Page soccer received a bit of a wake-up call in the District 11-AA tournament semifinals Tuesday.
Spring Hill, fighting to keep its season alive, gave the top-seeded Patriots all they could handle. The first half ended in a scoreless tie.
Page junior Jamie Smith finally broke through with a goal in the 66th minute, and senior Grayson Dugan added a tally just before the final horn to give the Patriots a 2-0 win and a spot in Thursday’s district title game against Central Magnet.
Lesson learned.
“Never take any games for granted,” said Page senior captain and center midfielder Nolan Colladay. “I came out here thinking we were going to win this game pretty handily. But anything can happen in any game.”
Page coach Nate Clapp was never worried. He figured his players would pull it together, just as they have so many times in what’s shaping up to be a special season for the program.
“I’d say it was a little bit stressful, but I have a lot of faith in this team,” Clapp said. “They just go get the job done.
“This is the most complete team I’ve ever had, all the way from our goalkeeper to our forwards.”
That’s high praise for a coach who has led Page to three state tournament appearances, including a runner-up finish in 2017. The win against Spring Hill was Clapp’s 150th since taking over at Page in 2007.
By handling a tough schedule, Page (13-1-2) proved it could be a serious Class AA contender with a chance to make another deep postseason run this year.
The Patriots, who have outscored their opponents 63-10, beat CPA, Independence, Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet and Nolensville and drew against Central Magnet and Ravenwood in the regular season.
“These guys are showing what my ultimate goal is: schedule the best so you can become the best,” Clapp said. “We’ve gone and played the best teams, and we only have one loss (to Franklin on April 27).”
According to Clapp, Page is strong on the offensive and defensive ends with quality bench depth. That last part has been especially key.
“In 2017, we lost our starting center back to an injury,” Clapp said. “We had decent guys to go in, but with this team, we have really good players coming in off the bench.”
Page also has a talented starting lineup that knows how to work together.
Dugan leads the team in scoring with 15 goals in his first full season since suffering a knee injury two years ago. The Maryville College signee has been impressed by Page’s chemistry.
“Guys just jell so quickly because that’s what we want,” Dugan said. “They don’t want to just come in and play the game; they’re coming here to form those relationships and actually be a team that’s going to work for a sole purpose.”
Sophomore Hyatt McDonald has tallied 12 goals, while senior Ethan Fawehinmi has added five. Junior goalkeeper Jack Gorman has allowed just 10 goals all season and owns a .800 save percentage.
“It doesn’t matter how good we are offensively, we have to be sound defensively to win championships, especially in this district,” Clapp said.
Page locked up an automatic bid to the Region 6-AA tournament by virtue of a 6-0-1 league record, so a loss Thursday wouldn’t have spelled the end of its season.
But Colladay and the other seniors know what’s at stake with each tournament game. They don’t want to miss out on a chance to compete for a state title in Murfreesboro.
“We realize that opportunities like this don’t come every year,” Colladay said. “I definitely think we have a stronger team this year than we usually do. Making sure we take this opportunity and really do something with it is important.”
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