Breakdown of greater Chattanooga area prep football leagues

Arkansas-SEMO Live Blog

TENNESSEE

Division II-AA

Front-runner: McCallie (7-0, 3-0). The Blue Tornado have beat two previously unbeaten East/Middle region teams in Ensworth and Baylor.

Surprise: McCallie is the only unbeaten team left in the region while Ensworth, Brentwood Academy and Baylor have one loss each. One of Baylor's wins was over Montgomery Bell Academy, which beat Brentwood Academy.

Road ahead: It's a tangled web. After BA tonight, McCallie still must get past MBA and Father Ryan. Baylor has remaining region games with BA, Ensworth and Father Ryan, and Ensworth and Brentwood have yet to meet. All DII-AA teams advance to the playoffs, but the top two receive first-round byes.

District 6-AAA

Front-runner: Rhea County (6-0, 3-0). It won its de facto district championship game last week, scoring on a 62-yard screen pass to defeat Cookeville 28-27.

Surprise: Stone Memorial (4-3, 2-1). The Panthers already have matched last season's district win total with two games to play.

Road ahead: Rhea County still has district games left against Warren County and Stone Memorial, and nondistrict games against Soddy-Daisy and East Hamilton. Barring an upset down the road, it should win its second consecutive district crown and potentially be one of the top two seeded teams in the Class 5A playoffs.

District 5-AAA

Front-runner: Ooltewah (7-0, 3-0). The Owls have been dominant at times and impressive all season long, defeating their three district opponents 119-7. But even as Cleveland (3-4, 2-1) has struggled at points in the season, the Blue Raiders are right in the thick of the race.

Surprise: Picked last in both preseason polls, Soddy-Daisy beat preseason co-favorite Cleveland and has shown vast improvement in the second season under head coach Justin Barnes. Walker Valley is 1-1 in district play for the first time since 2009.

Road ahead: The Owls' biggest remaining challenge could be on Oct. 24, when they host Cleveland, which has beat them the last two seasons. The game could be for the district championship.

District 7-AA

Front-runner: Notre Dame (5-1, 3-0). The Fighting Irish moved to the front of the pack last week with a resounding victory over Signal Mountain.

Surprise: Grundy County absorbed a beating from Signal Mountain, but the Yellow Jackets opened district play with an overtime win against Sequatchie County and also defeated improved Chattanooga Christian.

Road ahead: Notre Dame, ranked fifth among the state's Class 3A teams, still has district games with Grundy and Sequatchie after a nondistrict game tonight vs. Polk County. State-ranked in Class 4A, Signal has a playoff-implications game vs. Greeneville, another ranked 4A team, on Oct. 24.

District 6-AA

Front-runner: Hixson (5-2, 3-0) for the moment, but Red Bank (3-3, 2-0) remains in the hunt.

Surprise: Tyner is winless and preseason co-favorite East Ridge is fifth in the seven-team league. A .500 season remains within Brainerd's grasp.

Road ahead: Hixson has an open date tonight but faces Red Bank next Friday before ending the regular season with district games vs. Central and Brainerd.

District 5-AA

Front-runner: McMinn Central (7-0, 3-0) served notice by beating larger county rival McMinn County for the first time in 26 years in the season opener and has been riding a crest of confidence since.

Surprise: Before 2014, Polk County (0-6, 0-2) was 49-9 against league opponents since the last time it didn't have a winning record in conference (3-3 in 2003). The Wildcats will have their first losing season since 2000.

Road ahead: The marquee game is Oct. 17 when Loudon (6-0, 2-0) comes to McMinn Central.

District 6-A

Front-runner: Marion County (6-1, 3-0). The Warriors have only one district game remaining, but it could be huge.

Surprise: Whitwell (3-4, 1-2). The Tigers have flirted with a breakout season, losing to perennial district champ South Pittsburg 29-28 and giving state-ranked Middle Tennessee Christian all it wanted before falling 36-30.

Road ahead: The biggest game left on the schedule is the regular-season finale on Oct. 31 when Marion travels to South Pittsburg.

District 5-A

Front-runner: Despite being winless until last week when it played its first district game, Boyd-Buchanan (1-5, 1-0) is now 16-0 against league opponents since 2009 when the TSSAA went to its current format for football.

Surprise: Copper Basin (4-2, 1-0) was a 1-9 team in 2013 and failed to win a district game.

Road ahead: Copper Basin plays at Boyd-Buchanan next Friday, and a Cougars victory would put them in control of the race for first place. Should the Buccaneers win, their meeting at Silverdale Baptist Academy (3-3, 0-1 with the loss 34-21 to Copper Basin) in the final week could again be pivotal like it was last season.

District 3-A

Front-runner: Knoxville's Grace Christian (5-2, 3-0) and Greenback (5-1, 2-0) are the district's only unbeatens. When they meet, the Cherokees could have some incentive, given they've been 31-9 the last four regular seasons with four of the losses to the Grace Rams.

Surprise: Meigs County (2-4, 1-2) is making strides under first-year head coach Jason Fitzgerald. The Tigers, who were 2-8 and 0-6 last year in their first season in this district, have won two of their last four with the losses being by a combined 12 points at Grace Christian and at 5-AA-leading McMinn Central.

Road ahead: Should the Rams and Cherokees win their district games tonight, the showdown will take place next Friday in Knoxville.

GEORGIA

Region 7-AAAAA

Front-runner: Dalton has taken control of the A subregion with a 3-0 start, while Kell and Sprayberry are each 3-0 in the B subregion.

Surprise: Though the Catamounts were expected to be competitive in their move up a classification, they have rolled to three 30-plus-point wins in league play and should not be tested until week 10. Dalton quarterback Payton Veraldi is making teams think twice before loading up to stop the run, and the Cats' defense has played as well as advertised.

Road ahead: Kell and Sprayberry likely will settle the B subregion on Halloween night, and that winner will, barring collapse, face Dalton for the region title on Nov. 7.

Region 7-AAAA

Front-runner: Figuring in preseason expectations, Cartersville (4-1, 2-0) is the team to beat, especially after a convincing win over Gilmer County.

Surprise: Off to a 5-0 start and 2-0 in league play, Southeast Whitfield is one of the surprise teams in the state. However, the Raiders' five victims have won a total of five games this season, so there is still much to prove.

Road ahead: There is much to be settled. Southeast has Pickens County (4-1, 1-1), Gilmer (4-1, 1-1) and Cartersville the next three weeks and likely needs one win to get a playoff berth. Ridgeland (3-2, 1-1), one of four teams at 1-1, has a big win over Pickens and could see its playoff hopes come down to a Halloween night meeting with Southeast. Northwest (3-2, 1-1) has Gilmer and Cartersville the next two weeks, and losses there would mean the Bruins have to beat Ridgeland and Southeast to get in the playoff hunt.

Region 6-AAA

Front-runner: As expected, second-ranked Calhoun (6-0, 4-0) has clear control of the region after back-to-back wins over Ringgold and Adairsville.

Surprise: It hasn't always been pretty, but Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe (3-3, 3-1) is right in the middle of the playoff hunt. But the Warriors will need to defeat tonight's foe, Ringgold, or Adairsville, Sonoraville or Calhoun to get in.

Road ahead: Sonoraville (4-2, 3-1), having lost to Adairsville, will get its shot with Calhoun tonight and Ringgold (3-2, 1-2) next week. Ringgold, having lost to Calhoun and Adairsville, can all but lock up the No. 3 playoff seed with wins over LFO and Sonoraville. North Murray (3-3, 2-2) is still in the hunt and has showdown games left with Adairsville and Ringgold.

Region 7-AA

Front-runner: Darlington (5-1, 2-0) has won its last five games.

Surprise: Model (5-1, 1-1) started the season with five straight wins before losing to Darlington last week.

Road ahead: Darlington hosts Coosa (3-2, 1-0) on Halloween and goes to Chattooga (2-4, 1-1) the following week. Gordon Lee (2-4, 1-1) and Dade County (1-4, 0-1) meet in the final game of the regular season.

Region 6-A

Front-runner: The closest game so far for Mount Paran Christian (5-0, 3-0) was a 17-point victory in its opener.

Surprise: Mount Pisgah (4-1, 2-0) rebounded from an opening-day loss to win its next four games by at least a touchdown.

Road ahead: Christian Heritage (2-4, 1-1) plays Mount Paran in two weeks. Maybe an upset can happen then.

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