It's official! Goodpasture to join WHS in Dist. 8-A

By ANDY REED

Sports Editor

The dye has been cast and Watertown will face Goodpasture on its District 8-A schedules for the next four years.

The Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association Board of Control approved the staff's recommended district alignment with few changes [none involving Wilson County leagues] during its meeting Thursday in Murfreesboro.

Goodpasture, which is moving down from Class AA, is essentially replacing Friendship Christian in the district after FCS elected to move to Division II. The Cougars, a Church of Christ school based in Madison, will join the Purple Tigers, Gordonsville, Trousdale County, Red Boiling Springs and fellow newcomer Merrol Hyde in the league beginning next fall.

A state power at the AA and A levels in multiple sports for years, Goodpasture requested to be moved to District 10-A, where it once competed, while Red Boiling Springs asked to be switched to District 7-A, where it played for many years until it was switched to 8-A four years ago. The Goodpasture proposal was defeated 5-4 while RBS' request didn't even make it to a vote.

Another change is the old Region 4-A for football will be no longer after Districts 7 and 8 were combined into one region for years ago for scheduling purposes. But with the top two finishers from each district guaranteed playoff spots, the split guarantees half of the four football-playing schools in 7-A [Clay County, Jackson County, Monterey and Pickett County] will reach the playoffs and two of the five in 8-A will advance, with wild-card berths available for more teams.

The Board made no changes to the recommendations for Class AAA, meaning Lebanon, Wilson Central and Mt. Juliet will remain in District 9-AAA with Sumner County schools Gallatin, Station Camp, Hendersonville, Beech and Portland. The only change from the previous four years will be Hendersonville and Station Camp moving from 5A to 6A for the football playoffs.

Football coaches and athletic directors then went to work on their schedules for the next couple of years. With only four district opponents, Watertown coach Gavin Webster has to find six teams to face out of league. As of Thursday night, he had signed up Jackson County, Cascade, Eagleville and Cannon County and was still looking for two more.

Merrol Hyde, a magnet school in Hendersonville which was in 8-A several years ago, does not play football.

Sports Editor Andy Reed can be reached at 444-3952, ext. 17; or by email at andy.reed@lebanondemocrat.com