No doubt that Baylor and McCallie, in my opinion, have the best two high school football teams that money can buy and I don't mean that in a bad way. I don't mean to put them down, but everyone knows the truth. Thats why they are in the private league. I don't think any team in Hamilton County could beat either one of them. I am glad when the state playoffs come around and both of these schools are in the finals because it's good for Chattanooga sports. I hope that is true this year. I wish them the best.
My main reason for this article is to let everyone know that there was another high school game going on just up the road at Soddy Daisy.
The other team involved was Red Bank High. All week the paper and radio stations talked about the big Baylor and McCallie game. As it turned out this wasn't the game everyone thought it would be. The real game was up the road and got very little mention on the air or in the print media.
Talking about big games. I coached at Soddy Daisy in the late 90s with Bill Price. I am not sure of the numbers but around 21,000 people came to watch the Trojans and Lions play at Finley Stadium one Friday night. That attendance will never get beat around here by anyone, public or private.
For al of you unfortunate football fans that couldn't attend the Soddy Daisy vs. Red Bank game, a game re-cap would sound like this:
Lots of hard play by both teams. Few penalties and turnovers. Long runs and long passes by both teams. It was Red Bank's game until the last two seconds of the game. Yep, two seconds. The Williams kid from Soddy Daisy kicked the game winning field goal. Red Bank was heart-broken. I know, been there done that. Great coaching job by both coaching staffs. Someone has to lose.
This result got some ink in the paper and a little more on this source.
It goes to show, oh ye of little faith, you never know. Soddy Daisy and Red Bank put on quite a show for the many fans that were there. That's one game that won't be soon forgotten.
My last words on the subject: Give the ink all around. No matter public or private.
Ernie McCarson