By: Brian Akins
TnHighSchoolFootball.com
The sixth installment of Maryville versus Oakland kicks off this Friday night. The newly developed rivalry between the Rebels and the Patriots has proved to have 6A state championship implications four of the five times that the two have met.
The matchup dates to 2014 when the two met in the 6A semifinals, where Maryville won 26-14 to advance to Cookeville. The Rebels went on to win the 6A championship in 2014. In 2015, Oakland and Maryville met once again in the semifinals where Maryville once again defeated the Patriots by a final score of 27-13.
The tables turned in 2016 when the two met for a third time in the state semis, but the result was different as Oakland rolled 23-7 over Maryville to advance to the 6A championship. The fourth matchup in 2017 was a little bit different as the Rebels traveled to Murfreesboro to take on the Patriots in Week Two of the regular season. Maryville’s 17-14 loss came as a surprise to many of those in East Tennessee, as Oakland managed to find a way to pull out a win late in the game.
Come November of 2017, the new rivals managed to meet up once again in the semifinals of the 6A playoffs, where Maryville was able to redeem themselves of regular season loss with a 31-28 playoff victory over the Patriots.
Maryville currently leads the young series 3-2 over Oakland, but 2018 is a new opportunity for the Patriots to tie up the series and potentially meet up with the Rebels once again in the state semifinals.
