Published: October 16, 2009 08:59 am      

OH GOOD GREIF: Football season down to the nitty-gritty

The 2009 high school football season is getting down to the nitty-gritty, as both CCHS and SMHS have two district games remaining and are still in the playoff picture.

Coach Mark Wattenbarger's Panthers (2-6, 0-3) travel to unbeaten Alcoa (7-0, 3-0) for a District 4AA contest Friday.

Alcoa is tied for the lead in the district with CAK (7-0, 3-0), who travels to Kingston (4-3, 2-1), while Loudon (5-2, 1-2) travels to Scott County (3-4, 0-3).

The top two teams become playoff eligible in 3A. In 4A, the team that finishes the highest in the final district standings becomes playoff eligible. If the two 4A schools finish first and second in the final standings, both become playoff eligible.

If the Panthers beat Scott County on Oct. 30, they will be playoff eligible.

Coach Russ Partin's Jets (2-5, 0-2) travel to Coffee County Central High School (2-5, 2-0) for a District 6AAA battle. Warren County (4-3, 2-1) travels to Cookeville (5-2, 2-0).

In 5A, the team that finishes the highest in the final district standings becomes playoff eligible. If the two 5A schools finish first and second in the final league standings, both become playoff eligible.

In 6A, the team that finishes the highest in the final district standings becomes playoff eligible. If the two 6A schools finish first and second, both become playoff eligible.

The Jets become playoff eligible with a win over White County and/or Coffee County.

After all of the automatic qualifiers are selected, the wild card teams will be selected from an assorted list of schools. This list has the following labels: overall victories; victories over teams winning 50 percent or more of their games; victories by opponents; fewest defeats by opponents; victories of defeated opponents; overall victories over teams in same class; victories over teams winning 50 percent or more of their games for teams in same class; victories by opponents of teams in same class; fewest defeats by opponents of teams in same class; victories of defeated opponents in same class; overall victories over teams in higher class; victories over teams winning 50 percent or more of their games for teams in higher class; victories by opponents of teams in higher class; fewest defeats by opponents of teams in higher class; and victories of defeated opponents in higher class.

CCHS has a non-district game left with Kingston on Oct. 23, which will be senior night.

The easiest way for CCHS and SMHS to make it to the playoffs is to win those district games, so those above things won't come into play.

••••

Speaking of winning, the Chattanooga Mocs are off to their best start since 1997 at 4-1, and are tied for third at 2-1 in the Southern Conference under Coach Russ Huesman.

Former Tennessee quarterback B.J. Coleman is the leading the resurgent Mocs, who travel to Georgia Southern Saturday, after beating Samford 14-7 last week.

The Tennessee Vols defeated the Georgia Bulldogs 45-19 last week and have a bye week to prepare for the Alabama Crimson Tide, who host Coach Steve Spurrier and the South Carolina Gamecocks.

The MTSU faithful will watching the Blue Raiders host the Mississippi State Bulldogs Saturday. The Blue Raiders want to rebound from last week's loss to Troy.

Vanderbilt hosts Georgia Saturday afternoon. The 'Dores are coming off a 16-13 overtime loss at Army.

••••

Fall sports in Cumberland County are winding down.

The SMHS Lady Panther volleyball team won the District 4AA regular season title and played at Alcoa Thursday night in the district tournament. The region tournament is next week against the District 3AA winner and runner-up.

The Lady Jet volleyball team was defeated in the District 6AAA Tournament Wednesday night at Coffee County.

Both soccer teams are wrapping up their regular seasons and will be playing in their district tournaments next week.

The Lady Panther soccer team finished with a school record 8-3-2 mark, after beating Loudon Tuesday in their regular season home finale. They finished third in District 4AA and will host Loudon in a rematch Monday at 6 p.m.

The Lady Jets tied Anderson County Tuesday 2-2 in their regular season home finale and traveled to Cookeville Thursday night. They will host a District 6AAA Tournament match next Tuesday night.

Last Saturday's SMHS at CCHS football game was a defensive battle. Both teams played through mistakes and on a soggy Holder Field, which was still a miss on Tuesday evening when the two freshmen/junior varsity teams played.

More rain is predicted this week. It will take a miracle for it to dry out in time for next week's home finale against Kingston.

Yellow Jacket coach Vic King was an assistant coach at CCHS in the 1970s, while assistant coach Billy Linville was in the 1980s.

SMHS has two more weeks for its field to recover for its regular season finale against Scott County on Oct. 30.

••••

With fall sports winding down, basketball and wrestling practice officially gets under way on Oct. 26. The Jets will be guided by Will Foster, while Josh Epperson returns for his third season as the Lady Jets coach, with Ron Cook coaching the Jet wrestlers. Blaine Moore will assist Foster, and Cub Whitson will help Epperson.

Coach Mike Buck and Neil Capps will guide the Panthers, while Tim Smith and Meghan Kunzelman will lead the Lady Panthers. Brian Parker will guide the Panther wrestlers.

Elementary junior varsity basketball tipped off Thursday.

Watch for the Chronicle's Winter Sports Preview in mid-November.

••••

When faxing sports news to 456-7683, please put my name on the fax. We have changed the way faxes are received. You may still e-mail your information to sports@crossville-chronicle.com.

••••

I want to thank Jim Butler for contributing for the story on the SMHS at CCHS football game last Friday night.

••••

(Ed Greif is the Chronicle sports editor and his column appears periodically.)