The greatest success story from the 2020 high school football season is that there was a season at all.
Despite detractors calling for the season to be canceled before it had even kicked off, teams across Tennessee and Georgia found a way to push through the difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic as those in charge of each state's prep sports governing body believed the positives teenagers gain from team sports outweighed the concerns.
Despite numerous cancellations and postponements, the TSSAA and the GHSA were able to hold all of their state championship games and were also able to honor their state's top individual players.
But since those title games, the only constant for prep football across the Chattanooga area has been change. So with a new season beginning, here's a quick primer on some of those significant changes and what to watch for this fall:
* Ten area programs made head coaching changes, including perennial playoff powers Dalton, South Pittsburg and Tyner, which along with Ooltewah actually had to make a change twice in the offseason.
* The TSSAA awarded Chattanooga hosting rights for the next two BlueCross Bowls - the three-day state championship extravaganza in which nine classifications will crown champions in December.
* After winning the past two Division II-AAA state titles, McCallie will attempt to become the fourth program in the 24-year history of the TSSAA's private division to win three consecutive championships.
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / McCallie's Weston Hammond runs the ball during a Best of Preps Jamboree matchup with Tyner last Friday at Finley Stadium. McCallie is trying to continue its reign in TSSAA Division II-AAA by winning a third straight state championship this season.* Because of small numbers on its roster - around 19 players - Grace Academy opted to switch to eight-man football. The Easter tornadoes that swept across the area in April 2020 leveled the entire Grace campus. Looking for a way for its football program to tread water until the school's athletic facilities can be rebuilt, administrators made the decision to switch to the Tennessee State Independent Athletic Association's eight-man game. The Golden Eagles join nine other small schools across the state that compete in the modified game.
* More than 40 games involving Chattanooga-area teams were canceled due to the coronavirus last season. Only six of the area's 35 TSSAA teams made it through the entire season without having at least one game canceled, with Red Bank and South Pittsburg each losing three regular-season contests, which cost as much as $40,000 in lost revenue for those programs.
The toughest cancellations happened during a three-week stretch in the playoffs when Howard, Chattanooga Christian and McMinn County all had their seasons ended before stepping on the field for that week's game. Already this season, Silverdale Baptist Academy's opener at East Ridge, which was scheduled for Friday, has been postponed to Oct. 15 because of coronavirus contact tracing back to an East Ridge team member.
* The TSSAA reclassifies member schools every four years based on enrollment, with a new set of regions being set last winter. Among the biggest changes were two area regions becoming significantly tougher as Red Bank moved up one class and Soddy-Daisy dropped down one to join East Hamilton in what will be a very competitive Region 3-4A. Red Bank's Lions, who have won 22 of their past 23 region games, and Soddy-Daisy's Trojans each had multiple titles in their previous leagues.
Meanwhile, 3-2A is arguably the toughest small-school league in the state as Meigs County, which has finished as state runner-up each of the past two seasons, joins perennial powers Marion County and Tyner, as well as Bledsoe County, which won the region last year for the first time in a decade.
Meigs moved over from 2-2A, where the Tigers had won 16 straight league games by an average of 29 points. Between Meigs - which has compiled a 62-7 overall record the past five years - Marion and Tyner, at least one of those teams has reached a state title game in six of the past seven seasons.
* All three schools in Marion County - Marion, South Pittsburg and Whitwell - have played for a state championship during the past five years, with at least one team from that county appearing in a title game in nine of the past 12 seasons. Both Marion's Warriors and South Pittsburg's Pirates - who have won 25 of their past 26 region games by an average of 45 points - are again among state favorites.
* While East Hamilton and Red Bank are on the short list of teams expected to make a deep run in the 4A playoffs, both will need to overcome a lengthy drought for Chattanooga-area public schools competing in the larger classes. No area public school has gotten past the semifinal round in any classification above 2A since Red Bank won the 5A title in 2000. Since then, the Lions (3A), Ooltewah (6A) and Rhea County (5A) have all reached the semifinals but no further.
Area small schools have enjoyed much greater success as five teams - Marion (2014-16), Signal Mountain (2010), South Pittsburg (2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2020), Tyner (2017) and Whitwell (2018) - have played for championships in 1A or 2A.
* Chattanooga Christian must replace the players responsible for 96% of last season's offensive production as well as its two leading tacklers. The Chargers enter the season with the largest roster in program history at 65 players, but only five of those are seniors, and coach Mark Mariakis could start as many as five freshmen and five sophomores on both sides of the ball.
* All six of the area's players who earned Tennessee Mr. Football semifinalist honors in 2020 - as well as all but six of the 90 total Times Free Press Best of Preps selections from last season - have graduated. That includes McMinn County running back Jalen Hunt, who led the state with 2,161 rushing yards, McCallie's B.J. Harris - who is now in the rotation at Missouri - Baylor athlete Elijah Howard, Meigs County running back Will Meadows and South Pittsburg offensive lineman Jared Stone and running back Hunter Frame, the area's lone winner of the Mr. Football award.
That means the stage is clear for a completely new list of stars to step up and claim their share of the state's spotlight.
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.