1
0
The long wait is officially over. After eight months of waiting, Week 1 of the 2025 TSSAA high school football season officially kicks off on Thursday.
It’ll be a busy week for our crew as we have games spanning Thursday, Friday and Saturday night.
As it is every year, the first week of the season is full of intriguing matchups. While some feature teams from out of the area, many more feature all-area matchups.
We combed through the list of games and nailed down our top 10 for Week 1. Here’s a little bit about each one that made our list.
Spotlight Series Game: CPA at Oakland
Week 1 of the season gives us a plethora of great games but it also gives us a potential Game of the Year candidate featuring a pair of 2024 state champions.
CPA and Oakland boast arguably two of the state’s best coaches with Ingle Martin and Kevin Creasy. Between the two they have won a total of 13 state titles.
There’s also no shortage of DIvision I talent in this game either.
Oakland is led by a pair of future SEC talents in Ole Miss pledge Craig Tutt and Tennessee commitment. As for CPA, Alabama commitment Owen Cabell will look to make some noise against the Patriot secondary while Rawls Patterson sets up what should be a punishing ground game.
Antioch at Mount Juliet
If there’s ever a chance for the Bears to avenge last year’s 26-8 loss to the Golden Bears, this year’s meeting could be that opportunity.
Mount Juliet will be looking for new stars following the graduations of multiple standouts like Tyler Travers, Jon Mikael Crudup and Atticus Fiorita. Never short on talent, expect those new stars to shine immediately.
As for Antioch, rising junior quarterback Andre Adams continues to rack up Power Four offers. He’ll have plenty of weapons to target this year including senior Brandon Goliday.
Beech at Green Hill (Thursday)
If you want a hard-hitting game to set the tone of the season, it won’t get better than the showdown set to go down Thursday night on ‘The Hill’.
Beech will try to establish itself early on thanks to a punishing ground game led by ETSU commitment Chelton Swafford. He’ll have a massive offensive line blocking in front of him led by Penn State pledge Jack Fuchs.
On the opposite side of that the Hawks will once again be led by UTM quarterback commitment Kannon Burroughs. Army pledge Omeiza Daniyan anchors a defense that should be one of the best in 6A this season.
East Nashville at Collierville (Saturday)
Only a few area teams play on Saturday to kick off the season and one of them is East Nashville as they’ll take the three-hour trip out to Collierville.
The Eagles return a massive offensive line along with arguably one of the state’s best running back tandems in KJ Johnson and Kinnie Fuller. Rising junior quarterback Dallas Covington could also be in for a big year.
As for the Dragons, they enter the 2025 season on the heels of a 2024 where they finished 11-2 and made it to the state quarterfinals. While they did graduate quite a bit, this program is one that just retools and reloads instead of having to rebuild.
East Robertson at Liberty Creek
This year marks the third year in a row that the Indians and Wolves have started off the year against each other. East Robertson won the first two meetings by an average of 26 points.
Liberty Creek will have quite a few new faces set to make a name for themselves as the Wolves make the jump from Class 3A to Class 4A.
There’s no shortage of star power on the East Robertson roster this year. Whether its Tennessee four-star pledge Zach Groves leading the rush on defense or Kason Young and Cade Brooks lighting up the scoreboard on the other side of the ball, the Indians should be a force in 2025.
Hendersonville at Gallatin
Sumner County’s oldest-running rivalry hits game No. 74 this year as the Commandos make the 20-minute drive north to Gallatin.
Last year’s game saw Hendersonville hold on for the narrow 19-16.
The Commandos have several holes to fill this year while the Green Wave are looking for a bounce-back year in 2025. That bounce-back starts with VMI quarterback commitment Jackson Stroup.
Nashville Christian at Davidson Academy
Nashville Christian rolls in with one of the most loaded rosters in Tennessee, squaring off against a hard-hitting Davidson Academy squad.
The Eagles are led by the state’s No. 1 player and Georgia quarterback commitment Jared Curtis. They’ll also get a full season with TCU running back commitment TJ Ward. Last year Ward only played in four games after transferring in.
On the other side, the Bears debut new quarterback Ridge Holman, paired with dynamic wideout Joshua Bolden.
Pearl-Cohn at MBA
It’s private vs. public as Pearl-Cohn meets MBA for the 16th consecutive season.
While MBA has dominated the series as a whole, Pearl-Cohn has found recent success winning three of the last five meetings. Last year’s game was as dramatic as any with the Big Red winning 20-18 on a last-second 52-yard field goal.
This should be a great quarterback matchup as MBA senior and Southern Miss pledge Hugh Price squares off against rising junior LJ Funk.
White House at Portland
Historic and heated is the best way to describe the rivalry between Portland and White House.
The Panthers lead the overall series 29-28 and the last two meetings have been an indicator of just how close the rivalry as a whole is. White House won the 2023 meeting 7-6 while Portland got some revenge last year with a 21-20 victory.
Atlee Pond takes over as the Blue Devils’ new head coach and he’ll have a tall task ahead of him in Week 1. The Panthers bring back a solid core led by Navy pledge Avery Hughes as well as do-it-all athlete Keilen Dalton.
Whitehaven at Ensworth
A unique Week 1 matchup pits Whitehaven, an under-the-radar contender for the 6A title, on the road against one of the state’s best secondaries.
Minnesota pledge Justin Hopkins leads an Ensworth secondary that has no holes. However, questions remain on the front seven they look to replace standouts like Ethan Utley, Sam Haley and Brandon Collins.
Where Whitehaven will be at its best in running the ball. Their ground game is led by West Virginia running back commitment Christopher Talley. As a junior Talley averaged well over 150 yards per game on the ground.
You must be logged in to post a comment.