Some thirty seconds remained in Polk County’s 3-0 win over Hendersonville, but the Wolverine fans gathered in G.M. Tennant Stadium were already on their feet and making noise.
You cheer for victories. You cheer for conference championships. You cheer for undefeated seasons.
You cheer, loudly, for history.
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The Wolverines accomplished all of that with their shutout of the Bearcats, capping a 14-0-3 regular season – the first such season in school history – securing their first Western Highlands Conference title since 2019 and undoubtedly sewing up the top seed in the 3A West bracket in the upcoming state playoffs.
A night, a season worth applauding.
“I’m just proud of the guys for all they’ve achieved this season,” said Polk County head coach George Alley. “This has been building for three years.
“They’ll have (Friday) off. Enjoy it. Big man on campus. And then it’s back to just grinding on Monday.”
The Wolverines had to do their share of grinding Thursday as Hendersonville (8-9-1) kept Polk on its heels throughout the first five minutes, the Bearcats pressing and looking for the opening salvo. That instead came from Polk County in the eighth minute, and it came thanks to a recent focal point of team practices.
Polk senior Cooper Meyer intercepted a Hendersonville pass in the Bearcat end, avoided a defender and rolled a pass toward the end line. That allowed Sebastian Azar to race to the end and flick a low left-footed cross that eluded Hendersonville goalkeeper Tanner Jackson and found Meyer, who tapped it into the net for the early 1-0 advantage.
Some thirty minutes later, halftime approaching, the Wolverines stuck to that script and doubled their lead. Thomas Varnadore made a nifty move to avoid a Hendersonville defender and create enough space to drive a pass toward the end line, where Meyer sprinted forward and flicked a cross to the back post. There Blake Anderson outpaced two defenders and fired a point-blank drive into the back of the net for the 2-0 lead.
“We’ve been talking about that quality finish in the final third to take advantage of our chances,” Alley said. “In the first half, we didn’t get a ton of chances, but we finished the ones we did.
“We’ve been talking about getting to the end line, slotting the ball back, especially against good goalkeeping. Draw them to the near post and finish. Once we got the second one, certainly the third, took the wind out of their sails.”
The third tally came in the 51st minute. A flurry around the net ended with Meyer taking a shot from high in the penalty area. The drive ricocheted off a defender and rolled just in front of Jackson, with Azar winning the footrace and poking the ball just past the sliding keeper and into goal.
And then it became a matter of Polk’s defense trying to preserve another clean sheet. Hendersonville nearly broke through in the 63rd minute, with Wagoner deflecting a shot that fell to a Bearcat, whose follow was turned away at the goal line by Polk defender Mason Hudson. The Bearcats hammered a shot off the crossbar in the final five minutes, then forced Wagoner to make a good save on a long kick from the right wing. But save those he did, and Polk could soon begin a celebration long in the making.
Polk County will get a first-round bye in the 3A playoffs and will host a second-round game next Thursday against a team to be determined.
History is nice, but it’s not going to help the Wolverines in their bid for a state crown.
“Now we gotta start all over,” Alley said. “All of that means nothing now. Nobody else in the playoffs cares what your record was.
“But just proud of them. Proud of all of them.”
