Will garner its first trophy with win or draw with positive goal advantage
One Knoxville SC players and staff would have been keen observers of the Friday and Saturday results around USL League One before taking the pitch at Covenant Health Park in the late afternoon of Sunday, Oct. 19. Had Chattanooga Red Wolves SC dropped points and Spokane Velocity FC lost in their respective matchups, a One Knox win would have secured the club its first trophy. However, the only other teams left vying for the Players’ Shield, awarded to the top point-getters during the regular season, both eked out narrow one-goal victories, imbuing Knoxville’s match against Texoma FC with even greater importance and gravitas.
A cold front that had blown through overnight caused transportation issues for the traveling squad and prompted a two-hour delay to the kickoff, which was originally scheduled for 3 p.m. The One Knox social media team effectively notified its supporters of the change well in advance, and clear skies and seasonable temperatures returned in the aftermath of the boundary. However, whipping winds lingered throughout the contest, making it feel much brisker than it actually was.
Aside from most players wearing long sleeves and a few sporting gloves, the gusts and wind chill didn’t seem to affect play all that much. In fact, the away side’s official elimination from the postseason the night before seemed to fire it up. The team from a part of North Texas close to the Oklahoma border (hence its name) came out hot, overloading the midfield, pushing its fullbacks forward and peppering Sean Lewis’ goal with uncomfortable frequency in both halves.
Texoma’s aggressiveness almost cost it before it settled into the game, though. Only a minute had elapsed when goalkeeper Javier Garcia inexplicably rushed 40 yards out to challenge Babacar Diene as he fought with a defender for a through ball. The keeper won the slide tackle, but the ball fell to Kempes Tekiela, who flicked it over him, evaded another tackle and launched a long shot toward the goal. It wound up being on target, but one of two recovering defenders headed it off the backline. The wild aggression that led to the effort was astonishing, but it did foreshadow events to come.
A pinpoint cross from Gio Calixtro on the right provided Diene with a half-chance on 11 minutes, but the striker directed his firm header wide left. Philip Spengler has been an impact performer for Texoma all season, but the midfielder attempted a progressive pass a few seconds later that was swiftly intercepted by Stuart Ritchie, and the left back made an extended run down the touchline, slowing down at its midpoint and then scooting past a defender and centering the ball to Tekiela in the area. The No. 10 misfired from 12 yards out, clipping it high over the crossbar.
Spengler almost atoned for his mistake five minutes later when he slipped a prescient pass into the area that should have been converted by Brandon McManus. Jordan Skelton was defending but couldn’t collapse on the forward before he snapped a low shot from just to the right of the spot. It scuttled along the grass to Lewis, who parried it to his left before gathering it. Texoma’s high press then forced a turnover in the 18th minute, and the counter resulted in William Perkins having an open look at goal for only a brief moment. It was Spengler again who played the winger in on the right, but an extra touch meant that a hustling Sivert Haugli was able to cover enough ground to block the shot over the endline.
Had a forward movement by Knoxville in the 27th minute yielded a tally, it almost certainly would have been named goal of the year at the campaign’s conclusion. The ball rarely touched the surface of the pitch as it was juggled and lobbed downfield en route to Ritchie volleying it into the box. Alas, it never reached Diene, having been headed away by an alert piece of defending before the striker could apply a finishing touch. Soon after, a flurry of activity at the opposite end culminated in a weak header that Lewis easily handled in the 29th.
In the 32nd minute, following a petulant kick out by Spengler at a vulnerable Skelton that earned the Texoma player a yellow card, the away side was lucky not to have conceded a penalty. A defender bent low to clear a Ritchie cross but missed, and the ball bounced up into the breadbasket of another, who essentially cradled it with both arms before booting it away. Referee Drew Klemp was having none of the home team’s claims, though, and allowed play to continue. Straightaway on the other end, Ritchie, whose hands were clearly situated behind his body, slid and used his torso to stymie a shot by Spengler, who then had the temerity to throw his hands up the air in consternation at not having been awarded a spot kick.
In the 41st minute, Spengler accepted a throw-in from the right touchline, shielded the ball from Callum Johnson and created just enough space to unleash a drive that trailed slightly away from Lewis as it approached the far post. The keeper saw it all the way but still had to dive in order to palm it over the endline. It was the most dangerous chance either team had hazarded to that point, it was the last move of any significance to take place in the period and they went into halftime knotted at zero.
One Knox manager Ian Fuller had been booked for dissent in the 44th minute, and, in addition to the aforementioned yellow on Spengler, Texoma’s Patrick Staszewski picked up a caution in first-half stoppage time, but it would have been difficult to envision before the break the sheer number of shenanigans that were to take place after it. Even though the score was deadlocked and the match ostensibly could have gone either way, Texoma seemed to emerge from the tunnel with the primary intent of playing spoiler to Knoxville’s march toward the Players’ Shield – regardless of the collateral damage or the optics.
As he attempted to lead a break in the 51st minute, Nico Rosamilia was cynically held back from behind, drawing a yellow on Reid Valentine. Although it has since been attributed to Perkins, McManus was shown a card for an unnecessary follow-through on Haugli a minute later. Mere seconds after that, Jon Jordan latched onto Calixtro, who dragged him on his back from the arc to a couple yards inside of the Texoma 18. How Klemp neither awarded a penalty for an action that continued into the area nor issued a straight red (or even a yellow) to the left back for making no attempt whatsoever to play the ball is unfathomable. Even without the benefit of video assistance, the foul clearly warranted further reprimand.
With several One Knox players visibly aghast at the improper, lax ruling and the official dismissing persistent entreaties from the captain Skelton, up stepped Tekiela to survey the free kick. Diene intimated a deep run-in, but everyone in the park knew the lefty was going to hit it, and he rattled the bottom of the bar with a fierce curler that slammed straight down into the turf and rebounded almost all the way out from the area. Undeterred, the home side regained possession after a short clearance and continued to press. After muscling through a challenge, Calixtro again was fouled inside of the area by Jordan, who bowled him over from behind.
This time, the decision was given – although a yellow was handed out to Teddy Baker instead of the offending player. Perhaps it was for something he said, but it is astounding that Jordan escaped unscathed from back-to-back, beyond-clumsy challenges inside the box. Assigned PK taker Tekiela took the ball and faced up to Garcia, the overall League One record holder in saves from the spot who just last week also extended his single-season record with a sixth penalty stop. Undaunted and confidence undiminished from pinging his previous set piece off the woodwork, the former Borussia Dortmund academy product calmly finished to the right of the keeper for a 1-0 lead in the 56th minute.
But then, no sooner than it had fallen behind, Texoma leveled the score. Though it didn’t occur directly following the whistle, only 19 seconds separated the go-ahead goal from the equalizer. A long ball down the right flank found Perkins, who scuffed a feeble cross into the area that wound up meeting Baker’s run. The midfielder’s scorching shot drew a fine low save from Lewis, but the netminder was helpless on the follow-up, which Baker tucked under his leg before he could fully extend it. Exemplifying the antagonistic nature of the club on the evening, Baker and company further agitated the affair by celebrating obnoxiously in front of the section of the stands devoted to the Scruffs – which neither they nor any of the other home supporters appeared to appreciate.
In the 63rd minute, Mikkel Gøling and Stavros Zarokostas replaced Rosamilia and Calixtro, respectively, and it didn’t take long for the latter incomer to leave an indelible imprint upon the match. The winger was unguarded as he hugged the right touchline and received a pass from Jaheim Brown in the 65th minute. Dribbling slowly, Zarokostas lured two defenders before dropping a shoulder and sprinting down the line to beat both. Maintaining possession down the endline, he waited until the last possible instant to forcefully cut a ball into the path of Diene, who timed his arrival into the goal box to perfection, edged in between two defenders and buried the cross.
It was the sixth assist and ninth tally for the team leaders in those respective categories, and they hardly could have come at a better time – especially when Texoma still posed a menace in attack. In the 69th minute, the ever-present Spengler slotted a precision ball into the area to Ozzie Ramos, whose shot was repelled by a sliding Haugli. It was during succeeding play after a corner from the right that the tensions that had been simmering for much of the match finally boiled over.
Diene went over the ball in an objectively nasty tackle on Sergio Chavez near the left corner flag, and McManus was the first to take exception to the challenge on his teammate. He was joined in his rebuke by several other Texoma players, who began jostling and shoving with the One Knox squad. Ramos then inserted himself into the drama, pushing through the crowd and seeming to strike Diene in the face. The Knoxville forward retaliated and looked like he made contact with the midfielder’s chest, but Ramos’ hands rose to his face as he dropped to the ground and began to roll around hysterically.
From there, all hell broke loose. Simultaneous to Ramos starting his shameful acting display, Brown grabbed Chavez’s shoulders and slung him to the pitch, setting off a secondary chain reaction. Skelton pulled Brown away before Chavez could lob a punch, which diffused the situation until Davey Mason tried to reignite it by throwing an elbow/forearm at Abel Caputo. While Klemp was still in the process of sorting everything out, Zarokostas went down clutching his face, but he, too, may have embellished any contact that landed.
The chaotic scene marred what otherwise had been a tough and hard-fought yet open and thoroughly entertaining game. It again must be noted, though, that the officiating had been poor throughout and that the crew’s leniency and inability to establish control over the proceedings early on directly contributed to the blowup. Despite the myriad goings-on it encompassed, the altercation produced only two cards: a red each for Diene and Mason. The former presumably was punished for the tackle that instigated the melee and/or his conduct during it while the latter’s endeavored shiver is likely what resulted in his expulsion.
With only one meaningless match to go for Texoma after this one, Mason’s single-game suspension amounts to a soft slap on the wrist, but the absence of Diene’s goalscoring prowess in Week 34 will loom large and might mean the difference between One Knox hoisting hardware and slipping to second. Before anyone could think ahead to the final round, however, there were still 20 critical minutes remaining in this penultimate contest that the home side needed to see out, and they proved to be fairly eventful.
Tempers had cooled by the time play finally resumed in the 75th minute but could have flared once again when, after the Texoma free kick was cleared from the Knoxville area, Zarokostas took flight and flattened Jordan as both went up for a header. To his credit, Klemp didn’t overreact to the potential provocation and simply and unemotionally flashed a yellow. The same held true when Ramos hacked Gøling on a slide tackle from behind two minutes later. (Interestingly, the offender writhed around on the grass after committing the foul, but to give him the benefit of the doubt, he may have jammed an ankle in the process.)
Caputo, Ritchie, Tekiela and Brown linked up consecutively for an excellent counter that switched the point of attack from one side of the field to the other before releasing Zarokostas down the right channel in the 83rd minute. Jordan was beaten for pace by the streaking Greek, but the winger couldn’t direct his shot on target, missing a little wide of the far post. Garcia had come out rather far off his line and was susceptible to a chip, but his advanced positioning narrowed the angle from which Zarokostas could aim, as well, and the ploy worked out in the keeper’s favor on this occasion.
A long, low, hard drive from Baker in the 85th minute had eyes for the lower left 90, but Lewis sprawled to his right to get gloves on the shot, and he smothered Chavez’s follow-up effort from a similar distance, as well. Fuller sent in the cavalry at the next stoppage in play, with Lucas Meek relieving Tekiela, Dani Fernandez giving Brown a blow and Angelo Kelly shoring up the middle of the park in place of Johnson. Texoma made two substitutions in the same window, including Diego Pepi – the younger brother of PSV Eindhoven and USMNT striker Ricardo – replacing Ramos.
Play had slowed to a crawl by the time four minutes of extra time were announced, but One Knox fans already had been nervously checking the clock every few seconds for a while when, in the 92nd minute, their main nemesis on the night Spengler nearly stole two crucial points from the home side. Chopping a pass to the right flank in the final third, he continued his run into the area, received a return ball and hammered a powerful first-time shot on frame from just outside of the goal box. Lewis’ reflexive reaction somehow allowed him to drop down quickly enough to repel the rapped effort, and he popped up in time to snare Valentine’s dipping blast from range and snuff out the danger.
The incredible initial stop, nominated for Save of the Week, prevented Texoma from experiencing the satisfaction of altering the course of the title race with its last gasp. Shortly thereafter, Zarokostas had another chance to ice the match that he put wide, but it ultimately did not matter. Klemp sounded his whistle to extinguish the threat, and Knoxville climbed back atop the table with one fixture left to be played.
Spokane’s humiliating 6-1 drubbing the following Tuesday at the hands of Portland Hearts of Pine eliminated the Velocity from the championship chase and ensured that the Players’ Shield soon will find itself nestled in the hills of East Tennessee. Whether it will reside for the offseason in Knoxville or Chattanooga, however, will be determined Saturday, Oct. 25, when the clubs square off in concurrent action that kicks off at 7 p.m. Both of their opponents have been eliminated from postseason competition, although Westchester SC, the team the Red Wolves face, features the league’s top scorer and will be fighting to avoid earning the dishonorable distinction of the Wooden Spoon, bestowed upon the league’s worst side.
Sitting on 54 points, two more than Chattanooga’s 52, One Knox welcomes Greenville to CHP and can clinch the first trophy in its brief history outright with a win over the Triumph. Just a draw will do the trick, provided Chattanooga doesn’t overturn the Scruffy Boys’ plus-5 goal advantage by thrashing Westchester. Even if Knoxville manages to fail in being crowned the league champion, it still will be seeded no lower than second when the playoffs commence, with the first matchup confirmed for 4 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 2. Tickets for both tilts are available for purchase via the team’s website.
