Knoxville Orthopaedic Clinic (KOC) is the proud sponsor of 5Star Preps 2025 Spring Sports Postseason Coverage.
BY DAVE LINK
MURFREESBORO — South-Doyle and Fulton will face off Thursday at 4 p.m. CT in the semifinals of the Class AA soccer tournament at Richard Siegel Soccer Complex.
Both teams won quarterfinal matches Wednesday after heavy rain and thunderstorms postponed Tuesday’s matches.
Defending state champion South-Doyle defeated Nashville’s Hume-Fogg 4-0, and Fulton beat Crockett County 4-3 in quarterfinal matches.
Cocke County, however, wasn’t as fortunate, and neither was Gatlinburg-Pittman.
Cocke County lost to Station Camp 7-0 in their Class AA quarterfinal match, while G-P was defeated by Independence Academy of Antioch 2-0 in their Class A semifinal match.
Here’s a look at how South-Doyle and Fulton advanced and Cocke County and G-P were eliminated:
CRUZ BREAKS TIE, SCORES 2
Junior forward Roger Oseguera Cruz scored twice for South-Doyle (17-1-3), including the first goal in the 25th minute.
When the game was postponed Tuesday, there was no score with 23 minutes left in the first half.
Cruz broke the draw when he scored from the left side off an assist by junior Finn Straussfogel.
“It was very important,” Cruz said of his first goal. “The game was very hard. I think that goal may have opened the game up for us.”
It was just what South-Doyle coach Sam Mitchell wanted.
“When it’s 0-0,” Mitchell said, “you’re coming out and you’ve only got 22 minutes (left in the half), but more reason to start strong, more reason to make sure we play the way we can play, and power to the team.
“They came out ready to play. We really emphasized owning the first five to 10 minutes. We found that first goal and the second(goal). It’s crucial. Hats off to Hume-Fogg. They’re a heck of a team. We responded really well to that and to find the back of the net early was big.”
Cruz was fouled inside the 18-yard box in the 27th minute.
Jude Straussfogel, Finn’s twin brother, drilled a penalty kick past Max Hartert for a 2-0 lead.
Finn Straussfogel made it 3-0 in the 69th minute, scoring on a rebound after a shot by William Carroll.
Cruz scored again in the 72nd minute on a penalty kick.
Mitchell’s nephew, Jonah Mitchell, got the shutout.
South-Doyle finished with 21 shots to Hume-Fogg’s 10 shots.
“I think it’s a great win for us,” Cruz said, “and it’s motivation for us in the next game. We’re ready for the next game.”
When their match ended, the Cherokees walked about 50 yards to another field and watched the end of the Fulton-Crockett County match.
“Selfishly, I love (coach) Austin (Clow) over at Fulton,” Sam Mitchell said, “and all our guys, we love the Fulton guys. Selfishly, we’re hoping Fulton wins because we’d love to be playing another Knoxville team. We’re rooting them on just as much as they were rooting us on.”
The South-Doyle vs. Fulton winner advances to Friday’s state championship at 1:30 p.m. CT and will be playing its third game in three days due to Tuesday’s rainout.
“I think it’s where we’re going,” Sam Mitchell said. “Any time you’re looking at tired legs, and you’re playing tough teams at the state tournament, but when you’re looking at paying for another night for a hotel, you’ve got to do this and do that, I mean, it’s kind of the only option unless the TSSAA was in some way able to step in and help financially.”
FULTON’S GONZALEZ SCORES 4
Fulton appears to have a superstar in the making in sophomore forward Emmanuel Mosquera Gonzalez, who scored all four goals in Fulton’s win Wednesday.
The Falcons and Crockett County had not started their match Tuesday when it was postponed.
Gonzalez, a native of Colombia, was the place-kicker for Fulton’s football team this past fall. He played soccer for the Falcons last year.
Fulton is making its first-ever appearance at the state soccer tournament, so the quarterfinal win was special for the Falcons.
“It’s an honor because we are representing not only the school but also our families and the coaches and everyone else who have made this possible,” Gonzalez said through an interpreter.
Gonzalez scored twice in the first 15 minutes Wednesday, giving the Falcons a 2-0 lead.
Crockett County cut the deficit to 2-1 a couple of minutes later, and Fulton took the 2-1 lead into halftime.
“Emmanuel had a really good game today,” Clow said, “but I think it took the whole team to get him the ball and he just finished really well. He’s had games where he’s gotten those chances and not finished, but he was ready to play today.
“The chances he got, he put them in the net. He almost got a fifth one. Credit to the guys for getting him the ball and continuing to look for him, and he just attacked the whole game.”
Crockett County tied the match 2-all before Gonzalez’s third goal put Fulton ahead for good in the 58th minute.
His fourth goal made it 4-2 in the 66th minute before Crockett County scored on a penalty kick with in the 78th minute.
“We’ve talked all year about the past few games have been history (makers) for us,” Clow said. “We’ve never won the district. We won the district. We’ve never won the region. We won the region this year. We’ve never been to state. We’re at state. We’ve never won at state, so we won. We’ve talked about every day is a chance to make history, and we’re just taking it one game at a time.”
They’ll look to make more history Thursday against their buddies from South Knoxville.
“We love the guys at South-Doyle,” Clow said. “We were in the same district a couple of years ago. Love coach Mitchell. They’ve got a great team. They put it to us earlier this year (in a 5-0 South-Doyle win).
“We’re excited to play them. A lot of those guys are friends. We’re excited to represent Knox County, to represent Fulton, and to play against South-Doyle.”
FIGHTING COCKS FALL
Cocke County coach Arodi Leon praised his team for making a return trip to the state tournament.
The Fighting Cocks (11-9) fell behind 4-0 against Station Camp (18-2-2) when rain and thunderstorms halted play Tuesday.
It didn’t get much better Wednesday.
“In all honesty, their whole starting roster is really good,” Leon said. “It’s really hard for a team like ours to compete with somebody that plays soccer year around. I think part of it, mentally, that first half yesterday, the name (Station Camp) weighed on them, the fact that we’re playing Station Camp, the team to beat out here this season, I think got in their heads a little bit.
“I think we could have given them a little more of a fight. Again, to do what we did this season with the size of a team we have goes out and speaks to the greatness of all these kids that gave it all this season.”
Cocke County played without one of its top defenders, Isaiah Russell, a senior who’s enlisted in the Naval Academy.
“Coming to state we lost one of our main defenders who started the whole season for us,” Leon said. “He couldn’t make it out here to the state championship (because of Navy obligations), and with the little numbers we have, there’s little we could do against a team like theirs.”
Senior Morgan Pittman was another captain.
“He’s a great guy who gave it his all,” Leon said. “Before the end of the game we talked about it: The first year he was here, we couldn’t beat anybody hardly in our district and to turn it around was great and to come to state two years in a row speaks of greatness.”
Sophomore center back Donovan Campos will help the Fighting Cocks build for the future.
“He gave us life in this game yesterday and today, sacrificing everything he has,” Leon said. “He played like a senior already, the mentality he has. I’m hoping out of all of this, colleges and people can look at film and see what he’s done against really good players who have signed for Division I schools, and he has shut them down for us. He was our player of the game and he did great the whole season for us.”
TOUGH DRAW, LOSS FOR G-P
Gatlinburg-Pittman’s bid for a fourth state soccer championship ended against Independence (17-2), which it beat in a penalty-kick shootout in last year’s state quarterfinals.
The Highlanders (16-5-1), defending state champions, had trouble regrouping after Tuesday’s 3-1 victory over District 1-A rival Pigeon Forge, according to coach Zach Schrandt.
“I think yesterday looked like a state final,” Schrandt said. “Two of the top teams in the state have to play in the first game, and on top of that, it’s our archrival. I don’t think people understand how hard it is to do that, and we’re the early game in the heat, and to turn right back around and play.”
Schrandt questioned the seeding of the Highlanders for the state tournament. The TSSAA used an RPI formula for this year’s draw.
“I did vote for the RPI,” Schrandt said. “We’re ranked No. 1 (by MaxPreps) and we get a 3 seed. There’s a vast disconnect. Our RPI strength of schedule was as 7.6 and Independence’s was a negative .03, so our reward for playing a seven-times harder schedule than anyone else in Single A, I guess my question is, if I’m me and I’m coming back, why would I schedule Bearden?
“Why would I schedule a Houston or a Dobyns-Bennett? Because the four losses we took are to the four teams ranked in the top 20 in the country, and we lost by one goal to all of them, and our reward was our archrival in the opening game and that game (against Independence) afterwards. We just didn’t have anything in the tank.”