Prep notes: Hot MBA facing two more big challenges in a row

After the dust cleared on the opening weekend of Nashville high school football, a couple of things were apparent.

• Even before the arrival of September, there are a lot of top-notch, front-loaded matchups on the calendar, right around the corner.

• There appears to be a changing of the guard, notably with Maplewood overtaking the dominance of Hillsboro, witness the Panthers’ 35-6 win Friday.

Montgomery Bell Academy looked in mid-season form, rolling up 506 total yards and never punting in rolling through Pearl-Cohn 42-14 in the Clinic Bowl Kickoff Classic.
Right away, the Big Red turns its attention to a Friday showdown with Maplewood. The following week, MBA hosts rival Ensworth in its DII opener, the last of three straight home games.

The next two games, MBA will face arguably the best public school team in Nashville, Maplewood, then arguably (besides itself) the city’s best private school team, Ensworth.

“All that work we put in back in January with the 6:30 a.m. workouts is paying off,’’ said split end William Tanner who caught nine passes for 91 yards and two TDs. “Next, we play a great team in Maplewood, we’ll just practice hard this week, and come up with a great game plan.’’

“We finally got a chance to go out and hit somebody besides ourselves,’’ said 6-4, 222-pound senior linebacker Brad Bars, who was all over the field with four sacks and 10 tackles. “Maplewood is a great team, a huge challenge for us, we know they have a great lineman in (James) Stone, but we’ll be ready for them.’’

“(Maplewood Coach) Ralph Thompson is a good friend of mine,’’ said MBA Coach Daniel McGugin. “I watched at their game Hillsboro and, obviously, they have everything working. But we’re excited about the challenge.’’

De’Ante Hughes (129 yards rushing, two TDs) and Tyler Franks (110 and one) led an overpowering offense. D’Anthony Hall returned the opening kickoff for a 97-yard TD, and Montriese Lillard had 52 yards and a TD for to Pearl-Cohn.

Ensworth had an impressive opener, rallying for a 22-20 overtime win over defending 5A champ Oakland. The Tigers take a week off before meeting MBA.

Lipscomb, Maplewood ranked 1-2: Nashville powerhouses Lipscomb and Maplewood were ranked No. 1-2 in the state in the Class 4A preseason Prep Performance Ratings.

Asked about that, Lipscomb Coach Glen McCadams said, “somebody must have been drinking something. With the talent we lost and knowing how good Maplewood is with the top (unsigned) prospect in the state (Stone), I don’t see how they came up with that.’’

After the Mustangs (1-0) thumped Page 39-26, they take this week off before they host Maplewood in a game which what will almost certainly decide the winner of the District 10-4A race. After a 6-6 halftime tie, the teams scored four TDs (two each) in less than three minutes to start a wild third quarter, two on back-to-back kickoff returns. Junior Dale Babb scored the first of his two TDs for Lipscomb with a 90-yard kickoff scamper.

District 10-4A teams shine: By the way, all four teams in District 10-4A were impressive in their openers. Besides Lipscomb and Maplewood, Whites Creek scored a stunning 28-0 win over Goodpasture as QB Ja’ Booker passed for three TDs and 148 yards. It was the first time since Goodpasture had been shut out since a 29-0 loss to Lipscomb in the ’02 Class 2A playoffs.

And Stratford played a solid game in an 18-7 loss to Hunters Lane.

“I cannot be any prouder of my team than I was (Friday),’’ said Stratford Coach Jason Smith after the loss to Hunters Lane. “The two fumbles killed us, otherwise we very well would have won.’’

Stratford has developed another star in its run of top line QBs in junior Jonathan Shuler, whom Smith said is being recruited by Vanderbilt. “He’s going to lead us into the playoffs,’’ said assistant Vincent Jones.

Maplewood’s win sets up the Panthers next two big-time games against MBA, then the showdown at Lipscomb.

Games against Hillsboro and Stratford the next two weeks will likely decide Whites Creek’s playoff fate.

BGA coaches vs. former team: Last Friday, BGA coach Tim Johnson was on the opposite sidelines, competing against Franklin, a place where he was head coach in the 1990s. His old team rallied to beat BGA 14-10 Friday in the two Franklin schools’ first football meeting in 99 years.

Asked if he had ever gone against BGA while he was at Franklin, Johnson said, “when I was an assistant there in the early ‘90s, we scrimmaged them once, and as I remember, BGA got the best of it.’’

Clarke at East Lit: Former Franklin Road Academy athletic director Gary Clarke has taken a new position at East Literature. Clarke is teaching PE and also working with coach Bubba Spears and Jerry Pigue as a line coach with the new football team there.

Buchanan named: Antonio Buchanan, a former assistant at the school, has been named the new girls basketball coach at Whites Creek High. Buchanan had been coach at Creswell Middle School before coming to Whites Creek. He replaces Derek Williams, who resigned after the past season.

Morel in Iraq: Former Harpeth Hall tennis standout Hayden Morel recently went to Iraq where she is working in the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. Morel is the daughter of former BGA and UT football star Bobby Morel. While at Harpeth Hall in the ‘90s, she became one of the few players in state history to compete in five consecutive state tournaments.

The Zone to air pairings: Radio station 104.5-FM, the Zone, will air a live announcement of the TSSAA football playoffs pairings on Saturday, Oct. 31, 7-9 a.m., the morning following the conclusion of the regular season.