Baylor, McCallie meet for state title
As he was walking off the field Wednesday night at the Richard Siegel Soccer Complex, McCallie’s Jonah Bryan yelled: “It’s Baylor-McCallie, baby!”
Only this time, it’s for a state championship.
The two Chattanooga schools won in Division II-AA state semifinal matches to set up tonight’s championship match at 7:30 EDT. Baylor dominated Memphis University School 4-0, and McCallie rallied from down a goal to defeat Christian Brothers 2-1.
It will be the third time in history but the first time since 2000 that the archrivals have faced off for the state title. They’ve split the first two meetings, with McCallie winning 1-0 in 1999
and Baylor taking a 2-0 win in 2000.
Baylor won this year’s regular-season meeting 2-0.
The Purple Wave took a 1-0 lead on McCallie on a header by Mark Zimmerman in the 25th minute, but the Blue Tornado were able to equalize in the second half when Thomas Priest banged in a shot on a free kick.
McCallie then took the lead late in the first 10-minute overtime period when a rocket shot by Ben Brock hit the crossbar and on the ricochet William Hart headed the ball in for the game-winner.
“It was neat to see different guys step up and make plays,” McCallie coach Chris Cushenbery said. “I’m proud of our guys: We really try to encourage them to be sharp on set pieces. The goal wasn’t coming tonight, but keep putting yourself
in enough situations and something might happen.”
Baylor coach Curtis Blair didn’t feel as though his team played its best in a 2-0 win over Briarcrest in the state quarterfinals, but that wasn’t the case Wednesday against the Owls. Dee Appleberry and Eemeli Makela scored two goals each, with Makela adding an assist on Appleberry’s second goal.
“We’re playing our best when it matters the most,” Blair said. “We have one more game to play; we’ve put ourselves in a good spot. You work yourself all year to get in this situation and give yourself a chance to win a state title, and our boys have done that.
“We’ve worked extremely hard. We want to be playing our best soccer going into it, and I think we are.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghen ley@timesfreepress.com.