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TSSAA untangles gridiron playoff brackets

Complicated formulas that some coaches admittedly did not understand. Wild-card spots being awarded based on 16 different criteria. Schools in the dark as to the who their opponent will be after the final games were played Friday night.

It certainly is a new era in Tennessee high school football playoff history.

Despite confusion that prompted the TSSAA to issue an apology on its Web site Saturday, the brackets have been set — with several area teams being awarded a home game.

While Tennessee High, Daniel Boone, Sullivan South and Sullivan North play host in the first round next Friday, Dobyns-Bennett must go on the road to one of the toughest places to play in the country.

D-B (5-5), the No. 7 seed in the first quadrant in Class 6A, will travel to state powerhouse Maryville (9-1). The second-seeded Rebels, who had their 74-game winning streak snapped last season in the Class 4A championship game, lost to Alcoa in their season opener before reeling off nine straight victories in their first year after jumping to 6A.

In 5A, No. 1 Tennessee High (10-0) hosts No. 8 Seymour (4-6); No. 2 Sullivan South (8-2) welcomes No. 7 Powell (5-5); and No. 4 Daniel Boone (8-2) is at home against No. 5 Morristown East (5-5).

If South were to win, the Rebels would meet either No. 6 Knoxville Catholic (5-5) or No. 3 Morristown West (8-2).

No. 4 North (8-2) hosts No. 5 West Greene (7-3) in Class 3A, marking back-to-back playoff appearances for the Golden Raiders in one of the most successful two-year spans in school history.

No. 1 seed Elizabethton (8-2) hosts No. 6 Cumberland Gap (5-5) on the side of the bracket opposite North.

Two team from District 1 3A were given wild-card spots: No. 7 Happy Valley (5-4), which travels to No. 3 Gatlinburg-Pittman (9-1), and No. 8 Johnson County (5-5), which goes to No. 2 Austin-East (7-3).

In Class 2A, No. 5 Unaka (5-5) travels to No. 3 Rockwood (8-2) while No. 1 Hampton (9-1) was awarded a bye.

Cloudland took the only 1A playoff spot available in the combined Districts 1 and 2 Mountain East Conference. The Highlanders host Sunbright (5-5) despite finishing the regular season with a 3-7 record.

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