Scoring Points: TSSAA Playoffs are here

Copper Hill- The Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association State Playoffs have arrived.

In our Team FYN Sports coverage area, we have a few Tennessee high school football teams that we cover, but because of the close proximity, there is none that we cover more than the Copper Basin Cougars.

The Cougars started the year out on a tear, going 6-0 to start the season. Then they ran into some bumps on the road. They saw their star Quarterback Bryson Grabowski go down with an ACL injury. Then they saw his backup get hurt. Then they saw a rise in COVID cases in their school system, which led to them canceling the last two games of their season against Fannin County and South Pitt, respectively. They are set to play Clay County at home this coming Friday in the first round of the TSSAA 1A state playoffs.

My question was, what if these COVID concerns extend into the playoffs?

“We’re all very concerned,” TSSAA executive director Bernard Childress told the Tennessean. “We’ve been working the last couple weeks on the brackets.

“But looking at those numbers, we’re planning and planning and planning, but looking at those numbers, we’re very concerned. It’s very concerning.”

We have already seen teams around Tennessee have to cancel games in which the winner would be advancing to the playoffs. We have also already seen teams forced to miss the playoffs due to Covid-19 conflicts.

If Copper Basin would have ran into their positive cases a week and a half later, they probably would have been forced to miss the post season.

Its a scary thought.

This is becoming more and more of a big deal as we advance into the playoffs. All we can do is ask that everyone be safe and take the necessary precautions so that we can see our beloved teams play for a state championship.

Jake West