This season’s final iteration of the Smoky Smackdown took place Saturday at CHI Memorial Stadium between the Chattanooga Red Wolves and One Knoxville SC. After outlasting heavy pressure in the first 45 minutes of play, Ropapa Mensah gave Chattanooga a short lead just before halftime; however, Knoxville managed a late equalizer in second half stoppage time to force a draw and split points for a 1-1 final.
With critical points on the line for both sides and few matches left on the calendar, the intrastate rivals looked to establish dominance early.
In similar fashion to Chattanooga’s last outing against Northern Colorado, the Red Wolves found themselves mostly on the back foot through the first 15 minutes as Knoxville worked to find their first of the night – a handful of shots and corner kicks, however, were unsuccessful.
The Red Wolves broke out of their defensive end for a few moments, including a shot from Declan Watters that landed out of play and the first shot on target from Omar Hernandez that was scooped up by the Knoxville keeper. The possession grew more even as the contest headed into the 35th minute, with Knoxville holding a slight advantage. Chattanooga’s best chance came in the 40th minute when Stefan Lukic headed a feed from Pedro Hernandez that forced the opposing keeper into a leaping outstretched save.
Just before the half concluded, Ropapa Mensah broke the nil-nil stalemate with his eighth goal of the season, collecting a feed from Pedro Hernandez and knocking it past Knoxville’s keeper for the opening goal of the contest.
As the second half began, Chattanooga looked to maintain their momentum and began to press more to extend their lead while continuing to keep Knoxville at bay. The contest was nearly tied in the 50th minute when a shot from Innocent Nshuti hit woodwork and bounced out for a goal kick. While the first half saw no cards issued to either side, contrary to past meetings between the sides, there was an uptick in physicality into the second 45 minutes with cards shown to Red Wolves Jamil Roberts and Leo Folla.
TJ Bush once again turned in a solid performance for his side as the visitors fervently pushed for an equalizer. Mayele Malango and Tobi Jnohope entered the contest in the 65th minute to provide fresh legs for the Red Wolves in their efforts to grab a second goal. The defense was tested with a corner kick in the 68th minute, but it was parried away, and the ball was sent down field for a breakaway chance led by Pedro Hernandez that was kicked out of play by a Knoxville defender.
Michael Knapp came on for Lucas Coutinho in the 82nd minute to register his first appearance since August to help fortify the defense as time neared totality. The action fell back into the Red Wolves defensive end within the eight minutes of stoppage time, and Knoxville managed to find their equalizer in the 90’+3rd minute with a goal from Dani Fernandez after heavy pressure. Chattanooga made their final substitution to bring on Chevone Marsh for Stefan Lukic in hopes of a late go ahead goal from one of their top scorers.
The final moments of the match would see back to back corner kicks from Marsh that were close to going in but ultimately landed out of danger, and the 1-1 result would hold at the final whistle.
Chattanooga will head on the road against Forward Madison for their next match and continue their road swing against the Richmond Kickers the following week. They will close out the 2024 regular at home against Lexington SC on Saturday, October 26th. The match will support breast cancer awareness for Pink Out. Tickets are on sale now.
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