Once the football teams that qualified for postseason began play in the TSSAA state playoffs, the seniors fortunate enough to still be playing knew any upcoming game could be the last in their prep careers. McCallie tackled that problem last week, and its 19 seniors hope for the same result Friday.
The Blue Tornado will hit the road for the second consecutive week in the Division II-AA playoffs, this time traveling even further than the trip to Battle Ground Academy in Nashville where they slipped past the Wildcats 24-17 with a touchdown in the waning seconds. McCallie (5-5) will make the trek this week to take on Memphis University School (7-3) in a game scheduled to start at 8 p.m. EST.
McCallie has scored 21 or more points eight times this season, so its offense has been plenty noticeable. But it's when the defense plays well that the Blue Tornado wins, and they feel that will need to be the case against the Owls' multifaceted attack.
"They're big and very athletic," McCallie coach Bubba Simmons said. "Their approach offensively is, if they can just run straight at you, that's their game plan and they're very content and happy to do that. They also have an option package they can go to. It's whatever they feel like. That's what makes them hard to defend."
Despite his team's defensive linemen often being undersized compared to the opponent, and that's the case again, Simmons likes their disposition. He said from front to back, the players on defense rely on the techniques they've been taught, and depend on and play for one another.
"Our strength defensively is we play well as a team," said 5-foot-10, 175-pound senior safety Brian Viscomi, who is second on the team with nine pass breakups and third with 75 tackles. "We try to swarm to the ball and get a lot of guys to the point of contact.
"We trust each other and all feed off each other. Our defense wouldn't work unless everybody was in the position they were supposed to be in."
Like most teams, McCallie's tackles leaders are its linebackers, headed by junior Eric Wolf's 102. Senior Hayden Cronan, who's next with 95 and leads in tackles for loss with 11, said often the defensive linemen occupy blockers, allowing him and Wolf cleaner opportunities to get to the ballcarrier.
"We play a couple of different fronts," Cronan said. "On certain ones they help us out a lot. On others we're going to have to shed blocks, too. They're not at all hesitant to throw their heads in there. I've got to give them their due, too."
Cronan is equally respectful of those who play behind him.
"We've got a really, really smart secondary," Cronan said. "They've got so many checks they've got to go through, they blow us linebackers out of the water. They know exactly what we're in and where they need to be. We have full confidence in them."
Given the offense's productivity, McCallie's defense doesn't have to hold the opposition to single digits to have a chance to win. It's allowance of 16.8 points per game in the Blue Tornado's victories would be less if not for giving up 34 in the season opener against eventual District 5-AAA champion McMinn County, but they had the Cherokees down 49-16 at halftime.
MUS has won its last five and has averaged 32.8 points during the streak, so the defense knows it has a challenge ahead. But Cronan, who like Viscomi is among the 12 who have played football together at McCallie since sixth grade, said he isn't ready to turn in his uniform.
"It dawned on me Monday," Viscomi said. "We were putting together a new scheme and it made me think the BGA seniors were putting their stuff up for the last time last week. I really don't want to do that. We've got a lot of football left in us."