Chris Cushenbery was surprised by the result of his McCallie team's Division II-AA soccer quarterfinal match against Briarcrest Christian.
It didn't go as the coach expected, but in this case that was a good thing.
The state- and nationally ranked Blue Tornado jumped to a five-goal lead by halftime and cruised to an 8-0 win to advance to next week's state tournament in Murfreesboro.
Drew Viscomi had two goals to lead the attack. What few opportunities the Saints (5-12) had were turned away by a McCallie defense that hasn't allowed a goal in three consecutive matches since a 3-2 loss to Boyd-Buchanan on May 3.
During that same span, the Blue Tornado have scored 20 goals.
"It's a great feeling," Viscomi said. "After the loss to Boyd-Buchanan, we had a great day of practice. We've just been working as hard as we can, and it's showed. It's unbelievable (to be going back to state)2 a great feeling for sure. We were here last year, so we're definitely not content.
"We have two more wins to get, then we'll be content."
His free kick put the Blue Tornado (13-2-3) on the board in the 13th minute. Will McGregor and Stone Roebuck followed with goals, as did Ben Brock and Aidan Foley before the break.
Viscomi started the second-half scoring with a steal that set up an easy finish and a 6-0 advantage. Banner Brock then found Patrick Ingle for a header in the 70th minute, and Gareth May followed up a Banner Brock free kick in the final minute of play for the final tally.
Emerson Brock was credited with the shutout in goal, making a pair of saves.
"Briarcrest has played a lot of people real tight, so we had a lot of respect for them," Cushenbery said. "We game-planned for them - did everything we could to get ready for them. The kids have bought in; they want to do the little things right. They're really focused on that, and we did that today.
"All the stuff we worked on in practice showed up today. It feels nice to be trending in the right direction."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.