On a Friday night far from perfect to play a high school football game, McCallie's perfect season found a watery grave, drowned by a deluge of rain and Clearwater (Florida) Academy International speed and power.
With rain alternating all evening between heavy and steady, the Blue Tornado lost 18-8 to fall to 8-1 heading into next week's regular-season finale against Ensworth Academy of Nashville.
That game will be a TSSAA Division II-AAA East Region contest. This one was merely for pride against one of the South's better independent school programs, the Knights improving to 6-2 while playing a national schedule.
"They're a good team," McCallie coach Ralph Potter said. "We missed some tackles, but that may have been their running backs. That's about as big a team as you'll see."
Blessed with a line that included four players who stood 6-foot-7 or taller and weighed 300 or more pounds, the Knights finally wore down a Blue Tornado defense that had held Clearwater Academy to 123 rushing yards in the opening half.
The Knights did score first on a 5-yard run by Ludovick Choquette with 9:03 left in the opening quarter. The 2-point conversion failed and the visitors settled for a 6-0 lead in the driving rain.
But McCallie came back to take the lead with 11:11 left in the opening half on a 1-yard run by B.J. Harris. Quarterback DeAnglo Hardy then scored a 2-point conversion to give the Blue Tornado an 8-6 lead.
With two Knights touchdowns being called back in the opening half due to holding penalties, that lead held until late in the third quarter, when a Choquette touchdown from 9 yards out put Clearwater ahead to stay at 12-8. The Knights' Brendon Barrow provided the final score with a 64-yard run with four minutes left in the game.
In a stat rarely seen in a McCallie game, the Blue Tornado were outrushed 302 yards to 151, with Choquette gaining 154 and Barrow finishing with 142 on the ground.
Hardy led McCallie with 96 rushing yards and Harris added 45.
"When you can't run the option and you can't throw it," said Potter, referring to the weather, "you're in a tough spot."
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @TFPWeeds.