Oakland football begins difficult quest of repeating as Class 6A state champs

Oakland began its quest for back-to-back state titles Monday when schools throughout Tennessee practiced in pads for the first time.

The Patriots went 14-1 last season, defeating Whitehaven 37-0 in the Class 6A BlueCross Bowl for the school's fourth state championship, the first for the Patriots since TSSAA went to six classifications in 2009.

What will it take to become only the second team in Tennessee to repeat in 6A?

"I think you try to do what all you did last year," Oakland coach Kevin Creasy said on the team's preparation for the season opener Aug. 23 at Hendersonville. "But I think the first thing you do is get rid of the idea of last year. Last year was last year. The quicker we get that behind us, the quicker we're on the right path to have a chance to repeat."

Only Maryville (2010-11, 2013-14) has repeated state titles in Class 6A. That was during the tenure of former coach George Quarles, who won 11 titles at the school before taking a job on the staff at Furman after the 2016 season.

Current coach Derek Hunt has won a state title with the Rebels (2017), but the former Maryville quarterback, who was part of three Class 4A state titles during his playing days, knows that repeating in the state's highest classification takes more than just talent.

"Class 6A football has gotten extremely competitive, especially in the last three to four years," said Hunt, whose Rebels lost to Oakland 38-0 in last year's state semifinals. "I think the depth of the good programs speaks for itself."

The top three teams in 6A over the past five seasons have been Maryville, Oakland, Ravenwood and Whitehaven.

It's feasible that any of those four teams could have reeled off two or more consecutive state titles, but four different champions were crowned during that span (Ravenwood 2015, Maryville 2014, 2017, Whitehaven 2016, Oakland 2018).

Ravenwood played in three state semifinals (2014-15, 2018), while Whitehaven, Oakland and Maryville all have reached five consecutive state semifinals since 2014.

"In 6A, one team doesn't typically dominate like you might see in other classes," Creasy said. "It might be top-heavy, but one team hasn't been able to dominate. It makes for good football for the fans."

Hunt agreed.

"That's what makes it fun," he said. "It's what gets you excited throughout the offseason and summer, knowing you're going to have to play some big-time football games. That's the way it should be. You want it to be competitive.

"I think the state is well represented across the board in 6A. East Tennessee schools (like Farragut and Bearden) have gotten a lot better. Middle Tennessee talent speaks for itself – you have a guys signing with SEC schools like crazy. And you have a lot of teams that haven't been able to get past Whitehaven in West Tennessee, but if they did, they probably would have made a name for themselves."

Some key pieces to last year's state title team have graduated but there's still a wealth of talent, including defensive back De'Arre McDonald, an Ole Miss commitment, defensive end Aaron Moore and lineman Jackson Riley, as well as bringing in talented transfers Jordan Brown (running back, linebacker) and Kody Sparks (quarterback).

"I've repeated one time, at Trousdale County (2008-09), but we had a good group coming back, similar to what we have this year," Creasy said. "We took a loss ...  and I think that kind of woke up all the guys and let us know that we're going to get everybody's best game. They see it as playing the defending state champs.

"It's not the same team. Our guys need to realize that more than anyone else. We've got a pretty good formula on how to be successful, but a lot of times it takes some luck and good fortune to get back to the state championship.

"We're working toward Week 1 and Hendersonville. We're working diligently to go 1-0. We'll worry about the last game later."

Oakland 2019 schedule 

Aug. 23 at Hendersonville

Aug. 30 vs. Kenwood

Sept. 6 vs. Siegel

Sept. 13 at Germantown

Sept. 20 at Cookeville

Sept. 27 at Rockvale

Oct. 4 at Blackman

Oct. 18 vs. Riverdale

Oct. 25 at Coffee County

Nov. 1 vs. Warren County

Reach Cecil Joyce at cjoyce@dnj.com or 615-278-5168 and on Twitter @Cecil_Joyce.

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