Inching closer
Bartlett, led by transfer Ragland, on the verge of first state title game appearance
Braylen Ragland couldn’t contain his excitement Friday night. He started celebrating with his teammates before the final kneeldown in Bartlett’s 16-14 Class 6A quarterfinal win over Germantown and couldn’t stop screaming, shouting and celebrating with his parents long after the stadium cleared.
He deserved it. Bartlett (11-2) deserved it. The Panthers are the best team in Region 8-6A, the best team in Memphis and one of the four best teams left in the state in Class 6A.
This is exactly how they imagined their season going. Long before the first game, first scrimmage and first win: They always knew this season was going to be special.
“We have all the pieces,” said Ragland, who threw for 108 yards and a touchdown and had 60 rushing yards. “Coach Lance (Tucker) and the coaching staff, they’re going to draw it up for us and we know how to execute.”
Both Ragland and one of his top targets, Deshaun Catron, knew this season was going to be different. That’s no knock on previous teams and players, but rather a testament to what the Panthers were confident in what they could achieve this season.
That started with the addition of Ragland, who transferred from White Station this summer.
“You don’t make runs like this with a 10th-grade quarterback, you got to have a senior,” Tucker said after the game. “Kam (Alexander) is a special talent that’s going to be around here for a couple of years, but adding Braylen — a young man like that that’s a senior — you’re just adding a missing piece.”
Ragland’s leadership has been one of the most important pieces of this season’s team. When he first stepped into the locker room, he didn’t come with an attitude of being the center of the team. He came ready to work like he still had something to prove.
“We trust him,” said Catron, who caught a touchdown pass in the win over Germantown. Geron Johnson scored the other Bartlett touchdown on a 28-yard run in the first half.
He basically won the locker room over instantly. That translated to success on the field.
Since the loss to Hoover (Alabama) in the second week of the season, Bartlett’s only loss was to the team it bounced out of the playoffs Friday night. It was a team that learned from that game.
If Bartlett wins at home against Beech in the semifinals next Friday, the Panthers will make the state championship game for the first time. Bartlett is playing in just its second semifinal since 1999. The Panthers lost to Brentwood in 2020 and did not make the playoffs last year, going 5-5.
Bartlett has no doubt it can play for its first state championship. It wasn’t satisfied with a Region 8-6A title, it wasn’t satisfied with eclipsing 10 wins this season and it’s not satisfied just being the No. 1 team in Memphis.
The Panthers want to be the No. 1 team in the state. And they’re just two wins away from accomplishing just that.
“They’re winners,” Tucker said. “They’ll do whatever it takes to win. That’s special.”
Reach Wynston Wilcox at wwilcox@gannett.com and on Twitter @wynstonw__.