It had been remarkably easy for the McCallie football team against Ensworth during the regular season. Even traveling to Nashville hadn’t kept the Blue Tornado from shutting out the Tigers in a four-touchdown triumph.
But the playoffs are almost always a different matter. Closer. Cleaner. Less predictable.
So after watching his team pull out a 27-14 victory over those same Tigers on Friday night at McCallie’s Spears Stadium, Blue Tornado coach Ralph Potter said of his team’s advancement to the TSSAA Division II-AAA semifinals: “It’s tough and getting tougher.”
McCallie’s defense was as tough as it has been most of the season in holding Ensworth to 111 total yards and six first downs while forcing five turnovers. Those included interceptions by Stone Roebuck, Dane Beard and Antto Toivio, whose week already was pretty special as he was inducted into the school’s Cum Laude academic society.
But even that excellence wasn’t enough to shut out the Tigers for a second time this season. Not with Keshawn Lawrence running a kickoff back 98 yards for a third-quarter score to pull Ensworth within 20-14. And that came after a tipped pass landed in the hands of Isaiah Horton for a touchdown just before halftime to pull the visitors within 14-7 at the break.