McCallie's seven selections headline DII-AAA all-state football team

Once McCallie's football team regained full strength late in the season — after being limited by injuries to some key players earlier — the Blue Tornado became dominant on their way to winning a second straight TSSAA Division II-AAA state title.

McCallie was so impressive throughout the postseason, particularly in a 44-0 destruction of Memphis University School in the BlueCross Bowl championship game this month, that statewide sports writers have selected seven Blue Tornado players to the all-state team for 2020.

The seven who earned Tennessee Sports Writers Association recognition in DII-AAA are twin brothers Austin and Jack Gentle on the offensive line, receiver Eric Rivers, running back B.J. Harris, linebackers Aaron Crowder and J.D. Tessman and defensive back Michael May.

Four local players were named to the DII-AA team: Chattanooga Christian School linebacker Luke Bowman and defensive back Treveon Scott, Silverdale Baptist Academy athlete Conner Delashmitt and Boyd Buchanan offensive lineman Brody Grant.

The announcement of the Division II teams completes this year's TSWA all-state football honors. In TSSAA Division I, Classes 5A and 6A were announced Monday, with 4A and 3A revealed Tuesday and 2A and 1A released Wednesday.

The Gentle twins, who will continue their playing careers at Harvard, each graded out as better than 92% blockers for McCallie this past season, with Austin amassing 114 pancake blocks and Jack finishing with 77. They led the way for Harris, who is committed to Missouri, to rush for 1,498 yards and 21 touchdowns. Rivers had 511 receiving yards, plus an additional 400 yards of offense.

Crowder led a stingy McCallie defense that allowed an average of just 11.5 points per game over its final four, with the junior totaling 68 solo tackles, 26 assists and eight tackles for loss in 2020. Tessman made 50 solo stops to go with 32 assists, 11.5 for loss, two sacks and two interceptions, and May had 37 tackles and four interceptions, including two in the title game.

"It's a source of pride for us to have that many recognized as being among the best in the business in our league," Blue Tornado coach Ralph Potter said. "It's a testament to our coaches and the commitment they had in developing those young men, and the work put in by the players.

"Defensively, the amazing part is that we had so many young guys who had to step in and play and really came through and were better than just OK. We had some guys who waited their turn and really progressed. Offensively, we had a big, strong offensive line, and B.J. and Eric have just been phenomenal players for us for a while."

Bowman had 91 tackles and three sacks for CCS, and Scott was the only two-way starter for the Chargers. Besides ranking among the team leaders in tackles, Scott also ran for 11 touchdowns and more than 900 yards. Delashmitt compiled 1,858 all-purpose yards and 15 touchdowns for the Seahawks, and Grant was the Buccaneers' most consistent blocker up front.

"Luke set everything up for us," CCS coach Mark Mariakis said. "He played hurt all season long, so to watch what he did on Friday nights is just a testament to his toughness.

"Treveon's athletic ability, his height and physicalness meant we could put him on the other team's best athlete and he usually was able to limit them."

Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.