TSSAA 2024 Football Storm Center

A “storm” is my new name for a scenario in which tiebreakers C (head to head) and D1 (overall wins) fail to break a tie for a playoff spot.

Two scenarios are considered part of the same storm if the following criteria are met:

The same teams are tied.
The same teams, if any, are entangled.
The teams are tied for the same place.

When four or more teams are tied on a region record, with no head-to-head sweep, and three or more (but not all) of the tied teams are tied for most overall wins, then the others at that step are said to be entangled.

Entanglement works like this: Suppose that Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlotte, and Dallas are tied. Atlanta beat Baltimore and Charlotte; Baltimore beat Charlotte; Charlotte beat Dallas; and Dallas beat Atlanta and Baltimore. Dallas has one fewer overall win than the others, so is not part of the tie. But if Charlotte comes in first in the deep tiebreak, then Dallas will finish second because they beat the other two teams remaining. Thus, Dallas is entangled in the Atlanta/Baltimore/Charlotte tiebreaker.

On the Sunday following the 9th Friday of the football season, the set of possible storms is determined. Names are assigned in sequence from 1A to 6A, regions 1 to 8; then to Division II from A to AAA and from east to west.

Names are selected from the tropical cyclone name list maintained by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, beginning with the first from the real-world 2024–25 season, which is Robyn. Future years will begin where the previous one left off; as a result, the first name used in 2025 will be Alessia.

The grid lists each tied team’s non-region opponents under it. (Region teams are omitted, because they are either common opponents, or each other, and their own records are of course equal.) Teams in black text on lime are those that have clinched a .500 or better record; white text on red is for teams that cannot reach .500; and red text on silver may end up either way.

If it is possible for tiebreak D2 to fail, then D3 is to count wins over .500+ opponents. To show this, a ☆ indicates a win for the team heading that column, and a ▼ is a loss.

Robyn

Averted by Happy Valley win over Unaka.

Sean

Averted by Jellico win over Jackson County 🏇.

Taliah

Averted by Moore County win over Forrest.

Vince

Averted by Wayne County win over Collinwood.

Zelia

League: 1A Region 5
Teams involved: Eagleville, Huntland, Moore County with 4 region and 3 non-region wins, with Richland and Wayne County entangled
Place contested: First
Results required: Eagleville, Huntland, and Moore County all win

Eagleville	Huntland	Moore County
Providence Christian ▼	Whitwell ▼	Forrest ☆
Loretto ☆	Grundy County ☆	Fayetteville ▼
Tennessee Heat ☆	Lookout Valley ☆	Franklin Christian ☆
Community ☆	Cascade ☆	Cascade ☆
2	1	1

Result: Eagleville wins; Huntland is then second, Moore County third, and Richland fourth.

Anthony

Averted by Moore County win over Forrest.

Bianca

Averted by Wayne County win over Collinwood.

Courtney

Averted by Wayne County win over Collinwood.

Dianne

League: 1A Region 5
Teams involved: Eagleville, Huntland, Moore County with 3 region and 3 non-region wins
Place contested: Third
Results required: Wins by Collinwood, Cornersville, and Richland

Eagleville	Huntland	Moore County
Providence Christian ▼	Whitwell ▼	Forrest ☆
Loretto ☆	Grundy County ☆	Fayetteville ▼
Tennessee Heat ☆	Lookout Valley ☆	Franklin Christian ☆
Community ☆	Cascade ☆	Cascade ☆
2	1	1

Result: Eagleville wins third place; Huntland is then fourth.

Errol

Averted by Moore County win over Forrest.

Fina

Averted by Huntland win over Cornersville.

Grant

League: 2A Region 8
Teams involved: Bluff City, Hillcrest, Oakhaven with 1 region and 1 non-region win
Place contested: Third
Results required: Two Hillcrest losses plus MUS over Oakhaven

Bluff City	Hillcrest	Oakhaven
Westwood	Middle College	Middle College
Rossville Christian	Christian Brothers	Chester County
no 7th	Sheffield	MASE
no 8th	Wooddale	M. U. S.
no 9th	KIPP	Booker T. Washington
no 10th	Lakeland	no 10th
1	3	3

Result: Oakhaven would be third by the head-to-head win involved in getting there. Hillcrest would be fourth.

Hayley

League: 3A Region 2
Teams involved: Austin-East, Scott, Union County with 1 region and 1 non-region win
Place contested: Third
Results required: Union County loses to Alcoa then beats Cherokee, plus Scott over Austin-East

Austin-East	Scott	Union County
Gatlinburg-Pittman	Knox Central 🏇	Gibbs
Grace Christian (Knox)	Whitley County 🏇	Cosby
Pigeon Forge	Eagleton	South Greene
William Blount	Pickett County	Cherokee
Carter	Clinton	William Blount
South-Doyle	Cumberland County	Claiborne
3–4	0–3	4–6

Result: Even if Austin-East gets a fourth credit, the same result gives Union County its fifth. Union County is third and Austin-East fourth.

Iggy

Averted by Liberty Creek win over Maplewood.

Jenna

Averted by Greeneville win over Northview.

Koji

Averted by White County win over DeKalb County.

Luana

Averted by White County win over DeKalb County.

Mitchell

Averted by North Side win over South Gibson.

Zane

Averted by Chester County win over Lexington.

Note: This one is named out of order because it came into play (by the Board of Control awarding Lexington a forfeit win over Manassas) after storm names were assigned.

Narelle

Averted by Columbia Central win over James Lawson.

Oran

Averted by Portland win over Westmoreland.

Peta

Averted by Cleveland win over Bradley Central.

Riordan

Averted by Clarksville win over Rossview.

Sandra

Averted by Bartlett win over Rossview.

Tim

Averted by Bartlett win over Rossview.

Victoria

Averted by Oneida win over King’s Academy.