By CAROL STUART
For Brentwood Home Page
Ravenwood’s most successful boys soccer season came to an end in its first state tournament appearance, after the Raptors fell behind three goals in the first 8 minutes.

RHS (15-3-1), which won its first district and region titles, tried to battle back but couldn’t recover for a 4-2 loss to Houston (17-2-3) in Tuesday’s TSSAA Class AAA quarterfinals at Richard Siegel Soccer Complex in Murfreesboro.

“We came into this a little bit too confident,” senior defender Grant Lowder said. “They scored three quick goals, we put our heads down and just couldn’t get back in it.”

In other Spring Fling action, defending state champions Brentwood boys and Ravenwood girls advanced into Wednesday’s Class AAA team finals. In Division II-AA baseball, three-time defending state champ Brentwood Academy lost its opener 7-1 to Memphis University School and dropped into the losers bracket.

Soccer: Houston 4, Ravenwood 2 

Sophomore Dylan Rose got the Raptors on the board in the 13th minute, with an assist by Sean Fitzpatrick, after RHS trailed 3-0.

Dylan Rose got a goal for RHS to close within 3-1. (Photo by Peg Fredi)

Ravenwood had a shot in the opening seconds of the second half. But Houston went up 4-1 on Charles Blankenship’s second breakaway goal of the game in the 53rd minute, with Tyler Patterson trying valiantly to catch him.

“We got spirited but then tried to go offensive which leaves you vulnerable in the back,” Lowder said.

Raptors senior Wil Linder had a nice cross that was just missed by freshman Josh Keller in the 54^th minute. Linder then got a yellow card shortly after the play.

Another sophomore, Eduardo Magallanes, scored the Raptors’ second goal – booting in a 45-yard beauty just over the keeper’s head to pull within 4-2 with 18 minutes remaining.

“On any day no goalkeeper in the world is going to touch that. That was a brilliant goal,” RHS Coach Ken White said.

Although it seemed to give Ravenwood some new life, the Raptors couldn’t find the net again.

“When you get a goal like that from Eduardo, how can you not get real excited? Everyone gets a burst of energy, but today it wasn’t enough,” said Linder, a University of Memphis signee.

Houston jumped on Ravenwood with a goal just 2 minutes in the game by Eli Price, assisted by Noah Price, then Charles Blankenship had a one-on-one score at 6:13. The Price-to-Price connection hooked up again for a 3-0 Houston lead at 7:47.

White, a former professional and college coach who took over this spring, said he usually didn’t complain but called the first goal “so far offside it was an embarrassment to the game. That just basically killed us and from there on we were in a time warp or something.”

He wasn’t happy with his team’s performance, saying the Raptors “were beat to every ball” and didn’t capitalize on opportunities. “We just didn’t come today to play,” White said.

Both teams had six shots, with Brian Vermeulen netting two saves in goal for RHS.

“I’d say the whole season was a complete success, before this game obviously,” Lowder said. “We played well as a team, started off kind of rough, came together at the end. It was a great season overall.

Linder said Houston’s speed up top was a factor in the early goals and he didn’t think the Raptors “were all quite awake at the start of the game.”

Lauren Caballero led RHS victory (Photo by Peg Fredi)

“We are so blessed to be here and to have this opportunity,” said the star midfielder-forward, who was injured in the only regular-season losses and missed the district tournament and region semifinals.

“Days like this happen, and it’s football. The whole team just a great effort all year, and I love them all like my brothers.”

Girls team tennis: Ravenwood 4, Science Hill 0
Boys team tennis: Brentwood 4, McMinn Co. 0

The Lady Raptors swept singles to move into a rematch of last year’s AAA girls finals against White Station at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at Old Fort Park in Murfreesboro.

Junior Lauren Caballero won 6-1, 6-1 over Alison Storie, and Iris Hao defeated Katie Deal 6-2, 6-2. Vivian Hao beat Hope Forebush 6-3, 6-1, and Kelly Rains blanked Leah Eddy 6-0, 6-0.

The Bruins also didn’t give up a set to advance into the 11:30 a.m. championship match with Tennessee High after defeating last year’s runner-up Tuesday.

No. 1 Alex Howard downed Michael Barlok 6-1, 6-1, while Ryan Satterfield swept Ram Patel 6-0, 6-2. Evan Borowski shut out Brandon Macdonough 6-0, 6-0, and Michael Arugello won 6-1, 6-3 over Matthew Pannell.

BA's Harrison Alexander makes tag at second. (Photo by Renee Yabrough)

Baseball: MUS 7, Brentwood Academy 1

Memphis University chased BA starter Hunter Wood with a four-run third inning to go up 5-0 and send the Eagles into a Division II-AA elimination game Wednesday.

Brentwood Academy now plays Baylor at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Wilson Central in Gladeville, Tenn. The winner will advance to an evening losers' bracket final.

Will Haynie went 2-for-3 for the Eagles, who had only 5 hits but made 4 errors. His sixth-inning triple led to BA’s only score after Taylor Greene’s RBI groundout scored pinch runner Will Hodge.

The DII-AA championship will be played at 12:30 p.m. Thursday at MTSU's Reese Smith Jr. Field in Murfreesboro.