PREP FOOTBALL: Tennessee High learns playoff fate

Tennessee High completed a perfect regular season Friday night. Now, the second season has arrived for the Big Eight Conference champions.

The Vikings (10-0) learned they will host Seymour (4-6) on Friday in the first round of the TSSAA Class 5A football playoffs. Pairings for the 32-team event were released on Saturday morning.

“Looking at our bracket, I think we’re in as good as a bracket as we could be in,” said Tennessee High coach Greg Stubbs.

If THS wins its first-round game, the Vikings would play either Daniel Boone (8-2) or Morristown East (5-5) in the second round. Morristown West, Knoxville Catholic, Powell and
Sullivan South could be possible quarterfinal opponents.

Clinton (10-0) is the only other undefeated team in the 5A playoffs.

As for Seymour, the only common opponent the Eagles share with the Vikings is Daniel Boone. Seymour suffered a 12-3 season-opening loss to Boone, while Tennessee High throttled Boone, 51-26, two weeks ago. 

“[Seymour has] been 3A for a long time, but since they reclassified, they bumped up,” Stubbs said. “We really don’t know a whole lot about Seymour.”
Perhaps no team is playing as good as Tennessee High right now. The Vikings claimed the conference championship with a convincing 38-22 win over Sullivan South on Friday night.

THS built a 17-7 halftime lead and once again featured a balanced attack on offense.

“I thought the way we played in the first half is what did it for us,” Stubbs said. “I think we played really focused, we didn’t make any mistakes, we scored points and held South on
defense.”

It marked the third time that THS posted an undefeated regular season under Stubbs’ watch. The Vikings also went 10-0 in 2001 and 2004.

However, there’s little time to reflect on that accomplishment with the postseason here.

“It’s a sudden death thing now and if you don’t show up and you’re not focused and prepared, you’re going to go home,” Stubbs said. “It’s like another season, really.”

In the Class 6A playoffs, Dobyns-Bennett (5-5) travels to Maryville (9-1) in a first round clash.

In the Class 3A playoffs, both Elizabethton (8-2) and Sullivan North (8-2) will host first-round games.