South-Doyle soccer. (Photo by Danny Parker)
BY DAVE LINK
MURFREESBORO – South-Doyle’s historic run continued Wednesday night at the Class AA state soccer tournament at Siegel Soccer Complex.
Sophomore Cameron Harp scored in the 72nd minute, lifting the Cherokees to a 1-0 victory over Station Camp of Gallatin in the state semifinals.
South-Doyle (19-3-2) will play Greeneville (14-9-1) on Friday at 11 a.m. for the state championship.
“We’re excited for that match,” South-Doyle coach Sam Mitchell said. “We know that’s another top team. We’re just playing top teams, and that’s what you do when you get to this point.
“It’s fun and we’re excited to come out here on Friday and get a chance to bring home a championship to SoKno. It would be special.”
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The Cherokees are making their second trip to the boys’ state soccer tournament and posted their first state victory in program history Tuesday night, beating Cocke County 5-0 in the quarterfinals.
“It’s amazing, first time in program history,” Harp said. “It feels great. Now we’ve got to go and win it.”
Greeneville defeated Millington 6-0 in their semifinal Wednesday.
South-Doyle and Station Camp were tied 0-0 with 8:28 left in the half when lightning struck, starting a delay lasting 3.5 hours.
After the delay, the Cherokees and Bison appeared headed to overtime until Harp got an opening with 8:28 left in regulation.
Roger Oseguera Cruz made a cross to Harp, who scored from about 8 feet in front of keeper James Preston.
“It was a great pass to me,” Harp said. “(Cruz) read it, I called his name, he saw me, he passed it straight to me on the ground, easy for me to finish, easy as you like.”
Station Camp had 15 shots to South-Doyle’s four shots.
South-Doyle’s Jonah Mitchell, the coach’s nephew, made seven saves, and James made three saves for Station Camp.
Station Camp was Class AAA state runner-up last year before dropping down to Class AA this year.
The Bison won Class AAA state championships in 2017 and ’18.
“Powerhouse, man, let’s call them what they are,” Sam Mitchell said of Station Camp. “I have all the respect for them. Words are hard to say right now.
“This team is just so special. They’re brothers, they want to play for each other, the talent is so high, and there’s no quit in them, even when Station Camp was possessing over us, and we still find a way. It was awesome.”
GREENEVILLE ROLLS TO FINALS
Greeneville posted its second straight victory over Millington in the state tournament; the Greene Devils beat the Trojans 6-0 in last year’s quarterfinals.
They had a 2-0 lead Wednesday when the lightning delay began 20 minutes into the match.
“It was good to have that buffer, but more importantly, it was how we came out and found our chemistry and feet really early (after the delay),” Greeneville coach Jerry Graham said. “We hated the lighting delay because we were playing so well, and anytime you have a break like that you don’t know if you’re going to come back and have that same kind of flow.”
Greeneville returns to the state championship match for the second straight year.
The Greene Devils lost to Valor College Prep 4-3 in a penalty-kick shootout in last year’s title match after the teams played to a scoreless tie after regulation and overtimes.
“It’s just about these guys,” Graham said. “You lose 11 seniors from last year and you talk about coming back and plugging people into different positions and the hard work these guys have done. This is just a testament to what these guys have put into this.”
Connor Stayton and Austin Beets had two goals each for Greeneville.
Simon Holt and Jude Dyer had the other goals for the Greene Devils.
“The big thing for us was to play calm and collected in this game because we know what we can do,” said Beets, a senior forward. “We’ve just got to pass the ball and find the net.”
Greeneville had 17 shots and Millington had seven.
The Greene Devils have won three state titles, three-peating from 2017-19.
Graham and his players are aware of South-Doyle’s hot streak.
“They’re a really good team,” Graham said. “We’ve been following what they’ve been doing all year against quality competition. To come in here and beat Station Camp speaks for itself. We’ll have our work cut out for us but we’re going to go back and regroup and come back with a game plan.”