GRAY DEYOSports Writer

Football season is quickly approaching. In less than 25 days, the Tullahoma boys will be taking the field for their home opener against Shelbyville Central. With that date coming soon, here is an outlook of the Wildcats’ first four games on the 2025 schedule.

The Wildcats last season managed to sneak into the playoffs with a 6-4 regular season record. Part of the reason it was a close call was the start to the season they had. In their first two games last year, they started 0-2, losing to Stewarts Creek and Coffee County Central. They will look to start the 2025 year on a better note, but it will not come easily.

Although Tullahoma appears they have more talent on paper going into week two against the Red Raiders, other factors are in play. The rivalry game that is circled on everyone’s schedule each year adds a lot of extra nerves than a typical game does for players and coaches. This year, especially, with the two teams dueling in the 100th meeting.

Tullahoma’s mental toughness will have to be at an all-time high for the historic game in order to win this game. Keeping momentum trending up, going into week three and four will be needed, because the next two opponents they face are teams you do not want to play coming off a low.

Following the 100^th rendition of the Coffee Pot, the Wildcats will take on two tough out-of-conference Foes, White County and Cleveland.

White County, located in Sparta, finished with an overall record of 10-4. Going into the 2025 season, the Warriors will have new offensive weapons highlighting their team. Their quarterback from last season, Tripp Pinion, graduated. He alone provided a lot to their offensive output. He threw for over 1000 yards and was also the Warriors’ leading rusher on the year with a total of 1,236 yards. They will also be without their second leading rusher from last season, Isaiah Kelso. He ran for 1,001 yards.

How White County replaces these two players remains to be seen, but they should still not be taken lightly. As a program, they have not had an under-five-win season since 2018.

Tullahoma’s week four opponent, Cleveland, is a scary one. They are a 6A school and are coming off a 7-4 season. Year after year they have highly talented players on their roster. They are always a big and physically hard-nosed team. This game will be a true test to see how good this 2025 Tullahoma team is.

All in all, the first four games for the Wildcats are tough, but winnable. Tullahoma has an opportunity to improve from its start from last year. And instead of being in the hunt for a playoff spot in the first half of the year, Tullahoma can set itself up to be the team that the other schools in their division are hunting down.