South-Doyle wins first state title in program history

MURFREESBORO — When the final whistle blew and South-Doyle had just won its first state football title, athletic director Daryl Chandler ran up to Cherokees coach Sam Mitchell and hugged him .

“Your mom and dad would be so proud,” he said. “It would have meant so much to them.”

Recounting it a few minutes later, after South-Doyle hoisted the trophy following a 2-1 win over Greeneville, Mitchell got emotional talking about his late parents. He’s a South-Doyle alum, graduating in 2015. And he’s now the coach who delivered the Cherokees the Class AA state championship after an improbable run to the TSSAA state tournament this week at the Richard Football Complex Siegel.

The title came in the program’s second state tournament appearance and first since 2018. Greeneville’s loss came a year after it finished second in the state and appeared in its four-state championship game.

A minute into the game, it seemed more likely that South-Doyle would lose by 10 goals than win a championship trophy at the end of the day. The Greene Devils didn’t score until 46 seconds into the game when Brody Inscore found the back of the net on a free kick, and then Greeneville looked like the much more dangerous team for the remainder of the first half.

At halftime, with his team on the ropes, sophomore Jude Straussfogel walked around the South-Doyle bench and challenged his teammates. They were flat, he said. If they didn’t wake up, there would be no celebration in South Knoxville on Friday.

“You could tell all of our guys were just checking in right after,” Mitchell said. “And we just pressed, pressed, pressed. We said we wanted to go to their back line and we did. And that was the difference.”

South-Doyle wins first state title in program history

Straussfogel may have inspired his teammates, but he was the one who ended up doing the heavy lifting. He tied the game with a goal in the 62nd minute, then kicked a penalty in the 69th and coolly slipped it past the goalkeeper and into the back of the net.

“I knew I would make it,” he said. “I’m 100 percent on the spot this season.”

At this point, it was clear that the Cherokees were just moments away from winning a football trophy for the first time in school history. Even with the lead, South-Doyle continued to pressure until the final whistle and never seemed in serious doubt about losing the lead.