How Ravenwood secured first trip to TSSAA football state championship since 2019

BRENTWOOD — Ravenwood seniors Cy Longley and Jaylen Pollard weaved through the crowd before embracing in a hug that had been years in the making.

The Raptors (14-0) had just handed Southwind its first loss of the season 28-25 to advance to the Class 6A state championship game for the first time since 2019. They will face defending champion Oakland at 7 p.m. CT on Dec. 6 in Chattanooga's Finley Stadium trying for their first title in a decade.

Longley and Pollard played alongside each other at Sunset Middle School, with many of Ravenwood's 38 seniors, and ever since their earliest days sharing the field, they've dreamed of a moment like this.

"We've been talking about this for so long," Pollard said with a smile beaming across his face. "We couldn't come down with it last year, but this year we knew if we stuck together, we'd be good."

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Pollard had an interception and returned a fumble 65 yards for a touchdown, and the quarterback tandem of Maverick Chance and Femi Babalola each contributed two total touchdowns, including a 51-yard TD pass from Babalola to Chance in the second quarter.

Both are part of the senior class, which hasn't forgotten the hurt of last season's state semifinal defeat to Houston. And it's the bond within that group that has lifted the Raptors to heights not seen in the better part of a decade, leaning on one another through every obstacle faced this season.

"We do everything together. Every day, every practice, every rep, literally everything, we do it together as a brotherhood," senior Matthew Anderson said. "From cleaning the locker room together to doing some extra reps out here, I mean, it's just a crazy brotherhood that I wouldn't trade for the world."

In order to reach the 6A state title game, Ravenwood first had to do something no other program had been able to achieve this season — slow down quarterback and Mr. Football finalist Kelvin Perkins, who entered with 65 total touchdowns (40 passing, 25 rushing).

Perkins rushed for two touchdowns and passed for two against the Raptors, but he also threw two interceptions after having thrown just three all season.

"We knew he was a great athlete and we knew their receivers and running back were great athletes in front of him. Amazing O-line, so, it's really just our coaches . . . It's really just big, thanks to our coaches for preparing us that way every day in practice," Anderson said.

Raptors coach Ricky Rodriguez entered this season with sky-high expectations, taking over for longtime coach Will Hester, who had led Ravenwood to its most recent title, in 2015. Rodriguez continued upon the principles built in Hester's tenure, emphasizing a bond within the group, which ultimately pushed the team one step closer to a Gold Ball.

"It's unbreakable. You see it during the school day. You see it in the football locker room. These kids are genuinely best friends and they love each other," Rodriguez said. "And then you add the element of how much our coaches love one another and these players, I mean, that's a hard recipe to beat when you have such a close-knit group of seniors and a coaching staff that just cares deeply for them."

Harrison Campbell covers high school sports for The Daily Herald and The Tennessean. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @hccamp.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: How bond within Ravenwood football led to TSSAA state championship game