George Quarles
MURFREESBORO – Maryville and Oakland met a season ago at Ray Hughes Stadium the day after Thanksgiving.
Coaches statewide believe that matchup could happen again in 2015.
Maryville and Oakland were ranked first and second, respectively, in the Class 6A preseason coaches poll published in the Murphy Fair’s annual preseason high school football preview book. The coaches poll is the only one conducted in the state prior to the season.
Maryville defeated the Patriots 26-14 in last year’s semifinals before going on to win its 15th state championship and second consecutive. Maryville coach George Quarles returns 11 of 22 starters.
Oakland is one of four Murfreesboro teams to be ranked in the 6A poll. Joining the Patriots from the ’Boro are Blackman (fifth), Riverdale (sixth) and Siegel (10th).
This season Class 6A has been coined the Super 6. It consists of the top 31 enrollments in the state along with Maryville. Maryville asked to be moved up from 5A to 6A and was granted their request by the TSSAA when La Vergne agreed to drop down to 5A.
The TSSAA allowed only schools in 6A to drop down a class in order to keep the state’s largest classification to just 32 teams.
All 32 teams in the classification advance to the playoffs no matter their record.
The rest of the 6A poll includes Whitehaven (third), Ravenwood (fourth), White Station (seventh), Science Hill (eighth) and Cordova (ninth).
No other Rutherford County team was placed in the top 10 in its classification. La Vergne received votes in the Class 5A poll. However, Independence — which will compete in Region 5-5A with La Vergne and Stewarts Creek — was ranked 10th.
The preseason favorites in the remainder of the classes include Henry County (5A), Knoxville Fulton (4A), Alcoa (3A), Adamsville and Trezevant (tied in 2A), Union City (1A), Brentwood Academy (Division II-AA) and Battle Ground Academy and Knoxville Webb (tied in Division II-A).
Contact Tom Kreager at 615-278-5168 or at tkreager@dnj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Kreager.
TOP 10 PRESEASON POLL
(Coaches poll from Murphy Fair’s annual preseason football preview book)
1. Maryville
2. Oakland
3. Whitehaven
4. Ravenwood
5. Blackman
6. Riverdale
7. White Station
8. Science Hill
9. Cordova
10. Siegel