After a disjointed weekend of football spread out over three long, humid, rain-soaked nights, I’ve finally gotten around to looking at some notable things from Week 2.
Can we dry out a little, please?: Mother Nature is going all 2020 on us, and quite honestly, I’m not here for it. We’ve had one good night where weather was not an issue, and it was way back on opening night on Aug. 20. We generally get a couple of wet Fridays a season, and we’ve had four wet game nights in 10 days. What’s next? Wait, I probably shouldn’t ask that this year.
Blast off!: Congratulations to Rick Rice and the Rockets (would be a great band name, by the way) for earning the first win in Rockvale’s program history on Thursday. It was only a matter of time before they broke through, and it’ll be interesting to see how much they can improve their record this year.
We’ll start learning about some teams this week: 2-0 starts are great, but sometimes it isn’t until region play begins that we get a real feel on some teams. A few of those I think fall under that category in Week 3 are Columbia, White House Heritage, Goodpasture, Pope John Paul II and Brentwood Academy. All five of them have tough region opponents this coming week and will be on a better track than last season if they win. La Vergne hosts Beech in a non-region game, so the Wolverines will have a tough test on their hands.
And we learned something about a few others: Middle Tennessee Christian’s first-ever victory over Friendship Christian sent a shock wave through that region and boosts the Cougars into contender status. Their next chance to improve their profile comes when they travel to Donelson Christian Academy on Sept. 11. Macon County held off Westmoreland to improve to 2-0 for the first time since 2016, which was the last year they won a playoff game. They draw Mt. Juliet Christian at home and a win would give the Tigers their first 3-0 start since 2002. Depending on which team they get to replace Glencliff on Sept. 11, they could reasonably be 5-0 when they travel to Trousdale County on Sept. 25.
Tough starts: It hasn’t been a great two weeks for Blackman, struggling offensively in losses at Alcoa and Ravenwood. They have a chance to get rolling this week, coming home for the first of four consecutive games on their turf as Coffee County pays a visit. DeKalb County is 0-2 after close losses to Warren County and Upperman, but the Tigers can jump start their region efforts this week at Stone Memorial. Nashville Christian needs a boost after falling at USJ and Goodpasture to begin the season, but their schedule doesn’t ease up yet – they visit defending Division II-A state champ Davidson Academy this week.
Welcome back, Clarksville: Barring any setbacks, Montgomery County schools are set to join the fray in Week 3. Clarksville travels to Stewarts Creek, Kenwood visits Northeast, Montgomery Central hosts Portland, Rossview hits the road to face Wilson Central, and West Creek heads to Northwest.