Trigg County's coaches and a handful of players were on their way to Union City, Tenn. last week to watch their opening week opponent in a scrimmage with Fayette Academy.
However, they learned on their way to the scrimmage that they would not be admitted to watch the contest. Not wanting to create an issue or problems, the Wildcat coaches and players turned around a short distance from the school and headed home.
Trigg County head coach Shannon Burcham had no comment when I asked him about the aborted scouting trip but did confirm they left Cadiz to watch a scrimmage and returned home without seeing one.
Schools are not allowed to film a sporting event they are not participating in, but coaches have long attended preseason and regular season games to scout their opponents.
Burcham also wouldn't comment on Union City's possible motive for not allowing them to watch the scrimmage. Competitive advantage? Union City will play in their fourth preseason scrimmage tonight. Tennessee allows schools up to four preseason scrimmages. Trigg County will be playing in their first scrimmage tonight at Marshall County.
Trigg County and Union City have never met on the football field. They have played one time each in boys and girls basketball in recent years, and Union City has played in Trigg County's girls' Christmas tournament the past two years. To my knowledge, there's never been any issue between the schools.
But it's not the first issue to arise between Trigg County and a Tennessee school in football.
Alcoa, Tennessee was a huge draw for Trigg County's bowl game in 2005. However, they opted out of their commitment late in the summer of 2006, leaving Trigg unable to find an opponent for Hopkinsville and causing a bowl doubleheader to become a singleheader.
In the 2002 season finale at South Fulton, several Wildcats were the victims of late hits and cheap shots which resulted in a retaliatory ejection of a Wildcat lineman. After the game, Curtis Higgins and South Fulton head coach Gwin Wood exchanged a few words during the postgame handshake when discussing the style of play and South Fulton's contention that Trigg ran up the score. Trigg won 41-7.
Let's hope last week's incident is the only issue that comes of the opening game contest at Union City.
But it should make for an interesting return trip when the Golden Tornado visit Cadiz to kick off the 2010 season.
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