Admirals outlast Panthers; Hawks’ season ends
Third-seeded Farragut had to work a little overtime to eliminate No. 6 seed Lenoir City at home while No. 5 seed Hardin Valley Academy dropped a 2-1 decision at Maryville, bringing its season to an end.
The Admirals (13-1-2) had to overcome an early deficit to earn a 3-2 victory over, the Panthers in a match that went to overtime an ended on a goal by Will Morris, who found the back of the net with 2 minutes, 48 seconds remaining in the first half of 20-minute overtime, and FHS held on to win.
The game-winner was assisted by Caleb Gahagan, who also had a goal in the match.
Farragut coach Bradley Culbreth was a bit surprised with the competitiveness of the match.
“Playoffs are playoffs,” he said. “I thought we had the run of play early. We just didn’t finish the ball.
“We were down, 1-0, just had a defensive mistake where we didn’t communicate.”
All the goals in regulation were scored in the first half as Morris had the second marker of the first half for the Admirals. But Lenoir City would score the equalizer before the break, making the score, 2-2.
Culbreth credited Lenoir City for finishing on its scoring opportunities.
“They finished the chances they had,” he said. “They capitalized when they had to.”
The sides slugged through a scoreless second half, but the Admirals missed on some scoring chances.
“In the second half, we moved the ball well but didn’t create many chances, but we had chances,” Cubreth said.
Meanwhile at Maryville, a tumultuous 2026 campaign came to an end for the Hawks with a 2-1 loss to the Rebels.
HVA, the defending Class AAA state champion, finished the season with a 6-7-2 record while Maryville moves on to play top-seeded Bearden today (Wednesday).
“This is a real humbling experience,” HVA coach Ray Dover said. “You go from winning the state championship to being bounced in the first round of the district.
“But that’s the beautiful thing about coaching. You’re always learning something.”
Hardin Valley got its lone goal of the match from 2025 state tournament most valuable player Asher Stimson.
The Hawks suffered a key injury early in the match after starting goalkeeper Harrison O’Dell left the game.
He gave way to backup netminder Andrew Warner.
“Our backup keeper played well,” Dover said. “Our season has been defined by moments and on both of their goals, they were just bad moments for us.
“You have to give credit to Maryville, we weren’t unlucky, they just outplayed us.”
The loss ended a disappointing season for the Hawks but they are wasting little time turning the page.
“I told the boys that our 2027 season started as soon as the clock hit zero in that game,” Dover said.
