By Ed Greif / sports@crossville-chronicle.com
The Stone Memorial High School Panthers are one of 200 teams to qualify for the TSSAA football playoffs for Division I and Division II, which begin Friday night across the state.
There are 302 teams in Division I and 31 in Division II for a total of 333 schools. There are 176 Division I teams (58.3 percent) in the playoffs, while 24 of the 31 Division II schools (77.4 percent) are in the playoffs, so 60.6 percent of all schools are playing Friday for a total of 200 teams.
Coach Mark Wattenbarger's Panthers (3-7, 1-5) earned their first-ever trip to the playoffs with a 20-7 win over the Scott County Highlanders (4-6, 0-5), who also received a "wild card" berth into the post-season.
SMHS travels to Livingston (7-3, 3-2), who defeated the Panthers 35-31 earlier in the season, while Scott County will travel to Maplewood (6-4).
All classes are divided into four eight-team quadrants.
In Class 4A, Red Bank (10-0), Maplewood (6-4), Giles County (9-1) and Liberty (9-1) are the top four seeds in each quadrant.
Of the 32 teams in this class, six schools have 5-5 records and below.
In Class 5A, White County (1-9, 1-4) will travel to Anderson County (7-3), a third seed in one of four quadrants. Had Cumberland County beaten White County last week, Anderson County would have been the Jets' opponent.
The top seeds in Class 5A are Tennessee High (10-0), Columbia (9-1), Henry County (7-3) and Lawrence County (8-2).
White County is one of 13 schools with 5-5 records or worse.
Cookeville (7-3) is a number two seed in Class 6A, while Coffee County (3-7) is a five seed. Cookeville hosts Franklin County, while Coffee County travels to Riverdale.
There are only three teams with 5-5 records and below - Coffee County, Millington and Memphis Kirby.
Class 6A may be the strongest of the Division I playoff brackets.
Class 1A has only 24 qualifiers, with several schools receiving first round byes - Knox Grace, Harriman, South Pittsburg, Middle Tennessee Christian, Wayne County, Jo Byrns, Union City and Huntingdon.
Monterey (5-5) travels to Eagleville (3-7).
That scenario repeats itself in Class 2A. Schools receiving byes are Hampton, Oneida, Boyd Buchanan, Cascade, Trousdale County, Friendship Christian and Adamsville.
Rockwood (8-2) hosts Unaka (5-5), with the winner playing Oneida in round two.
In Class 3A, Elizabethton, Alcoa, Goodpasture and Milan are the top seeds.
The other three District 4AA teams - Loudon, CAK and Kingston - received berths. CAK was the No. 2 3A team in the district.
Loudon travels to No. 3 seed Bledsoe County, while Kingston visits No. 2 seed Polk County.
York Institute (7-3), which defeated both CCHS and SMHS, is a seventh seed and visits No. 4 Sequatchie County (6-4).
I'm not going to discuss the Division II brackets.
When the first brackets were released Saturday, there were several mistakes, which the TSSAA corrected and then reworked the effected brackets.
I'm not a rocket scientist, but there is something is amiss when you have so many schools in the playoffs with 5-5 records and worse,.
With only 24 qualifiers in Class 1A and 2A, those teams with first-round byes are going to have a big advantage over the others and will be able to scout their second-round opponents.
Six Division I classifications and two Division II classifications puts teams in the playoffs and potentially more money in the TSSAA coffers.
The TSSAA will have to make changes in the playoff structure for 2010, but realignment of districts can't take place until 2012, which is predicted to end on Dec. 21, 2012, as Nostradamas and some others have prophesied. I only predict football games, not when the world is coming to its end.
If TSSAA member schools' enrollments change by 20 percent, they can request a change in district for 2011-'13.
We'll see what happens after the first weekend in December, when the eight championship games are completed at Tennessee Tech in Cookeville.
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Don't forget "Meet the Jets and Future Jets Night" at CCHS on Saturday.
The "Panther Preview" has been rescheduled for Friday, Nov. 13, as not to conflict with the SMHS Panthers' playoff game in Livingston.
Good luck to the Panthers.
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It was "tricks" and no "treats" for the Tennessee Vols on Saturday, as they defeated South Carolina 31-13. The tricks were the black jerseys or was it just the Halloween magic? Maybe they will bring them back again.
The UT-Chattanooga Mocs improved to 5-3 overall and 3-3 in the SoCon.
The Mocs went 5-6 and 3-5 in the SoCon in 2000 under former coach Donnie Kirkpatrick, and need a win at Appalachian State on Saturday for their first winning season since a 6-5 mark in 2005 under former coach Rodney Allison.
Vanderbilt fell to 2-7 after their 56-31 loss to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. It looks like no bowl game for the 'Dores this year.
The Mocs close out their regular season on Nov. 21 at Alabama.
The MTSU Blue Raiders host Florida International Saturday afternoon in a Sunbelt Conference game, while the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles go to Georgia and face an angry Bulldog team, who lost to Florida in Jacksonville on Saturday.
(Ed Greif is the Chronicle sports editor and his column appears regularly.)
