Ryan Callahan

Once again, little changed Monday for the Maryville and Alcoa high school football teams in the state’s Associated Press prep poll.

The Rebels (8-1) remained No. 2 in Class 6A, pulling three first-place votes away from No. 1 Ooltewah (9-0) after a 30-0 win over crosstown rival William Blount on Friday at Shields Stadium. Maryville received two first-place votes last week.

The Tornadoes (9-0) held onto the top spot and 19 of 20 first-place votes in Class 3A after a 49-7 blowout win Thursday against McMinn Central (6-3), which slipped into a tie for 10th.

Christian Academy of Knoxville (9-0), which will play host to Alcoa at 7:30 p.m. Friday in a showdown for the District 4-AA championship, climbed to No. 4 after a 14-13 win Friday at Elizabethton, which dropped from sixth to eighth.

Here are the complete rankings for all six Division I classes and Division II entering the regular season’s final week:

Class 6A
Record Pts Prv
1. Ooltewah (16) 9-0 191 1
2. Maryville (3) 8-1 169 2
3. Riverdale (1) 8-1 147 3
4. Sevier County 9-0 112 5
5. Oakland 7-2 108 4
6. Blackman 8-1 98 6
7. Mt. Juliet 9-0 85 8
8. Farragut 7-2 55 9
9. Franklin 8-1 40 10
10. Brentwood 7-2 24 7
Others receiving 12 or more points: 11, Whitehaven 17. 12, White Station 13. 13, McMinn County 12.

Class 5A
Record Pts Prv
1. Tennessee (18) 9-0 198 1
2. Clinton (1) 9-0 171 2
3. Henry County (1) 8-1 142 3
4. Sullivan South 8-1 137 4
5. Columbia 8-1 111 5
6. Mitchell 7-2 82 9
7. Morristown West 7-2 55 10
8. Daniel Boone 7-2 46 6
9. Gallatin 7-2 40
10. Lawrence County 7-2 28
Others receiving 12 or more points: 11, Hardin County 23. 12, Beech 16. 13, Knoxville Catholic 15.

Class 4A
Record Pts Prv
1. Red Bank (19) 9-0 198 1
2. Crockett County 9-0 156 2
3. Giles County 8-1 150 3
4. Liberty Magnet (1) 8-1 137 4
5. Claiborne County 8-1 96 5
6. Creek Wood 8-1 83 6
7. David Lipscomb 6-3 63 7
8. Knoxville Fulton 6-3 54 8
9. Greeneville 6-3 49 10
10. Brainerd 7-2 41 9
Others receiving 12 or more points: 11, Spring Hill 23.

Class 3A
Record Pts Prv
1. Alcoa (19) 9-0 198 1
2. Milan 9-0 159 2
3. Polk County 9-0 152 3
4. CAK (1) 9-0 150 5
5. Austin-East 6-3 86 7
6. Camden 9-1 80 4
7. Gatlinburg-Pittman 8-1 78 9
8. Elizabethton 7-2 75 6
9. Goodpasture 7-2 55 10
10. Manassas 8-1 17
(tie) McMinn Central 6-3 17

Class 2A
Record Pts Prv
1. Trousdale County (12) 8-1 182 1
2. Boyd Buchanan (5) 8-1 178 2
3. McKenzie 8-1 142 3
4. Friendship Christian 8-1 133 4
5. Signal Mountain 8-1 108 5
6. Adamsville (2) 9-1 103 7
7. Hampton (1) 8-1 102 6
8. Forrest 8-1 61 8
9. Oneida 7-2 41 9
10. Cascade 6-3 22 10
Others receiving 12 or more points: 11, Riverside 15.

Class 1A
Record Pts Prv
1. Jo Byrns (14) 9-0 177 2
2. Wayne County (3) 9-0 171 3
3. South Pittsburg (3) 7-2 167 1
4. Grace Christian 8-1 132 4
5. Huntingdon 7-2 118 5
6. Union City 7-2 107 6
7. Lookout Valley 7-2 73 7
8. Collinwood 6-3 53 9
9. Harriman 6-3 39 10
10. Perry County 6-3 21 8

Division II
Record Pts Prv
1. MUS (18) 9-0 188 1
2. Ensworth 8-0 169 2
3. ECS (1) 8-1 117 6
4. Brentwood Academy 5-3 107 5
5. CBHS 7-2 96 4
6. Knoxville Webb 8-1 78 3
7. University-Jackson 8-1 60 9
8. Baylor 6-3 52 7
9. Father Ryan 6-3 49 10
10. Davidson Academy 8-1 48
Others receiving 12 or more points: 11, MBA 35. 12, DCA 18.

Senior tailback Jaron Toney once again stole the spotlight Thursday night at Goddard Field with 254 rushing yards and four touchdowns in Alcoa’s 49-7 rout of McMinn Central.

Still, others raved about junior quarterback Austin Tallant, who completed 5 of 11 passes for 96 yards and two touchdowns, including a 49-yard bomb to Steven Isom on the first play from scrimmage, in one of his best efforts of the season.

“Hey, Tallant’s come a long way in his first year (as a starting quarterback),” said senior tight end Tyler Robinson, who caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from Tallant in the final minute of the first half.

“I’m proud of him.”

Alcoa coach Gary Rankin said the Tornadoes (9-0) “threw it pretty well” in what appeared to be a concerted effort to fine-tune their passing game in preparation for next week’s long-anticipated visit to fifth-ranked Christian Academy of Knoxville (8-0) for the District 4-AAA championship.

“We can throw the football,” Rankin said. “We haven’t thrown it a lot in some games, but Austin’s got a great arm. He can throw the football. We’ve got people that can catch it.

“Missed a couple of chances deep there I wish we’d have hit, but we can be balanced a little bit with the throwing game.”

Staying focused: Alcoa players and coaches insisted they were not tempted to look ahead to next week’s game at CAK.

“I don’t think so,” Rankin said. “We didn’t talk about next week much. I mean, our kids are pretty smart, and they work and go about their business every day. You could tell, I think, by the way we played that we weren’t looking ahead or anything.”

But the Tornadoes are well aware of what’s on the line next week: an undefeated season and a district title.

“Oh, yeah,” Rankin said. “They know that, for sure.”

Long run: Toney admitted he was pleased with his 81-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter on his final carry of the game.

“Eighty-one yards,” he said with a smile, “you don’t get them every day.”

After breaking loose down the right sideline, Toney juked past the only remaining defender in his way just past midfield and sprinted into the end zone.

“I was just thinking, ‘It’s me and him, and he’s the only person in the way of a touchdown,’” Toney said. “That’s all I was thinking.”

Tyson OK: Rankin said junior fullback Taharin Tyson, who watched most of the final three quarters from the sideline after taking a big hit near the line of scrimmage on a first-quarter run up the middle, could have returned to the game if needed.

There was no concern, Rankin said, that Tyson had suffered a concussion.

“He could have gone back in, but there wasn’t any reason for it after we got control,” Rankin said. “He’s fine.”

Timely touchdown: Toney said McMinn Central’s first-quarter touchdown on a 40-yard pass from Zach Rayl to Josh Moss off a deflection by an Alcoa defender helped the Tornadoes regain their focus.

The Chargers (6-3) only picked up one first down in the final three quarters.

“I think (that play) did kind of wake up some people — our secondary and whatnot,” Toney said. “It just let them know that, hey, they’ve got speed. They’ve got hands. They can play.”

Senior salute: Rankin called a timeout in the final minute of the game to give Alcoa’s seniors a chance to take a bow on Senior Night.

The Tornadoes’ seniors all walked onto the field during the timeout and stood on maroon-painted numbers that corresponded with each player’s jersey number and stretched from one 30-yard line to the other near the home sideline.

It wasn’t the final home game for Alcoa’s seniors, of course. The Tornadoes could host up to four playoff games this year.

Alcoa and Maryville both held their ground in this week’s Associated Press prep football poll.

The Tornadoes (7-0), who enjoyed an open date last week, once again are the top-ranked team in Class 3A. The Rebels (6-1) stayed at No. 3 in Class 6A coming off a come-from-behind, 28-21 victory last week at District 4-AAA opponent Knoxville Catholic, which remained No. 9 in Class 5A.

Here’s the complete poll for all six Division I classes and Division II:

Class 6A
Record Pts Prv
1. Ooltewah (14) 7-0 174 1
2. Blackman (1) 7-0 148 2
3. Maryville (1) 6-1 146 3
4. Riverdale (2) 6-1 132 4
5. Farragut 6-1 108 5
6. Oakland 5-2 84 6
7. Sevier County (1) 7-0 74 8
8. Brentwood 6-1 63 7
9. Mt. Juliet 7-0 30
10. Franklin 7-1 29
Others receiving 12 or more points: 11, Whitehaven 27. 12, White Station 16.

Class 5A
Record Pts Prv
1. Tennessee (12) 7-0 176 2
2. Clinton (3) 8-0 155 3
3. Hardin County (1) 7-0 135 5
4. Henry County (2) 7-1 128 1
5. Sullivan South (1) 6-1 114 7
6. Mitchell 6-1 94 8
7. Columbia 7-1 72 4
8. Daniel Boone 6-1 69 10
9. Knoxville Catholic 4-3 39 9
10. Morristown West 5-2 25 6

Class 4A
Record Pts Prv
1. Red Bank (16) 7-0 186 1
2. Crockett County (2) 7-0 168 2
3. Giles County 6-1 144 3
4. Liberty Magnet (1) 6-1 130 4
5. Claiborne County 6-1 90 8
6. Brainerd 6-1 75 9
7. Creek Wood 6-1 61
(tie) David Lipscomb 4-3 61 10
9. Knoxville Fulton 5-3 25 5
10. Jackson South Side 5-2 19
Others receiving 12 or more points: 11, Spring Hill 16. 11, Greeneville 16. 13, Maplewood 13. 13, Whites Creek 13.

Class 3A
Record Pts Prv
1. Alcoa (19) 7-0 190 1
2. Milan 7-0 151 2
3. Polk County 7-0 148 3
4. Camden 8-0 126 4
5. CAK 7-0 114 5
6. Elizabethton 6-1 90 6
(tie) Gatlinburg-Pittman 7-0 90 7
8. Austin-East 4-3 45 8
9. McMinn Central 5-2 35 9
10. Goodpasture 5-2 28 10

Class 2A
Record Pts Prv
1. Trousdale County (15) 6-1 182 1
2. Boyd Buchanan (4) 6-1 170 2
3. McKenzie 7-1 148 3
4. Friendship Christian 7-1 126 5
5. Signal Mountain 6-1 103 6
6. Hampton 6-1 93 7
7. Adamsville 7-1 87 4
8. Forrest 6-1 63 8
9. Oneida 5-2 44 10
10. Cascade 4-3 8

Class 1A
Record Pts Prv
1. Jo Byrns (14) 7-0 180 2
2. Wayne County (1) 7-0 164 3
3. South Pittsburg (4) 6-1 152 1
4. Grace Christian 6-1 128 4
5. Huntingdon 6-2 120 5
6. Lookout Valley 6-1 97 6
7. Union City 5-2 85 8
8. Collinwood 5-2 62 9
9. Lake County 5-2 25 7
10. Harriman 5-2 15 10

Division II
Record Pts Prv
1. MUS (18) 7-0 180 1
2. Ensworth 6-0 158 2
3. Knoxville Webb 6-0 126 4
4. CBHS 6-1 125 7
5. Brentwood Academy 4-3 97 8
6. MBA 5-3 77 10
7. ECS 6-1 65 3
8. Father Ryan 5-2 49 5
9. Baylor 5-2 43 6
10. University-Jackson 6-1 18
Others receiving 12 or more points: 11, BGA 15. 12, Briarcrest 13. 12, FACS 13.

The Maryville High School football team jumped two spots to No. 3 in Class 6A in the Associated Press’ prep football poll released Monday.

The Rebels, who won state championships four of the last five years in Class 4A, are coming off a 38-0 rout of previously unbeaten Bearden, which fell from second to ninth in the 6A rankings.

Alcoa, which cruised to a 49-7 win at Kingston on Friday, remained No. 1 in Class 3A.

Looks like not everyone is impressed by 42-point beatdowns, though. The clearly unbiased voter who apparently has been giving first-place votes to Elizabethton all season is back, taking away Alcoa’s unanimous grasp on the top spot after just one week. Elizabethton (6-1) ended up with only one of the 19 first-place votes to come in at No. 6.

Here’s the complete poll for all six Division I classes and Division II:

Class 6A
Record Pts Prv
1. Ooltewah (16) 6-0 185 1
2. Blackman (2) 7-0 148 3
3. Maryville 5-1 140 5
4. Riverdale (1) 6-1 136 4
5. Farragut 5-1 102 6
6. Oakland 5-2 80 7
7. Brentwood 6-1 65 8
8. Sevier County 6-0 59 9
9. Bearden 5-1 39 2
10. Whitehaven 5-1 27 10
Others receiving 12 or more points: 11, Franklin 20. 12, Mt. Juliet 14.

Class 5A
Record Pts Prv
1. Henry County (14) 7-0 179 1
2. Tennessee (3) 6-0 160 3
3. Clinton 7-0 132 4
4. Columbia 7-0 115 5
5. Hardin County (1) 6-0 105 6
6. Morristown West 5-1 90 7
7. Sullivan South (1) 5-1 68 2
8. Mitchell 5-1 67 8
9. Knoxville Catholic 4-2 51 9
10. Daniel Boone 5-1 47 10

Class 4A
Record Pts Prv
1. Red Bank (18) 6-0 188 1
2. Crockett County 6-0 165 2
3. Giles County 5-1 143 3
4. Liberty Magnet (1) 5-1 142 4
5. Knoxville Fulton 5-2 102 5
6. Maplewood 4-3 70 9
7. Dyersburg 4-2 50 8
8t. Claiborne County 5-1 32
8t. Brainerd 5-1 32
10t. David Lipscomb 3-3 21
10t. Creek Wood 5-1 21
Others receiving 12, Whites Creek 20. 13, Jackson South Side 16. 14, Spring Hill 14.

Class 3A
Record Pts Prv
1. Alcoa (18) 7-0 189 1
2. Milan 7-0 154 2
3. Polk County 6-0 141 3
4. Camden 7-0 127 4
5. CAK 7-0 113 5
6. Elizabethton (1) 6-1 99 6
7. Gatlinburg-Pittman 6-0 81 7
8. Austin-East 3-3 41 9
9. McMinn Central 4-2 26 10
10. Goodpasture 5-2 15
Others receiving 12 or more points: 11, Smith County 14.

Class 2A
Record Pts Prv
1. Trousdale County (13) 5-1 180 3
2. Boyd Buchanan (5) 5-1 162 2
3. McKenzie 6-1 132 4
4. Adamsville (1) 7-0 128 5
5. Friendship Christian 6-1 114 1
6. Signal Mountain 6-1 100 6
7. Hampton 5-1 88 7
8. Forrest 5-1 49 8
9. Tellico Plains 5-2 20 9
10. Oneida 4-2 13
Others receiving 12 or more points: 11, Watertown 12.

Class 1A
Record Pts Prv
1. South Pittsburg (19) 6-0 190 1
2. Jo Byrns 6-0 165 2
3. Wayne County 6-0 152 3
4. Grace Christian 5-1 118 4
5. Huntingdon 5-2 116 5
6. Lookout Valley 5-1 84 6
7. Lake County 5-1 79 7
8. Union City 4-2 62 8
9. Collinwood 4-2 42 10
10. Harriman 5-1 21

Division II
Record Pts Prv
1. MUS (17) 7-0 177 1
2. Ensworth (1) 5-0 162 2
3. ECS 6-0 130 3
4. Knoxville Webb 6-0 117 4
5. Father Ryan 5-1 105 5
6. Baylor 5-1 90 7
7. CBHS 5-1 74 8
8. Brentwood Academy 3-3 38 9
9. McCallie 4-3 23 10
10. MBA 4-3 20 6
Others receiving 12 or more points: 11, University-Jackson 16.

A crushing 20-18 loss at District 3-A opponent Harriman might have cost the Greenback High School football team a shot at reaching the Class 1A playoffs this season.

Still, it was hard not to be impressed by the Cherokees on Thursday night.

Greenback (2-3, 0-2) reeled off 18 consecutive points to erase a two-touchdown, second-half deficit against the Blue Devils (3-1, 2-0) and take an 18-14 lead on Shawn Petty’s 67-yard touchdown run with 8:59 remaining.

The Cherokees’ fumble on a direct snap to Petty in the closing minutes allowed Harriman to pull out the victory on Dimitrique Inman’s touchdown run.

But as recently as two weeks ago, it would have been difficult to envision Greenback climbing out of a 14-point hole in any game, particularly against a likely playoff team like the Blue Devils.

The Cherokees opened the season with an ugly 26-6 loss at Class AA Meigs County. Then, after rebounding with a 24-13 win over Pigeon Forge in their home opener, they were on the short end of a 32-0 shutout in their district opener at Rockwood.

First-year Greenback coach Justin Ridge’s revamped offense, which has included a few pistol formations, struggled to move the ball. The Cherokees’ defense at times seemed almost incapable of making stops.

To his credit, Ridge believed his relatively inexperienced team was better than it looked at the time.

“That’s not us,” Ridge said after the Sept. 4 loss to Rockwood.

He apparently was right.

The Cherokees bounced back last week with a 48-14 rout of winless Sweetwater before pushing Harriman to the brink of an upset last night.

Against the Blue Devils, Greenback consistently moved the ball throughout the second half. Petty finished with 160 rushing yards, and fellow running back Ernie Stinnett added two touchdowns.

The defensive front also proved capable of slowing down Harriman’s productive running game and talented skill-position players.

Greenback now faces an uphill battle to make the playoffs coming off an 11-2 season last year under former coach Brent Kilpatrick. Two of the four Class 1A teams in the six-team District 3-A will qualify for the postseason, but Harriman and Grace Christian Academy appear to be the early favorites for those spots.

A wild-card berth also seems unlikely, unless the Cherokees manage to win four of their last five games and finish the regular season with a 6-4 record.

If nothing else, though, Greenback on Thursday looked like one of the area’s most improved teams since Week One.

That’s a good start.

Robbie Irwin only was trying to be helpful when he volunteered to fill in briefly as a scout-team running back during one of the William Blount High School football team’s practices last week.

He had no idea it would end up causing such a problem.

The starting senior running back was diagnosed Monday with a dislocated left shoulder, an injury he unknowingly played with last week in the Governors’ 38-35 home victory over winless Jefferson County.

Irwin still doesn’t expect his shoulder to hold him back Friday night, when William Blount (2-2, 0-1 District 4-AAA) visits new district opponent Knoxville Catholic (2-1, 0-1) in a long-anticipated showdown with former Govs coach Scott Meadows.

“I can do no further injury to it, now that they’ve got (the shoulder) back in,” Irwin said Tuesday.

“The only injury I can do now would be to do the same thing to it. And if I don’t land exactly the way I did, I’m not going to do the same thing to it. It’s just a matter of me being able to tolerate the pain.”

Irwin, who has accounted for more than 200 yards of total offense this season, said he was injured on a collision during a midweek practice last week.

He had stepped in as a scout-team running back during a team drill when no one else was available.

William Blount’s second-leading rusher this season behind quarterback Zach Witt, Irwin said he felt pain shoot through his shoulder at the time of the injury but had no idea how serious it was until he had it checked out Monday.

He expected to wear full pads for Wednesday’s practice after being held out Tuesday.

Irwin wore a shoulder stabilizer Tuesday, when he did some light running on the side during practice, and said he would wear the nearly unnoticeable brace Friday night.

Alcoa High School athletic director Josh Stephens confirmed Thursday afternoon that the Tornadoes football team’s District 4-AA opener at Loudon will be played as scheduled at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Alcoa City Schools canceled classes for the final three days of the week because of widespread illness among students, but Stephens said not playing a district football game — or even postponing it — was not an option.

One of Alcoa’s non-district girls soccer games was called off earlier this week, Stephens said, but the football team has not been affected by the illnesses.

The annual high school football showdown between Maryville and Alcoa brought out a smaller-than-usual crowd this year.

An estimated crowd of just more than 7,000, Alcoa athletic director Josh Stephens said Thursday, watched the Tornadoes end the Rebels’ eight-game series winning streak Friday night with a 41-24 victory at Alcoa’s Goddard Field.

Stephens said it was “a little bit smaller” crowd than the two teams drew in 2007, the last time Alcoa hosted the game.

Speculating on a reason for the decrease in attendance, Stephens suggested extensive rainfall that caused flash flooding in the area Thursday night might have kept some fans from coming to the game.

A forecasted chance of rain Friday night during the game couldn’t have helped, either.

In case he needs to play a backup quarterback at any point during Friday night’s season opener, Alcoa High School football coach Gary Rankin finally has figured out a way to decide on one.

“When I turn around,” Rankin said Thursday, “probably whichever one is standing the closest to me (on the sideline).”

Junior Austin Tallant will start tonight for the Tornadoes against Bell County, Ky., which won the Bluegrass State’s Class 4A championship last year. But neither senior transfer Ryan Stoutt nor sophomore Hogan Goodson has emerged as the clear-cut backup.

Stoutt was expected to be involved with some type of rotation with Tallant during the regular season.

Tallant now seems likely to take most — if not all — of the snaps.

“He’s going to play a long time before somebody else plays,” Rankin said of Tallant, a starting safety last season who also served as the backup quarterback behind then-senior Chase James.

Matchup problems: Rankin said Bell County presents a handful of potential problems for Alcoa, particularly with its power running game.

“They’re a pretty tough team for us to match up with,” Rankin said. “They can do some things that could hurt us. Running the football the way they want to run it could be a problem for us.”

Tornadoes senior tight end/defensive end Tyler Robinson reached the same conclusion after watching film of the Bobcats.

“We know they’re big,” Robinson said. “They’re going to try to overpower us on the front line, but they’re just not going to do that. We’ve got to try to stop them.”

Replacing players: Bell County lost 13 starters from last year’s undefeated team, according to the Middlesboro Daily News.

The Bobcats have only four returning starters on offense and six on defense.

New Heritage High School football coach Brint Russell now can turn his attention to his first spring practices with the Mountaineers.

Everything else finally is in place.

Russell and his new staff, which is finalized but has not been announced, have decided on the offensive and defensive systems Heritage will run this year.

On offense, the Mountaineers will work primarily out of a two-back, shotgun set. The defense will be based out of a 3-4 system but will feature the flexibility to switch to 4-3 and 5-2 looks.

The schemes on both sides of the ball satisfy Russell’s desire to have versatile playbooks.

Russell seemed particularly pleased with the offense he plans to begin installing May 4, when Heritage opens two weeks of spring practices that will run through May 15.

“If anything, I could say it’s probably running the ‘I’ from the shotgun,” Russell said of the new offensive system. “It’s that type of an offense. It just gives us a better chance of throwing the football, which we’re wanting to do a little more. It suits what we’ve got real well.”

He described the defense, which was brought in by his yet-to-be-announced defensive coordinator, as a multiple, odd-man-front system.

“It’s going to give us the ability to hop into a 4-3 or a 5-2 or what have you,” Russell said. “We want to be multiple, and a 3-4 gives that opportunity. (The new defensive coordinator) sold me on it, and I like it, so we’re going to implement it.”

Russell said roughly 75 to 80 players have been lifting weights and plan to participate in spring practice with the Mountaineers, which would represent a significant boost in Heritage’s roster size compared to recent years.

“Everything’s going great,” he said. “Lots of kids out, a lot of excitement. We’re just moving right along.”

The offseason conditioning program has been just as encouraging.

“The holdovers from last year are working extremely hard,” Russell said. “Our kids have gotten a lot stronger in the weight room. We’ve got seven, eight kids who can bench-press 300 pounds now. We’re getting strong and getting faster every day, working to get better.”

The Mountaineers will hold spring workouts Monday through Friday for the first two weeks of May. They will play scrimmages against Cumberland County on May 8 and Cocke County on May 15, both at Jack Renfro Stadium.

Russell said athletic director Chip Fuller will announce Heritage’s complete new staff “sometime here in the next couple of weeks.”