We are 1/5 of the way through the season for most teams in the area. That means that we are starting to separate the contenders from the pretenders. This is the week that officially starts to happen for some select teams. Some of the teams that made the cut this week are off to bad starts because of tough schedules, and others are off to great starts (possibly) because of easier schedules. With most teams playing region games this week, there is little margin for error. We will all know a lot more about which of these teams have a chance to play football deep into November based on how they fare in some of these match-ups. It’s still early, but we’ve also reached a point in the season when inexperience or early season jitters are no longer an excuse. It wasn’t tough for me to choose these five games but it was difficult to order them. Here is what I came up with for Week 3.
My 5 games of the week in order:
1) Hendersonville (2-0) @ Cane Ridge (2-0)
This is the biggest game of the week and I don’t think there is a close second. Hendersonville is, well, Hendersonville. The Commandos have rolled up a ton of yards with their throwback Wing-T offense and dominated two 6A teams (McGavock and Siegel). Meanwhile, Coach Eddie Woods’ Cane Ridge team returned 20 starters from last year’s team that finished the regular season 8-2. The Ravens started the season by playing up a classification and beating 6A Antioch and Mt. Juliet. Also consider how close these two teams are in terms of points scored for and against. Hendersonville is 62-16 and Cane Ridge is 66-19. It doesn’t get any closer than this one. TV cameras will be headed to Cane Ridge for the first time in school history as MyTV30 will broadcast their “Friday Night Rivals” game from the Home of the Ravens tonight. They struck gold with this one. Brent Dougherty and Jonathan Hutton are on the call. The fun starts at 7pm.
2) Stratford (2-0) @ East Nashville (1-1)
The biggest game in Metro comes in at #2 this week. It’s impossible not to like what Maurice Fitzgerald has done in resurrecting the Stratford program. The Spartans went 8-2 in his first year and are well on their way to a similar record in 2016. Led by Hendersonville transfer and, as of today, new Memphis commit T.J. Carter, Stratford has some firepower on offense and a stingy dfense. How stingy? The Spartans have yet to surrender a single point through two games. East Nashville and Coach Brian Waite had high expectations coming into this season and rightfully so. Led on defense by D-1 prospect Jacob Phillips, the Eagles have the talent and coaching leadership to make a deep postseason run. After a hard fought setback against Maplewood a week ago, East Nashville will be ready for this one tonight.
3) Watertown (2-0) @ Cascade (1-1)
It’s time this was written in print. WATERTOWN IS FOR REAL. There’s no skirting the issue anymore. The Purple Tigers can play. They have a talented, veteran QB in Seth Price and a dominating lineman in Rusty Staats (Air Force commit). Talking with Coach Gavin Webster’s on this week’s “High School Football Hour”, you can tell he really likes this team. And he should. Watertown looks like a serious contender in 2A after dominating wins over Gordonsville and Davidson Academy. The Champions of Cascade always put up a fight at home. Will that be enough to pull off an upset over Watertown?
4) Franklin (1-1) @ Overton (1-1)
Overton finds themselves in the 4 hole for a second straight week. The Bobcats hope they fare better than a week ago when I had them in this spot against Marshall County. Overton dropped that one 33-19. Franklin lost a wild one in Week 1 to Williamson County rival Centennial but bounced back nicely in Week 2 with a win over a solid Riverdale squad. Frankly, I’m not overly impressed with any team in Region 3-6A in the early going. The Region appears to be wide open and I’m not sure that’s a compliment to the quality of the league. It’s more a look at how slightly above average these teams look going into Week 3. Wilson Central has been the most impressive team thus far and they have perennial cellar dweller Antioch this week. I’m picking Franklin @ Overton over Ravenwood @ Mt. Juliet but it was close. Will anyone start to separate and impress in this region? Why not Franklin or Overton? These are questions I ask myself going into tonight. Hopefully, the outcome of this match-up will start to answer some of those questions.
5) CPA (0-2) @ White House-Heritage (2-0)
CPA is 0-2 after a brutal two week stretch to start the season. White House-Heritage was 0-2 against CPA last year. This is an enormous Region 5-3A game for both teams. For White House-Heritage, it’s the possibility of validation after a great start to the season. The Patriots opened 2016 by beating rival White House and then defeated defending 1A state champion Nashville Christian. CPA, on the other hand, has a different taste in their mouth after a 32-7 loss to Parkview (GA) and a 45-0 beat down at the hands of Knoxville Catholic. This is unchartered territory for Ingle Martin and his CPA program. This is a young Lions team that’s replacing a ton of talent from a team that went to back-to-back state championship games. I’m not counting CPA out just yet. This is a golden opportunity to show that they can still contend for a region title.
