photo by Jaime Barrett
The setting was nothing new for the seven seniors on the Boyd-Buchanan boys’ soccer team, but this time the Bucs got to celebrate a different outcome.
Playing in their fourth consecutive Class A/AA state sectional, the Bucs put three years of heartbreak behind them by earning a 1-0 victory over Merrol Hyde and a trip to this week’s state tournament in Murfreesboro.
It will be their first state appearance since winning the championship in 2010.
“We had been here three times before, and this time I knew my brothers were going to get it done,” Boyd-Buchanan senior Jeremy Borders said. “I knew we were going to fight to the end until the whistle blew, and it happened, so we’re all really excited right now.
“This means a lot. We all grew up together, and it’s just fantastic that the seven of us get to go to state together as a family in our final year.”
The District 5 and Region 3 champion Bucs hosted Merrol Hyde on Sunday to accommodate both schools’ graduations, and became the last of eight teams to qualify for the A/AA state tournament. To get there, Boyd-Buchanan had to fight past a Hawks team that attempted to shut down the Bucs offense by packing in its defense and hoping for a counterattack.
That strategy nearly paid off when a Merrol Hyde shot hit the post with just under 12 minutes remaining in the first half, but a Bucs defender was there to clear the deflection.
“They obviously came in with their own game plan to try to sit back and counter, and they almost got a result off of it,” Bucs coach Dustin Walker said. “We told our guys to just stay patient and stick to our game plan, and we would figure out different ways to get behind them. And we did that, we just weren’t super lucky with our finishing today. We knew the guys wanted it, and that heart wasn’t going to be a problem. We just wanted to make sure that they didn’t get frustrated.”
Boyd-Buchanan’s work paid off about five minutes later, when Hayes Wood fought his way into the box and delivered a cross that freshman Seth Highfield sent off the Hawks’ keeper and into the goal for a 1-0 Bucs lead.
“Hayes is so quick and explosive,” Walker said. “We try to get him going forward more than he does, because when he gets it in his head to do that, it’s hard to stop him.”
Wood had several more dangerous strikes in the second half, which featured three yellow cards with tension mounting for both teams as the clock wound down. Meanwhile, the Boyd-Buchanan defense limited the opportunities for Merrol Hyde to attempt an equalizer.
“Because it was so slow for them in the first half, I think we got a little sluggish for a while,” Bucs coach Jason Owens said. “Then we started communicating and getting into the rhythm of the game, and at that point, I felt pretty confident. They were talking, they were stepping, they were doing everything they were supposed to do, and I wasn’t really worried.”
Even with confidence in their strong defense, the Boyd-Buchanan players, coaches and fans couldn’t help but feel the pressure of a 1-0 lead in the final minutes of a match with the state tournament on the line.
“I feel like that was the slowest two minutes ever,” Walker said. “But they kept their heads. They won every ball that was sent in. Those are always scary, but credit goes to our guys for winning them and getting out of dangerous situations.”
“We just praise God for this. We’ve been praying for this for this group of guys for a very long time. These boys have been together since they were 4 and 5 years old. Now that they’re seniors, there’s nothing we wanted more for them than this experience of getting to go to the state tournament. We’re just so thankful that they get to do it, and that we get to share it with them.”
(E-mail Jaime Barrett at jaimenbarrett@gmail.com)