Potter Advocate For Powerful DII-AA East/Middle Region

Trotter-Led McCallie Faces Pope John Paul In Playoff Opener

  • Wednesday, November 5, 2014
  • Larry Fleming

McCallie football coach Ralph Potter, who leads his Blue Tornado against Pope John Paul II in Friday’s TSSAA Division II-AA state playoff game at Spears Stadium, pointed out that just reaching the postseason has been a nightmarish march through a East/Middle Region mine field.

“It’s the SEC West of high school football,” Potter said. “It’s a tough league with lots of good athletes, excellent coaches and keeps getting better.”

Only one of the seven region teams has dropped a game to an outside opponent, that being Baylor in a 17-10 loss to Oakland, the state’s fourth-ranked Class 6A team, on Oct.

10.

The rest of the season Middle/East squads beat up on each other.

Ensworth is a No. 1 seed and Brentwood Academy a No. 3 in the upper bracket.

Montgomery Bell Academy is No. 2, McCallie No. 4, Baylor No. 5, Father Ryan No. 6 and PJP No. 7 in the lower bracket.

Memphis University School, out of the West Region, is a No. 1 seed in the lower bracket.

Ensworth, which lost to McCallie, 62-34, on Sept. 26, has the best record in the division at 8-1. McCallie, Brentwood Academy and MBA all come in at 8-2.

“There are four teams at the top of our region that could beat each other on any given night,” Potter said. “Baylor is just a notch below that and their only loss was to Oakland (9-1 and a No. 2 seed in its class). Add Baylor and Father Ryan into the mix and you have six really good football teams.”

For the most part, McCallie has risen to the challenge and competed on a high level, especially Alex Trotter, who has turned in one of the state’s top season-long effort regardless of classification.

Trotter, a 5-foot-8-inch, 170-pound goes into Friday’s opening round matchup needing just 32 yards rushing – he averages 196.8 per game – to reach the 2,000-yard mark. He’s scored 28 touchdowns and 10 pass receptions have helped produce 2,014 all-purpose yards.

“I think it’s the hardest division in the state,” said Trotter, who left Boyd-Buchanan for McCallie prior to his freshman year. “Every team is good. I think Bowling Green (Ky.) and MBA are the two best teams we played. Those guys had a lot of speed, strength, heart and a lot of mature players.”

The Blue Tornado beat Bowling Green, the No. 1 team in the Bluegrass state at the time, 21-20, and lost to MBA, 58-41, in the regular-season finale.

If McCallie beats PJP, it would advance to a quarterfinal showdown against MBA, which drew a first-round bye.

Despite the punishing schedule – the Blue Tornado played Ensworth, Baylor and Brentwood Academy on successive Fridays – McCallie came through the regular season basically unscathed until this past weekend in the MBA loss.

Running back Paul Silverblat and linebacker Matthew Brock suffered concussions and won’t be available against PJP. Reserve running back Maxim Yeoh is out with a high ankle sprain.

Potter has been around football his entire life – his father, Pete, coached at Brainerd from 1965-72 before going to McCallie in 1973 and coaching for 21 years – and has been a constant playoff participant with one state championship in 2001 when the Blue Tornado went 12-0.

Kenny Sholl and Grady Burgner bridged the Pete and Ralph Potter eras at McCallie.

In his 21 years as a head coach, Ralph Potter has a 150-81 record in two stints at the Blue Tornado helm, other stops Baylor and Brentwood Academy. He is the only man to be head coach at Baylor and McCallie.

What was it like for Potter at Baylor?

“About the same here as here,” he said. “Football is football and players are players.”

Coaches who have been influential in Potter’s maturation process include his father, of course, current assistants Mike Newman and Chris Richardson, Kenny Sholl and Austin Clark and Fred Hubbs at Baylor.

“I’m probably forgetting some coaches, but those guys have really helped me a lot,” Potter said. “Austin, who would have made a heck of a football coach, but was too skinny to play, was the athletic director at Baylor and hired me. I was an assistant for six years before getting the head job.

“He taught me about backing up people you work with, about toughness and intensity while at the same time caring about people.”

From those mentors, Potter gleaned pieces that eventually carved out his coaching philosophy and said instituting his system on a yearly basis “depends on the quarterback I have.”

“Generally,” he said, “we’re a running team that likes to throw the play-action pass.”

After going 1-9 in his first season with the Blue Tornado, Potter cranked up the program and made eight trips to the playoff semifinals over 10 years. Twice in that same span, McCallie reached the title game, beating MBA 17-16 in 2001 and losing to the Big Red, 37-34, in 2006.

“It was a good run,” Potter said. “I thought we could have won it in 2000 and 2006.”

Speaking of running, Potter said Trotter is probably the best back he’s coached when it comes to a combination of speed and power.

Trotter has piled up 1,968 yards on 235 carries, an 8.4-yard average per carry. He’s also scored 28 touchdowns for 168 points.

How impressive is Trotter’s rushing total?

JaVaughn Craig, a skilled junior quarterback, is second on the team with 872 yards and eight touchdowns. Add passing yards and Craig has amassed 1,924 total yards, still just shy of Trotter’s rushing numbers. Craig has 23 touchdowns.

When Potter first noticed Trotter as a sophomore, it was the youngster’s quickness that caught his eye.

“He was a speed guy at that point,” Potter said. “He had a good sophomore year, although we didn’t ask a tremendous amount from him. He was hurt a lot his junior year. This year his training and maturity has really helped in the approach of taking care of his business.

“I call him coach Trotter because he holds everyone accountable, including me. He’s a mature kid. Well, not a kid. He’s a man.”

Trotter, who has 2,014 all-purpose yards, has been a key player in McCallie’s rebound from a 4-8 record in 2013 to a mark six games above .500 heading into this postseason.

It’s not a one-man show, though.

Trotter credits the offensive line – right tackle Billy Boardman, right guard Shea Longshore, center George Devaney, left guard J.J. Moncus and left tackle Logan McCallie – and wide receivers group for clearing paths for him to run.

“Those guys have really been blocking great for me,” Trotter said. “I couldn’t have done it without them.”

Ironically, trust in those players is the primary reason for the huge offensive numbers put up by McCallie this season.

“That’s what helped me more than anything this year,” Trotter said. “I learned to trust my blocking instead of trying to make it happen on my own. I don’t worry about the yards, but I know we’re having success. We can count up the yards at the end of the season.”

While McCallie has put up 3,437 yards rushing, the Craig-led air attack has gained 1,114 yards. Tyler Payne, Silverblat and Tyrik Stewart each has at least 200 yards receiving and a combined 10 touchdowns.

McCallie averages 455 total yards per game, with 343.7 on the ground.

Stewart is also a return specialist with 641 yards on 22 tries, including an 85-yarder, on kickoffs and 50 more yards on seven punt returns.

But Trotter is weapon No. 1.

And he won’t see anything this week from PJP that he hasn’t seen earlier.

“Baylor ran a really unique defense against us,” Trotter said. “They would blitz off the edge and have the edge guy come right at me to make a tackle. Whether I had the ball or not.”

The Blue Tornado defeated PJP in a 59-38 shootout in Hendersonville on Sept. 5 to open the region schedule.

“It ended up being a fun game,” Trotter said. “They scored quite a bit, but we didn’t give up. We always fought back.”

Potter says the Knights show considerable improvement in the offensive line and they have a mobile quarterback and a “really big” tailback.

Defensively, coach Jerry Joslin’s team will show lots of looks up front and try to confuse the opposition’s offense.

“It’s going to be a challenge,” Potter said. “They’ve got a good team.”

First-Round Pairings

Chattanooga Area Schools

Games start at 7 p.m. Local Time

Class 6A

Bradley Central (5-5) at Science Hill (9-1)

Walker Valley (5-5) at Maryville (10-0)

Class 5A

Stone Memorial (6-4) at Ooltewah (10-0)

Soddy-Daisy (6-4) at Oak Ridge (10-0)

Clinton (7-3) at Cleveland (5-5)

Tullahoma (5-5) at Rhea County (10-0)

Class 4A

Page (6-4) at Hixson (8-2)

DeKalb County (5-5) at Signal Mountain (8-2)

Chattanooga Central (6-4) at Livingston Academy (9-1)

Class 3A

Chattanooga Christian (4-6) at Notre Dame (9-1)

Bledsoe County (5-5) at Red Bank (6-4)

Grundy County (5-5) at McMinn Central (8-2)

Class 2A

Rockwood (7-3) at Boyd-Buchanan (5-5)

Meigs County (6-4) at Knoxville Grace (7-3)

Whitwell (6-4) at Trousdale County (7-3)

Marion County (9-1) bye

Class 1A

Clay County (4-6) at South Pittsburg (5-5)

Copper Basin (6-4) bye

Division II-AA

Pope John Paul II (3-7) at McCallie (8-2)

Father Ryan (5-5) at Baylor (6-4)

(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)

 

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