ESPN 105.1 The Zone announces their ‘Zone Preps High School Football Game of the Week’ for the first four weeks of the 2019 season.
It is hard to believe that time of the year is almost here again, but the high school football season is now just 7 weeks away. With that in mind, the staff at ESPN 105.1 The Zone has decided on their games of the week for the first four weeks of the season. They will implement a ‘flex scheduling’ method after that, choosing the best game each week for the remainder of the season.
Week 1: Heritage at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe
Our first ‘game of the week’ of the season takes us down into North Georgia for an inter-Catoosa County rivalry between the Heritage Generals and LFO Warriors. For LFO, they are coming off their first playoff appearance in almost 10 seasons after finishing as the runner-up in Region 6-AAA. They have made steady improvement each season under Coach Bo Campbell, who enters his 5th year as the Warriors head coach, with records of 0-10 in 2015, 1-9 in 2016, 5-5 in 2017, and 7-4 last season. For the Heritage Generals, they made the postseason for the 3rd consecutive season, but struggled out of the gate to a 1-4 start. They closed the regular season winning 4 of 5 games to capture the 3-seed in Region 6-AAAA for the state playoffs, but still finished with an overall record of 5-6. Led by Coach EK Slaughter, who is entering his 6th season, the Generals look to bounce back to their 2017 form, which saw them win a school-record 9 games.
Week 2: Red Bank at Ooltewah
The week 2 matchup features two of the best public school teams from Hamilton County a year ago. Both schools spent little time breaking in their new head coaches last season. Chris Brown and his Red Banks Lions went unbeaten in the regular season, winning the Region 3-AAA title, and advancing all the to the State Quarterfinals before falling to Upperman. For Red Bank, the focus this year turns to replacing Tennessee Mr. Football Finalist Calvin Jackson, the Wofford signee who accounted for much of their offense last year. Ooltewah Coach Scott Chandler was exceptional in his first season as well, competing one of the toughest regions in TSSAA. The Owls finished as the runner-up in that region (Region 2-AAAAAA) with a 9-3 record. Coach Chandler will have to replace both of his leading rushers, RB Sincere Quinn, and QB Kyrell Sanford, but returns almost all of his offensive line.
Week 3: Whitwell at Chattanooga Christian
Week 3 features last year’s Class A State Champion, the Whitwell Tigers, making the trip over from Marion County to take on the CCS Chargers. Whitwell’s storybook season included an unblemished 15-0 record, two wins over powerhouse-rival South Pittsburgh, and of course, the state title. But their is a lot of unknown for Whitwell entering the 2019 season. Their Head Coach Randall Boldin left to take the vacant job at his alma mater Waverly High School. Travis Olinger, the team’s defensive line coach in 2018, was promoted to head coach. In addition to breaking in a new coach, this year’s Whitwell team will be replacing nine starters offensively from a unit that set several school records. For CCS, Coach Mark Mariakis enters his 4th season at the helm, and is looking to get over the hump. His Chargers’ teams have gone 5-5 in the regular season each of his first three years. They have made the postseason twice though. They will have to replace RB Mondo Ellison who graduated; Mariakis said Ellison “accounted for probably 85% of their offense” in 2018.
Week 4: Cleveland at Soddy Daisy
Week 4’s matchup will see us make the short trip up to Soddy Daisy as they take on the Cleveland Blue Raiders. Soddy Daisy is coming off of their first region championship in 22 seasons, winning the Region 4-AAAAA title, and a 2nd round playoff appearance. Issac Barnes comes back at QB for the Trojans after playing in several games in 2018. In total, Soddy Daisy has 8 starters back on the offensive side of the ball. Head Coach Justin Barnes said the defense “is going to be green a little bit” as they only return 4 starters. Cleveland is got a not head coach leading the way for the first time since 2015 after Scott Cummings’s departure. They hired Marty Wheeler away from Covington High School in West Tennessee. During his time there Wheeler went 40-7, winning 5 region titles, and finished as the state runner-up 3 times. The Blue Raiders are coming off a 4-6 season that saw them barely squeak into the 6A playoffs as a bottom seed. Cleveland graduated 23 seniors, and will have several starters to replace in 2019.
Written by Brooks Carter – Assistant Program Director and Host of The Local Zone (weekdays from 2-3pm on ESPN 105.1 The Zone)