Even though the calendar says September, McCallie football coach Ralph Potter entered Friday night's Division II-AAA East Region showdown with Brentwood Academy feeling like it was still early in preseason practice.
So, despite the Blue Tornado coming out on the wrong end of a hard-fought 30-27 result at home, Potter said the experience would pay dividends for his team moving forward.
"We learned a lot. We're really going to be able to take this film and evaluate personnel, because we really haven't been in this situation this year," Potter said. "We had no scrimmages, and we've only practiced now for two weeks. We'll learn a lot from this."
McCallie (1-1, 0-1), led by strong performances by seniors Eric Rivers and B.J. Harris, answered every punch thrown until the very end, turning the ball over on downs as the clock ran out to end the game after Jalen Jones put Brentwood Academy ahead for good with a 5-yard touchdown run with less than two minutes to play.
Harris finished with 131 yards on 25 carries and a fourth-quarter touchdown to give the home team a 27-23 lead in the fourth quarter.
Even after Jones scored with 1:48 remaining, the Blue Tornado drove the ball to their own 40 before the Eagles' defense held to force them to turn the ball over on downs.
Rivers did a little bit of everything for the reigning state champions, scoring two touchdowns on passes from junior William Riddle and throwing a 70-yard touchdown pass of his own to Jose Osa off a pitch by Riddle.
"We ran that play one or two times in practice, and (Potter) decided to pull it out of the bag," Rivers said.
Brentwood Academy (2-0) was led by quarterback Tayler Monteil's 353 passing yards and field goals of 40, 41 and 48 yards by kicker Teagen Lenderink. McCallie's defense held the Eagles to just 49 yards on the ground, forcing them to make plays through the air.
"We thought that it might become a passing game for them, and it really did," Potter said. "It was good for us to kind of see what their capabilities are and what adjustments we'll have to make if we see them again."
Rivers said this experience will help McCallie improve after so much uncertainty and time away from the practice field this year.
"Tonight we just learned who we are as a team and how much work we have to do to get better," he said. "We're just getting started, so we've got a lot of work to put in and a lot of stuff that we need to work on from here."
Contact Jim Tanner at sports@timesfreepress.com.