McCallie Aiming For Return to State Championship Game

McCallie barely missed out on making it four straight appearances in the state championship game last season.
They fell by one lousy point to MBA in the semi-final round of the playoffs.
News 12’s Brian Armstrong has Big Blue in the 30-in-30 Spotlight.

It speaks to McCallie’s football success when making it to the state semifinals is a disappointing season.”
Said running back Javon McMahan:”Everybody got used to winning. That loss reminded us like it can’t happen forever. That fuels us to keep going and get back to where we were.”
Said head coach Ralph Potter:”Just try to do the best you can. Put together as good a team as you can. Try to get them to play as well as they can and see what happens.”
But McCallie returns a lot of talent from that team last year, including the two Carsons. Carson Gentle and Carson Lawrence.
Said Potter:”We’ve got some that have been recruited. We’ve got a lot of good ones that probably weren’t as recruited as they wanted to be, but they’re really good high school football players. It takes everybody really. We’re looking forward to seeing how they do.”
Another returning quarterback is St-Hilaire, who stepped into a high pressure situation last year.
Said Potter:”He had a great year last year. Played really, really well. It was very difficult for him because you think about it, you win three straight championships. First day on campus in three weeks we’re playing. To follow that and have to deal with that kind of pressure I thought was amazing on his part.”
And Potter has seen him grow in the off-season.
Said Potter:”He’s going to be a lot more comfortable this year and a lot more ensconced in what he’s doing and in good shape with it all.”

A place of growth this season is the offensive line. They’re returning just two starters from a year ago.
Said Potter:”We just have to really work. We’ve got two offensive linemen that are back. We’ve got to bring along some younger guys up-front.”