How Jude Straussfogel's halftime talk inspired South-Doyle soccer to first TSSAA state title
MURFREESBORO — When the final whistle went, and South-Doyle had just won its first soccer state 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. "This would've meant so much to them."
Recounting it a few minutes later, after South-Doyle had lifted the trophy following a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Greeneville, Mitchell was emotional talking about his late parents. He's a South-Doyle alum, having graduated in 2015. And he's now the coach who delivered the Cherokees the Class AA state championship after an improbable run through the TSSAA state tournament this week at the Richard Siegel Soccer Complex.
The title came in the program's second state tournament appearance and first since 2018. Greeneville's loss came a year after it finished state runner-up and was playing in their four state championship game.
A minute into the game, it looked more likely that South-Doyle would lose by 10 goals than lift a championship trophy by the end of the day. The Greene Devils scored just 46 seconds into the game when Brody Inscore found the back of the net off a set piece, and then Greeneville looked like the far more dangerous team for the rest 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 our guys just checked in right after that," Mitchell said. "And we just pressed it, pressed it, pressed it. We said we wanted to go at their back line and we did. And it was the difference."
Straussfogel might 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 stepped up to a penalty kick in the 69th and coolly slotted it past the goalkeeper and into the back of the net.
"I knew I was making it," he said. "I'm 100 percent from the spot this season."
By that point it was clear that the Cherokees were just moments away from lifting a soccer trophy for the first time in school history. Even with the lead, South-Doyle continued to press until the final whistle and never looked in serious doubt of losing the lead.
When the Cherokees went behind within a minute on Friday morning, it was the first time they'd trailed all tournament. They cruised by Cocke County in the quarterfinals thanks to a hat trick from Anestis Tiriakidis, then squeezed past a Station Camp team that hadn't lost in over a month with a 73rd minute goal from Cameron Harp.
That led to a showdown with an area rival in Greeneville in Friday's title game. And while the Greene Devils had their moment, it's the Cherokees who will head back east with the biggest prize.
"This," Straussfogel said, "is probably the best day of my life."
Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at jonah.dylan@commercialappeal.com or on X @thejonahdylan.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: TSSAA soccer: South-Doyle wins first state title in program history
