Just six minutes into the second half of Thursday night's soccer match at Silverdale Baptist Academy, Signal Mountain freshman Dillia Lowry drilled a shot from more than 20 yards out into the back left portion of the net for a commanding three-goal lead.
Although down big, the host Lady Seahawks showed outstanding resiliency, fighting back with grit and speed to end the thrilling match in a 4-4 draw.
Silverdale's Caroline Upchurch landed a hat trick as she put great touch on a cross by Brooke Bolton to the back of the net to cut the deficit to 4-3 in the 54th minute. Just minutes before, Upchurch had a heads-up play as she charged in to the left side to score off a free kick by Bre Mendoza that popped out of the keeper's arms.
Addie Chapman's speed was a weapon for the Lady Seahawks (3-0-1) who kept the pressure coming against the Lady Eagles (3-0-1), the two-time reigning Class A state champions whose undefeated streak reached 16 matches.
Senior standout Gracie Renegar sent home the equalizer and her 13th goal of the season as she took a nice touch on a long in-bounds throw and sizzled a shot to the back left corner in the 67th minute.
"It would have been easy for our girls to panic in the situation they were in, but they didn't do that," Silverdale coach Scott Chapman said. "They settled in and kept decent possession against a really good team.
"I was happy for Caroline. She has worked really hard, and she put herself in the right places tonight and stepped up big offensively against a great defensive team."
Signal Mountain's Ava Duffey made her presence felt with a goal and a perfectly placed cross from the right sideline to the foot of Lowry, who rolled a shot in for a 2-1 lead with just three minutes left before halftime. The speedy Kara Wilson also scored for the visitors.
The Lady Eagles played strong defense at times as they keyed on Renegar, but they gave the ball away too much in the second half.
"We stopped completing passes and tried to kick it long and in the air," coach Richard Northcutt said. "If we play things short and play relaxed, we are a really good soccer team. We have to get it started on the ground and do that throughout. I think we panicked tonight against a good team who fought back."
Briley Lowry had a strong run on goal in the final minutes of play, but she was stopped by an outstanding deflection by Silverdale keeper Megan Jarrell.
* McMinn County 9, Bradley Central 0: The Lady Cherokees fired off 26 shots and received three goals on just as many shots from the locked-in Jalen Rymer.
* Cleveland 3, Grace 1: Savannah Engelbrecht scored Grace's lone goal off a cross from McKinley Tyson.
VOLLEYBALL
* Silverdale 3, Boyd Buchanan 1: Silverdale was victorious on senior night as Savannah Williams had 17 kills and three blocks. Melanie Marcus had six blocks, while Ashlee Kugler had 30 assists and 13 digs.
* Notre Dame 3, Grace 2: The Lady Fighting Irish survived a thriller, taking the fifth set 24-22. McKenna Brown and Emmeline Crisp combined for 26 kills, while Mary Fillauer had 17 digs and 37 assists for Notre Dame. Grace's Sydney Alumbaugh and Victoria Betrous combined for 28 kills, while Mckenna Pickett had 30 digs and Mirian Ateca had seven aces.
* Ooltewah 3, McMinn County 1: Hannah Irwin had 13 kills, while Caty Hughes delivered nine with seven blocks to lead the Lady Owls to victory.
* Hixson 3, Central 0: Anna Johnston did a little bit of everything for the Lady Wildcats, picking up 13 assists, 10 digs, five aces and four kills in the sweep. Hixson received nine kills each from Riley Bellamy and Ava Rogers.
* Sequatchie County 3, Grundy County 1: The Lady Indians improved to 6-1 as Cali Green led a well-rounded attack with seven kills. Sequatchie's Abby Smith had six aces, and Zoe Smith had six kills and two blocks.
* Walker Valley 3, Sale Creek 2: Walker Valley's Melody McRee had 13 kills and six aces, while Ashlynn Akiona had 42 digs in a hard-fought win. Ava Higgins and Sarah Gibson combined for 30 kills for Sale Creek.
* Dade County dropped matches to Pigsah and Scottsboro. Logan Frint had 13 kills in the first match.
SOFTBALL
* Ringgold 10, Adairsville 3: Caroline Hemphill hit a three-run homer, Baileigh Pitts added a two-run shot and Taylor Layne pitched a complete game, allowing two earned runs. Jade Gainer was 3-for-4, and sister Amber Gainer 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored for the Lady Tigers (7-3, 6-1 Region 6-AAA).
* Coahulla Creek 9, Murray County 1: Lady Colts ace Sophia Voyles allowed two hits and struck out seven in the five-inning game while also driving in three runs for Coahulla Creek (12-2, 6-2). Steahl Smith had a pair of hits and drove in two runs, with Mary Day Eisenrath also getting two RBIs.
* Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe 10, LaFayette 1: Haley Stahl pitched a four-hitter and added two RBIs, while Heidi Johnson was 3-for-5 with three RBIs and Carlee Wilson was 2-for-5.
* Calhoun 4, Cartersville 1: Lyndi-Rae Davis was 3-for-3, including a pair of doubles, and drove in two runs, while Molly Banks added a pair of hits for the Lady Yellow Jackets, who received a three-hitter from ace Maggie McBrayer.
* Central-Carroll 5, Ridgeland 4: The Lady Panthers couldn't hold a 4-2 lead after four innings in the Region 7-AAAA game. Marianne Beliveau had two hits, drove in two and scored twice, while Elly Barnes and Bryanna Goldsmith had RBIs for Ridgeland.
* Northwest Whitfield 9, Southeast Whitfield 3: Mia Sewell led the Lady Bruins (9-2, 5-1 Region 7-AAAA) with four hits, two runs scored and an RBI. Eden Rann was 3-for-3, while Kylie Hayes, Maddie Ramsey and Torrey Cummings each had two hits for Northwest.
GOLF
* East Hamilton defeated McMinn County at WindStone, 164-206. The Hurricanes were led by a stellar nine-hole round of 37 by Tucker Wick.
* Cleveland swept at the Cleveland Country Club against Bradley Central and Ooltewah. Blue Raiders freshman Tripp Hall and Bradley's JT McKenzie each shot a 35, while Cleveland junior Hannah Nall kept up her outstanding play with a 2-und-par 34.
* Boyd Buchanan's JK Walters and Madison Butler led a sweep of Chattanooga Christian, posting score cards of 40 and 43, respectively, at Moccasin Bend.
Contact MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com and follow him on Twitter @PMacCoon. Contact Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com and follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.