoring drive by Baylor was the final statement in deciding the battle of state-ranked foes, 35-27.

"There was some apprehension about agreeing to play because most of the private schools do have a distinct advantage, and that's speaking from experience," said Pemberton, who knows the other side's perspective from coaching for seven years, including a couple of state championship game appearances, at Knoxville Catholic. "Our first year here, we wouldn't have had a lot of confidence going against them, but we're getting our program built up where we can compete with really good teams like that.

"We knew they're very disciplined and do a lot of things well, so we wanted to have a good test early to see what weaknesses get exposed before we start playing region games and later for the playoffs. That's one thing about this year, we've got a lot of quality teams to get ready for, and we'll definitely get tested. Hopefully that'll just make us tougher."

But while Class 5A's second-ranked Rhea County left the game a bit more bloodied and bruised than it would have by kicking off the season against a lesser foe, its staff is to be commended for taking on one of the top teams in Division II-AA.

It's been rare that a Chattanooga-area public school has been willing to play either Baylor or McCallie since the public-private split nearly two decades ago, much less open a season against one of the city's two private school powers.

Since the TSSAA separated teams that give financial aid to student athletes in 1997, Baylor has won 30 of the 36 games it has played against Chattanooga-area public schools, including a streak of 24 straight victories. The Red Raiders haven't lost to an area public school since a six-point defeat to Rhea County in 1999, a season in which Baylor finished winless.

In the 36 meetings with area public schools prior to the split, Baylor was 26-10.

McCallie has been even more dominant against area public schools, going 27-3 since the split. The Blue Tornado were 20-10 in the same number of meetings with public schools prior to the split.

Because of those reasons - and the athleticism of players, depth of teams and size of the coaching staffs among the Division II-AA programs, which now resemble small colleges - meetings like Thursday night's game have become rare.

But hopefully more area public schools will follow the lead set by Rhea County and Red Bank, which will take the field against both Baylor and McCallie this season, and give those of us who love prep football a few more special games between good local teams.

"Our alumni and a lot of our players from this area want us to play more teams in the area," said Baylor coach Phil Massey, who spent 13 years coaching at public school Haywood County. "Half of our league games are in Nashville, so getting the opportunity to play local teams is exciting for us and a huge challenge.

"When you play a good team early, it helps show both teams what we need to do to get better and it creates more community interest and an exciting atmosphere for the kids to get to play in that type setting."

Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293.

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