The dean of Region 3-3A coaches Charles Fant of Notre Dame, center, is flanked by region newcomers John Starr, left, of Howard and Tim James, right, of East Ridge. The Irish are picked to finish first in both the media and coaches polls, while the Pioneers were in at second and third with the media and coaches. Howard, whose new coach, insists could be play-off ready, were picked fifth and sixth.
photo by Dennis Norwood/File Photo
The 2016 high school football season is almost here, but the monkey is already on Notre Dame’s back as the team to beat in Region 3-3A.
Coaches from those six schools gathered at Notre Dame’s John Varallo Center Thursday night to discuss the new season and the Fighting Irish were picked as the team to be in both the media and coaches poll.
The media poll had Notre Dame first with East Ridge second and Chattanooga Christian third. Red Bank was chosen fourth with Signal Mountain and Howard tying for fifth.
The coaches poll had the Fighting Irish first and CCS second, followed by East Ridge, Red Bank, Signal Mountain and Howard.
We all know that pre-season predictions don’t always come true. We do know that this is a competitive league and three of the six schools will have new head coaches calling the shots this fall.
Mark Mariakis is now the man at Chattanooga Christian while Tim James returns to the top spot at East Ridge after a few years away. And John Starr may have the most challenging job of all as he takes over a Howard team that didn’t win a single game last fall.
Each coach had a few minutes to assess the upcoming season and to answer any questions from the media members who were present. Those schools are presented here in the order they presented on Thursday.
NOTRE DAME: The Fighting Irish lost some key players for the second-straight year, but coach Charles Fant has done an outstanding job of filling the gaps and he may be more excited about this year’s Notre Dame team than any in his previous five years there.
“We graduated 17 seniors two years ago and 11 more last spring, but we’re excited about the ones we have coming back,” Fant began his speech.
“We’re not changing a whole lot as we want to run the football on offense and we want to be really physical on defense. We have a lot of experience coming back, but other guys have to be ready to step up when needed.
“We’ll be replacing Alex Darras at quarterback and one of the biggest keys for us will be getting our young quarterback some experience. But I think we’ll be okay,” Fant added.
Notre Dame opens its schedule at home next Friday against Central.
RED BANK: Coach Chad Grabowski starts his third season as the leader of the Lions and he promises they’ll be better than last year’s team that finished 3-8. They still have a young squad overall, but experience pays and they have much more of that than in recent years.
“We’ll look a lot different than in years past as we have a new offensive coordinator in Drew Akins and a new defensive coordinator in Charles Weems. We’re really excited about those changes. We only have 10 seniors, but we’re looking to see the progress we’ve made since last year,” Grabowski nodded.
“We just want to make Red Bank football respectable again and we’re just trying to get a little better every day. Faster tempo has been our word of the day, but we’re getting kids to buy into what we’re trying to do.
“These guys never gave up last year, but we have to be better prepared as we have to get after it on every play,” the soft-spoken coach added.
There’s nothing slouchy about the Red Bank schedule as they have at least six teams who went to the playoffs last fall.
The Lions open with arch-rival Soddy Daisy at home on Aug. 19. Other non-region games come against Baylor, McCallie and Alcoa.
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN: Coach Ty Wise is starting his second season as the leader of the Eagles and he was quick to admit that last year was tough from top to bottom as his team lost nine straight games before beating Howard in the final game of the season.
There are only 28 players out at this time, but the former Miami Hurricane promises that his team will be stronger and that the ones on the roster are totally committed to giving their all for the Eagles.
“We have a good group who are totally committed while we still have others who will need to step up. We had a great off-season and we’ve gotten a lot stronger, but we have to transfer that off-season stuff to the field on Friday night,” he said matter of factly.
“We’ve improved our speed and that should help. We have a chance to be good offensively, but our goal is to win on defense. We don’t have a lot of depth at this point, so we need to be able to adapt and adjust when needed.
“Last year was a tough year for all of us, but I’m confident that this time around will yield better results,” he added.
It won’t be easy for the Eagles as they start off with two bigger schools on the road, including East Hamilton on Aug. 19 and Ooltewah on the 26th.
HOWARD: Coach Starr may be the most upbeat and optimistic football coach in town and he’s convinced that if he can get his kids to believe, good things are just around the corner for the Hustlin’ Tigers.
Howard has 35 guys on the team at present and they’ve been working as hard to develop mental toughness as anything. But Starr is really impressed with his team’s work ethic and he likes the progress they’ve made in recent months.
“I’m an old school coach who believes in hard work, but the work ethic of these guys is really what impresses me most so far,” Starr began his comments.
“They come to practice with a blue-collar attitude and they understand the toughness it takes to play football. We have a bunch who will have to play a lot and we have a ways to go, but we’ve been working mental toughness and we just want to be the best we can be every day,” he added.
The Hustlin’ Tigers open their season next Friday at Donelson Christian with another road game at David Crockett on the 26th before hosting Red Bank on Sept. 2.
CHATTANOOGA CHRISTIAN: The Chargers are coming off their best season ever in which they won a playoff game for the first time, but that’s not good enough for coach Mariakis and the CCS squad.
While guys representing 85 percent of the offense graduated, the Chargers still have some quality playmakers, including senior quarterback Matthew Mercer and senior running back Justin Wheeler, who may be the best athlete on the team.
“We’ve turned over a new leaf at Chattanooga Christian as our quarterback will be taking the snap from center at the line of scrimmage for the first time ever. We made those changes in June since Matthew was playing baseball and not with us for spring drills, but we just want to be physical on both sides of the ball,” said Mariakis, who served as the defensive coordinator before being promoted in the spring after Rob Spence resigned to take a job at UTC.
“We hang our hat on playing solid defense as we have six returning starters there, but we’ll utilize Mercer’s arm as much as possible. But we just have to keep working hard and have a little luck and we could have another outstanding season,” the head coach concluded.
The Chargers open the season next Friday with a home game against Brainerd. A road game to Lookout Valley follows before the big showdown with Notre Dame at CCS on Sept. 2.
EAST RIDGE: Tim James returns to lead the proud Pioneers after serving as their head coach from 2001-2008. Last year was a season of firsts for East Ridge as they went undefeated in regular season before getting beat by Notre Dame in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs.
Class 3-A Mr. Football winner Traneil Moore is back for one more season, but had been slowed by off-season knee surgery and his availability is still a huge question mark.
Despite that, James is really pumped about the potential this team possesses and he’s ready to get started. Junior Lorenzo Stewart, who gained over 800 yards in a supporting role, is set to pick up the slack until Moore returns.
“We’ve got a great group of kids coming back from our best season ever and we have some quality kids at skill positions,” James said.
“We have three returning starters on defense and eight on offense, but the offense has been a little slower to develop than I expected. I fully expect Traneil to be back long before the midpoint of the season, but Lorenzo has stepped up and is doing a great job so far.
“Injuries are an unfortunate part of football, but all that does is give another kid a chance to step up and prove himself. But what we need is all 11 starters on both sides of the ball to do their job. We have a chance to be good again if they do,” James concluded.
The Pioneers have two home games to open the season, including Polk County next Friday followed by Brainerd on the 26th. Perhaps the biggest game for East Ridge will be a home game against Notre Dame on Sept. 30.
All of these teams except Signal Mountain will be playing in the annual Jamboree at Finley Stadium this weekend.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)