Last Thursday night, McCallie defeated Baylor 34-28 in the first all-Chattanooga TSSAA football state championship before an announced crowd of 18,149 inside Finley Stadium.
Blue Tornado coach Ralph Potter spoke right after the game, calling his fifth state title “absolutely” his favorite, but here is what Potter had to say after having time to decompress (coming tomorrow will be a visit with Baylor coach Erik Kimrey):
Q: What time did head hit pillow after the game?
A: “About 4:30. I went back and looked at the broadcast and enjoyed that, but that took awhile.”
Q: Do you go into games with Baylor trying to avoid shootouts?
A: “Since they’re so explosive offensively, the plan for us offensively is to use our style of play. We’re not going to hurry. We’re going to eat the clock. We’re going to reduce the overall number of plays in a game, because every opportunity they have to snap the ball is a potential touchdown in the making. Usually you’re upset if a team scores on you, but with them, you just want to get a certain number of stops during the course of the game, and that’s the attitude we took.
“They got the big turnover, but they really didn’t have the ball in the second quarter, and I thought we played remarkably well against them in the second half.”
Q: In all your years calling defensive plays, have you ever come across an offense where third-and-13 is no big deal?
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton/ McCallie head coach Ralph Potter talks to members of the media during a press availability at McCallie School on Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023.A: “Oh yeah, and you almost hate to see it coming, because you’re likely going to be disappointed. He’s going to save his best play for third-and-13. As the game went on, we were able to get a little more pressure on them, and we tried to disrupt their receivers and their timing. I think we did that as time went on, and their completion percentage was much lower than it usually is.”
Q: You mentioned the turnover, the 98-yard fumble return by Baylor’s Nelson McKnight. There was a close game between you two about 20 years ago when McCallie ran an interception back 100 yards and completely blew things open. How did you guys respond from such a disastrous moment that put Baylor up 21-14?
A: “It’s amazing you say that, because I just got through talking to somebody about that very same thing. It was 2005, and Baylor was ahead of us 17-14 and on our 2-yard line. They tried to run a bootleg and the throw was just a little bit high, and Walter Dozier caught it two yards deep in the end zone and took it 102 yards down the Baylor sideline and put us ahead. I still have the vision of watching the entire Baylor stands just deflate. We had beaten them several years in a row at that point, and I always think it’s hard when you’ve lost that game to survive catastrophic events like that.
“One of the things I’m most proud of from this game was the resilience of our team, because after that play, we went on a 20-0 run, and that was really remarkable. Our offense went out and kept playing. We got a pick, and then we got another touchdown right before halftime.”
Q: Did you allow yourself, even for a moment, to look around and soak up that atmosphere?
A: “I did before the game, but from my understanding there was a traffic snarl and not everybody was there yet. Looking at pictures of it and looking at the broadcast, it’s just amazing.”
Q: Some championship teams steadily improve, but McCallie started out No. 1, scuffled late in the regular season and finished on top. How would you assess the year?
A: “Coming out of last year and the disappointment, I think our kids were really focused in the winter, spring and summer. They were very determined and held each other accountable. We had those first seven games that were going to be unprecedented in their difficulty, so everything we did was geared toward having an intense game every week. The challenge in October was wanting to put our guys back in a physical deficit in the weight room, because that was going to help us peak in November.
“We went into an October funk where we really didn’t play well at all, and we had that disaster of a second half against Lipscomb Academy. Then we had to wait two weeks to play Brentwood Academy with their five-star quarterback. It was a really stressful time, but our kids really played well in November. They were fresh, and they were really focused. It was a really special month for us.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.
Staff photo by Olivia Ross / McCallies head coach Ralph Potter talks during an interview after their win against Baylor. Baylor took on McCallie on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023 in the BlueCross Bowl Division II-AAA state championship game at Finley Stadium.