MURFREESBORO — A fast start wasn’t enough to propel Greeneville over South-Doyle in the Class 2A soccer state championship match on Friday at the Richard Siegel Soccer Complex in Murfreesboro.
Greeneville led 1-0 at halftime, but the Cherokees opened the second half with extra juice on offense and scored two unanswered goals for a 2-1 win.
“I’m disappointed in the outcome of the match, but definitely not disappointed in what these guys have done this year,” Greeneville coach Jerry Graham said. “Holy cow, graduating 11 seniors, seven starters from last year’s team, having to replace a lot of guys, losing our center back three weeks ago – they’ve faced a ton of adversity and what they’ve overcome to even be on this field is tremendous.
“It’s disappointing when you go up (1-0) and you get that taste and have that possibility and then have it snatched away so fast. That just makes it a lot worse. So I’m hurting for the boys, but super proud of their efforts.”
Losing so many players last year could have set the stage for a down year. Instead, the Devils turned it into a title run. It took hard work and determination, Graham said, to make it back to Siegel and have a chance at redeeming themselves after a tough loss in the championship match last year.
“Just like any of these teams, they come in and they work hard every day in practice,” he said. “They built a brotherhood within themselves, they pushed each other each day in practice to get better and better so we can get back to this.
“I don’t know who thought we were going to be back here, playing in the state tournament, much less playing in the state championship. But we told them to hold their heads high and look at what they’ve accomplished. Eventually they’ll look back on this and do that but right now, it stings really bad.”
Graham says he’ll miss his seniors off this year’s squad.
“Just their leadership,” Graham said. “Coming back from last year and trying to repeat the things from last year and push the younger guys up. That kind of chemistry doesn’t just happen unless you’ve got great leadership, and that’s something that we’ve been bless with this year. Hats off to these seniors.”
It only took the Devils 46 seconds to find the back of the net. After David Fisher put the ball in play in a free kick, Brody Inscore found the ball in front of the goal and shot it past the keeper for a 1-0 advantage.
Greeneville held the momentum the remainder of the half, outshooting the Cherokees 8-5.
Not being able to capitalize on more chances when they had the momentum, though, would haunt the Devils.
“I think another goal in that first half would’ve sealed this thing,” Graham said. “That’s my personal opinion. We were just really trying to push and get that second goal and it just didn’t come.”
South-Doyle’s halftime adjustments must have worked as its offense opened the second half with heavy pressure.
After Greeneville keeper Tanner Myers deflected numerous shots, the Cherokees finally snuck one past him when Jude Straussfogel sent a shot to the bottom left to tie the match 1-1 with 19 minutes left.
South-Doyle took the lead with 12 minutes left on a Straussfogel penalty kick and the Cherokees’ defense did the rest.
Across 80 minutes, South-Doyle had 21 shots on goal to Greeneville’s 16. Myers finished with seven saves.
Greeneville ends its season at 14-10-1.
“I think they just need to support each other right now,” Graham said when asked on what the younger guys need to take from this match. “Just be there for their brothers and try to think about the good times we had.
“The thing I’ll take away is how this group of guys, in the PK shootout (against Alcoa), not necessarily the win, but how our players were picking each other up when some players were missing their shots. Just the way they were supporting each other during that outing. That just speaks volumes about the character of our kids. That, to me, means more than any of these trophies we’re going to take home, what kind of kids they are going to be.”
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