NASHVILLE -- Smiles. Everywhere. Not wide, expressive, jubilant smiles, as if, “I can’t believe we’re back in the TSSAA Division II Class AAA state title game for the fifth time in six years.” But rather smiles formed more by quiet satisfaction for a job very well done.
Those were the smiles that surrounded McCallie football coach Joel Bradford as he began to address his Blue Tornado football team atop Ensworth’s football field following its 31-7 state semifinal win over the previously undefeated Tigers Friday night.
On a chilly November evening, in a hostile environment, McCallie not only played its most complete game of the year, but acted afterward as if it had expected to win. And, of course, waiting for the Blue Tornado at Chattanooga’s own Finley Stadium on Thursday night, December 5, will be archrival Baylor, who will arrive there as Division II-AAA’s only remaining undefeated team following its 35-21 semifinal home win over Brentwood Academy.
“It just feels right (for it to end this way),” said McCallie senior defensive back Carson Lawrence, when asked about a rematch of last year’s title game in that same stadium, a game won by the Blue Tornado 34-28. “We’re just excited for the opportunity.”
It didn’t necessarily look like they would get that opportunity after losing 44-12 to the Red Raiders on Baylor’s campus back on October 4. Injury-riddled and inexperienced at key positions going into that game, the Blue Tornado seemingly faced a tall task to meet Baylor again in the playoffs. But in the 49 days since that defeat, McCallie has played five games, winning them all by a total score of 193-57, or an average score of 39-11.
“We’ve improved each game, each week,” said Bradford on Friday. “Ensworth’s got a great, great football team. They’d given up five touchdowns all season before tonight. But our guys have scratched and clawed on every play all season and I couldn’t be more proud of them for how they played tonight.”
To his point, in many ways the Ensworth game was a microcosm of the season, which now stands at 10 wins and two defeats. Despite several big individual plays and a plethora of penalties, the first quarter ended in a scoreless tie. Then McCallie took a 7-0 lead late in the second period on a masterful 16-play, 83-yard drive that consumed 9 minutes and 16 seconds on the clock and ended in a 1-yard Keylan Syam TD run, the senior leading McCallie in rushing on the night with 113 yards.
“We were able to control the clock, which was huge,” said Bradford. “Our offensive line was tremendous, as it has been all year. We didn’t always score tonight, but we ate up a lot of time on the scoreboard and the defense did the rest.”
Not only did the defense hold the Tigers to just 23 rushing yards on 20 carries, it scored two of McCallie’s four touchdowns. Lawrence returned an interception 42 yards for a score early in the fourth quarter that pushed McCallie’s lead to 21-7. Then junior linebacker Cooper Gentle -- call him the Iron Chef for both his culinary skills and his rock-solid tackling -- picked up a fumble caused by defensive lineman Max Pincott, who had stripped the ball from Ensworth quarterback Taylor Hasselbeck with just over four minutes to play, and carried it into the end zone from two yards out.
“A perfect strip and sack,” said Bradford of Pincott’s strip. “Just how we coach it. A really fun game defensively.”
McCallie was up 14-7 before Lawrence’s dramatic and emphatic pick six due to a 23-yard touchdown toss from junior quarterback Elliott Drapeau to classmate Keeyshawn Tabuteau. Senior kicker Elliott Arnold not only boomed several kickoffs through the end zone, but hit all four of his extra points and a 27-yard field goal.
Of his interception, Lawrence said, “I just caught it and knew I had to run fast. I thought maybe I could get to the end zone. I wanted to get in that end zone as fast as I could.”
Now McCallie has gotten back to the BlueCross Bowl once again. In its five most recent appearances, it has never previously lost. Five appearances. Five wins.
Of the first Baylor game, Bradford told the Chattanooga Times Free Press, “We didn’t give them our best shot. So our job is to prepare for the last game of the season to achieve the goal that we set out to achieve at the beginning of the season, which is to win the state championship.”
Indeed, the words were first written on the giant grease board in the Bill Cherry Team Room of McCallie’s Student Activities Center in July, during training camp.
“Win State Championship” was the headline. Directly beneath those three words were, as follows:
- Sacrifice.
- Discipline.
- Relentless.
They’re now 48 minutes from making that goal a reality.
“I believe in our guys,” said Bradford. “I believe we’re going to play a much better game than we did the first time. We’re going to give ourselves a shot, our best shot. After that, whatever happens, happens.”
And whatever happens on December 5 inside Finley Stadium, just getting there after the Baylor loss in October should touch the heart and bring a proud smile to McCallie football fans for years to come.