Bartlett Soccer finishes on the wrong side
of championship game thriller
By Thomas Sellers Jr
West10/Legacy Media
MURFREESBORO — The Bartlett Panthers were most favorites to win heading into the 2025 Class 3A State Soccer Tournament held at the Richard Siegel Soccer Complex in Murfreesboro.
The Panthers reached the State Semifinals in 2023 and finally made their return to the Elite Eight with a record of 16-1-2 last Wednesday.
Bartlett eliminated Siegel 2-0 in the opening round with goals from Logan Carr (Arturo Ramirez assist) and Ramirez (Maddox Terwilliger assist).
The following day in the Semifinal round, the Panthers outlasted the Cookeville Cavaliers 1-0 to earn a spot in the championship game set for Friday afternoon.
Bartlett beat Cookeville courtesy of Ramirez’s second goal of the tournament.
The Hardin Valley Hawks were the opposition of the Panthers in the last game of the Class 3A State Tournament. The game played in the main stadium of the complex was an 80-minute thriller.
The Hawks prevailed with a late goal 4-3 to snatch the championship from the Panthers.
Bartlett and Hardin Valley were deadlocked 2-2 by halftime when Mihezagiro Lewis (Ramirez assist) scored to make the tally 1-0 in favor of the Panthers.
Hardin Valley surged ahead 2-1 with a pair of Asher Stimson goals. With less than 4 minutes remaining in the first half, Bartlett tied the game when Maddox Terwilliger located his teammate Max Steele. Steele connected for the score and the scoreboard read 2-2.
Early in the second half the Hawks flew ahead 3-2 when Nathan Holbrook scored. Then for nearly 30 minutes the Panthers looked doomed.
Then Bartlett rallied with a fierce offensive attack. The breakthrough moment came when Ramirez scored his third goal of the tournament at the 75:35 mark of the championship game. Ramirez trickled a shot into goal that created an eruption for the Panther faithful and tied the game at 3-3 with 4 minutes and 25 seconds remaining in regulation.
As the cheers of the Bartlett fans were still echoing through the Murfreesboro sky, the next explosion was the Hawk fans when Ben Brophy scored with 2 minutes and 53 seconds on the clock.
Brophy’s score turned out to be a heartbreaker for Bartlett and the game-winning goal for Hardin Valley.
