The Austin-East Roadrunners took on the Gatlinburg-Pittman Highlanders in the TSSAA Region 1-A championship on Thursday, May 20, 2021, on Samuel Samuel P. Anderson Field at George ‘Dusty’ Lennon Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee. Austin-East won 1-0. (Photo by Danny Parker)
By JESSE SMITHEY
MURFREESBORO — The fledgling Austin-East vs. Gatlinburg-Pittman soccer rivalry is about to add an explosive new chapter.
The Roadrunners and the Highlanders, who’ve had three battles already this season, will play for the Class A state championship at 11 a.m. Central on Friday in Murfreesboro.
The two District 2-A foes won tightly contested state semifinals Wednesday at Richard Siegel Soccer Complex to set up this all-East-Tennessee final.
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Gatlinburg-Pittman had the easier time Wednesday, scoring a 2-1 win over Signal Mountain. The Highlanders (19-3-2) got up 2-0 in the first half and used its defense to preserve that advantage until Signal Mountain scored in the 71st minute.
Still, G-P out-shout Signal Mountain, 17-6, and got goals from Johny Adair (17th minute) and Eydel Ortez (34th minute). Oscar Turcios, who had seven goals in the quarterfinal win over Memphis East, didn’t net a goal but assisted on Adair’s goal.
Adair assisted Ortez’s.
Now G-P, which won state in 2018 and was runner-up in 2019, will try to avenge two playoff losses to Austin-East from this season.
Austin-East won the District 2-A Tournament championship, 2-1, and the Region 1-A championship, 1-0.
The Roadrunners (14-2-1), in this their first state-tournament appearance, almost didn’t make the final.
But Cheikhna Seck, a junior mid, booted one through in the 72nd minute to give the Roadrunners their 1-0 win.
“All credit to Merrol Hyde. We knew that they had a really tight defense,” said Austin-East coach Jonathan Netherland. “We could see that, looking at their schedule and results. They definitely were solid.
“We’ve played teams like that before and we knew we’d have to work at it and create options when we can — and it happened with 8 minutes to go.”
Austin-East’s defense took care of the rest.
They limited Merrol Hyde to just six shots and A-E keeper Jack Tambola only had to make one save.
“Whether they know it or not, they draw from their experiences,” Netherland said of his players. “And that’s why we try to put them through that, scheduling hard teams. That’s why we’re happy to be in a district with Gatlinburg-Pittman.
“So I do think those tight contests and difficult games we had earlier in the season helped our kids.”
Playing Gatlinburg-Pittman so many times over the last few years has helped forge A-E into its current state as a program, Netherland said.
“That’s an opponent I don’t have to schedule myself in order to get good quality competition. It’s honestly been fun to watch our team develop and work hard to chip away. If we would have beat them years ago, I don’t think we would have had the same competitive spirit this season.
“Over the years, they’ve helped us develop than anything else.”