BY DAVE LINK
MURFREESBORO – It was a tough Friday afternoon for the Gatlinburg-Pittman soccer team at the Siegel Soccer Complex.
The Highlanders gave up a flukey goal starting the second half and lost to Independence Academy of Gallatin 2-1 in the Class A state championship game.
It was the second consecutive state title for Independence Academy, a school that’s about 10 years old.
First-year G-P head coach Jason Owens was the first oneconsoling Highlanders’ goalkeeper Dylan Plate after the match.
And Owens spent several moments embracing his keeper.
“Our goalkeeper has done a phenomenal job all year,” Owens said, “and for it to happen at the end of the year is just kind of disappointing.”
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With the score tied 1-1 at halftime, Independence’s Gael Avila Alanis booted the second-half kickoff a long way toward the G-P goal.
Alanis may have been attempting a pass, but his kick sent the ball into the air, turning it into a shot. It bounced once and thenover Plate and into the goal.
“I think it was a bit of the wind and not expecting them to go direct (kick) at that point,” Owens said. “It’s just unfortunate. I just hate that for our goalkeeper and our boys. It’s a tough goal to give up.”
Independence Academy (18-2-1) has been a common opponent for Gatlinburg-Pittman (14-4-1) at the state tournament in recent years.
In 2024, G-P defeated the Lions 2-1 in the Class A state quarterfinals on its way to winning a third state championshipsince 2018. Friday was G-P’s third runner-up state appearance since 2019.
Last year, the Lions defeated G-P 2-0 in the state semifinals on their way to the first state championship, and they backed it up Friday.
“Independence does what they do very, very well,” Owens said. “When they look to score, they’ve got a bunch of guys who canscore heavy. It’s tough to break them down.”
The Lions had 24 shots in this year’s title match, while G-P had seven shots. Each team had three corner kicks.
G-P was called for 10 fouls and Independence four.
Kevin Escalante scored in the 15th minute off an assist by Onan Cruz Moreno, giving the Highlanders a 1-0 lead.
It held up until the 23rd minute when the Lions’ Tristan Ramirez drilled a shot from about 15 yards past Plate.
At halftime, the Lions had nine shots and G-P had one shot.
“I think we were in good shape to score early,” Owens said, “but unfortunately, just gave up kind of a bad goal close to the end of the first half.”
Alanis’s kickoff goal was a stunner starting the second half.
The Highlanders, however, regrouped and managed six shots at Lions goalkeeper Carlos de la Cruz in the second half.
But they couldn’t get one by him.
The Lions spent the last several minutes playing defensively, and when time ran out, their celebration began.
Owens told his players not to forget the success that got them to Murfreesboro.
“I don’t think a lot of people expected us to be here with the class we had (graduating) last year and for me being a first-year head coach,” Owens said. “I don’t think a lot of people had faith in us to get here, but we were happy to prove them wrong. We wish we could have gotten one more (win), but I think overall, we tried our best, and that’s all you can do.”
The Highlanders made their eighth consecutive trip to the state soccer tournament (not counting the COVID season in 2020).
And they probably expect to return in 2027.
“We do have sort of a program set up where we just kind of keep rolling and rolling,” Owens said. “Hopefully I don’t mess that up too much, keep it in the tracks and hopefully we’ll be here next year as well.”