Blue has record; 4-peat is BHS goal
BEARDEN — Bearden High School entered this week with a chance to win a fourth consecutive Class AAA girls soccer state championship.
This year, however, veteran head coach Ryan Radcliffe isn’t quite sure his Lady Bulldogs are the favorite to win the state title in 2024.
“This year, I don’t think we’ll be the favorite. I think that’s on Houston this year,” Radcliffe said after the Lady Dawgs clinched another trip to the state tourney with a dominant 9-0 victory over Jefferson County Saturday afternoon, Oct. 19, at Turner-Allender Field in a state sectional match.
“I don’t think you can say that there’s a team that we’re going to see, or a game that we’re going to play, that will be easy for us,” he added.
The 2024 state tournament field also includes the top-seeded Lady Mustangs (19-0), Murfreeboro Oakland (8-4-4), Science Hill (16-2-1), Franklin (15-1-1), Collierville (14-3-1), Page (15-5-2) and Siegel (15-2-1), the opening foe of Bearden (18-1-1), the No. 2 seed, starting at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 25, at Girls Preparatory School.
The state title match at Boyd-Buchanan High School is set for opening kicks at 11 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 26.
Meanwhile, junior star forward Jayla Blue’s four goals against Jefferson County helped her shatter the school’s single-season goal scoring record, having 42 markers heading into the state tournament.
Blue also is second on the school’s all-time scoring list with 99 goals and trails only Brinley Murphy (now playing in the SEC at South Carolina), who scored 110 goals in her stellar varsity career.
“She’s the epitome of a goal scorer,” Radcliffe said of Blue.
The Lady Dawgs wasted no time putting away JCHS (10-9-2), opening a 7-0 advantage by halftime. Bearden ended the match early, as the TSSAA mercy rule was invoked, when Claire Jenkinson made the score 9-0 late.
