UPSL: Playoff Preview - Red Wolves II vs. Scenic City SC
- Philip Farrell
- 3 hours ago
- 9 min read
NATIONAL SOCCER NEWS: www.nationalsoccernetwork.com
Match: Chattanooga Red Wolves SC II vs. Scenic City SC
UPSL Premier Division Georgia North - Playoff Semi-Finals
Date: Sunday, June 14th, 2026. 19:00 (Eastern)
Venue: Weldon Osborne Soccer Stadium | East Ridge, TN
CHATTANOOGA, TN --- The Chattanooga Red Wolves II plays host to familiar foes Scenic City SC on Sunday (June 14th, 7pm ET). In what is fast becoming a hot rivalry in UPSL Georgia, the two teams meet for the third time this spring but now the stakes are higher than ever. A place in the Georgia North Final is on-the-line, and both sides have reason to fancy their chances. This one promises to be a banger!
The two sides first met on April 29 at Scenic City’s CSLA home when the Red Wolves won 1-0 after a controversial penalty call. Promising midfielder Nathan Donoho scored the winner from the spot. It was a tough result for Scenic City after an even battle and who had come into that game six points and three places above the Red Wolves. By the time they met again on May 22, the Wolves were riding high in first place and welcoming Scenic City to their Camp Jordan home. In another tough contest, the hosts rallied to come from behind and beat SCSC 2-1 through goals from Rob Lee and Mathias Cobb, with Donoho the key creator. Wing-back Ben Horchak had given Scenic CIty the lead.
The Red Wolves II (1st Place - P:10 W:0 D:0 L:2 GF:23 GA:11 GD:+12 Pts:24) are on a seven-game winning streak, including both victories over Scenic City and stretching back to April 26. Over those seven games they’ve notched 19 goals, conceding only four. This form propelled them to first place, a point ahead of LSA Mustangs who finished in second. Lee and Donoho are their top scorers with five goals each.
Scenic City (4th Place - P:10 W:5 D:2 L:3 GF:21 GA:15 GD:+6 Pts:17) had more of a patchwork quilt of results, seeing a L-W-W-W-W-L-W-D-L-D season that saw them start in blistering form, the opening day loss to LSA notwithstanding. A talented, cohesive, and tightly knit unit, they’ll be looking to go one better than their 2025 Fall Playoff push which ended in the first round / Q-Final. Jack Conrad is the main goal threat for SCSC, with five on the Spring season. HIs brother Sam is one beyond one four, alongside Marcus Odeny.
Whoever triumphs will face the winner of LSA Mustangs versus Georgia Impact that kicks off on the same day, thirty minutes later. The match takes place at Chattanooga’s storied Camp Jordan soccer complex and kicks off at 7pm Eastern. We’re to expect temperatures in the high 70s by kick-off with rain and thunderstorms persistent all afternoon in the build-up.
Red Wolves II:
The Red Wolves’ seven-game winning run speaks for itself, and they’ve managed to turn Weldon Osbourne Stadium in Camp Jordan into something of a fortress having triumphed there in four of their five home games. After a stuttering opening to the season which saw them win just one in three, they’re now easily the strongest side in Georgia North. A battling and competitive team, they seem to have leaders across the field and are a menacing order for any side. They also boast finesse however, and in the form of Nathan Donoho, a real gem of a talent worthy of turning up to see.
And while the likes of Donoho, in particular, get many of the plaudits, as someone who has seen this team play multiple times, I’ve also been very impressed with Rob Lee up front, Samuel Owusu on the wing, and the back-line wall of Ty Lake and the very vocal Sfiso Ngwenya.
With the Red Wolves hotly tipped to win and fancied to go far in the playoffs, I caught up with Assistant Coach Nathaniel Chmielowicz to discuss Sunday’s game.
Nathaniel, a first place finish in your first time of asking. You must be really proud of this team.
Yeah, absolutely. The way they’ve worked to improve in a short period of time has been impressive, especially after we started in a way we didn't want to. In the first season of a program it would be easy for the guys to accept a lower standard. But, credit to them! They didn’t want that, they wanted to push themselves.
What do you put the team’s success down to?
It comes down to cohesion and chemistry. Now, that might seem like an easy thing to say but our program, it’s a second team. We’re looking to develop professionals. It would be easy for players to think it's about themselves, go out there and take on five players and be a hero. We don’t have that. Every player plays for each other and the badge on their chest. The guys are always hanging out together before, during and after sessions. Outside of playing together, they’re good friends. That’s such a big boost on the field, it goes beyond tactics.
You’re on a 7 game winning streak. How do you ensure there’s no drop in the levels of performance?
Ultimately, it’s about making sure we treat it [Sunday’s Semi-Final] like any other game. We’ve found a decent formula, with a different formation than we started the season with, and with different guys coming in. We’ll be treating this game like the other seven, not putting additional pressure on anyone. These guys have played in high stakes games before, they’ll be treating it like any other while still preparing how we need to.
When it comes to playoff soccer, experience and leadership count more. Where in this Red Wolves side will this come from? Yeah, I think our captain Carlos Rodriguez really helps with that. He steps up, leads talks, breaks things down. Our goalkeeper Austin Montoya is also a player who steps up. Those guys have trained with the first team. Austin is on an academy contract and has played at a high level with the Barcelona academy. He also played with the first team in preseason. These are guys who see the opportunity to step up.
You know Scenic City very well. What threat can they pose to you on Sunday?
They're a great opponent. Both games against them so far were contests of very small margins. In another timeline; they win both matches. They’re a talented group of individuals and as a team. We know how they wanna build having played those two games. It's about how we respond to those challenges. They beat us on a few balls over the top in the second game especially. We’ll work on trying to shut down individual players and respond to new challenges. They have good coaching staff with new ideas, so we need to react.
Tell me more about the pathway this side offers to the senior Red Wolves [USL 1] team.
Ultimately, we know that not every single player will play USL League One for the Red Wolves. It's a decent sized group, so not everyone is gonna play on the first team down the road. Scott Mackenize is at these sessions and there’s a few players close to those invitations to train with the first team. We’re excited about that pathway and getting players from the second into the first team. First, they’re invited to training where they have the opportunity to impress and showcase their talent. We have a proven success with Nathan [Donoho] and are looking to build on that. Each year we can get a few players in that environment. And not every player will earn that first team contract. Beyond the Red Wolves, we’re working on helping them showcase for college, or for other USL League One and League Two opportunities. Each player showcases themselves as best they can.
Scenic City:
Scenic City SC is one of the most cohesive sides I’ve seen. The sense of esprit de corps found in this side is evident by the stability of its roster. A majority of these guys have now been together now across three seasons or more of UPSL play. While a lot of clubs seem to have a revolving door of personnel, there’s a wonderful stability to Scenic City’s makeup. Led from the back by captain Michael Clow, there’s a reliable set of players who’ve played a lot together now including center-back Stiven Galicia, midfielders Taeylor Fisch and Marcus Odeny, winger Clay Gallant, and the Conrad brothers, Jack and Sam.
A lot of that seems to be down to their Head Coach Josh Luff, who often talks about fostering accountability, growth and personal responsibility within his young charges, setting themselves up for success, not just on the soccer field, but in life. He recently spoke to the National Soccer Network in advance of the game.
Josh, it’s the end of the regular season and Scenic City has secured another playoff berth. What an achievement for a side promoted to this level a year ago.
Yeah! Look, it comes back to everything we’ve talked about in terms of hard work and process. It’s nice to be back in the playoffs for sure, but at the same time if we hadn’t we’d look at it and think about what we could do better and do well. Too many teams get so hung up on winning that they lose focus on what matters more.
Who are the leaders in your squad who will be essential to navigating playoff, knock-out soccer?
The good thing about the group we have is that they’ve seen the playoffs before and understand that culture. It’s a team of leaders. We have Michael [Clow] out there and he’s a big contributor to that leadership. He’s heavily involved in the coaching aspect too. Up top leadership from Sam Conrad and Marcus [Odeny]. Unfortunately Gavin Castle has also got an injury. Normally I’d look to him and Adin [Castle, who was injured in the previous tie with Red Wolves] for leadership but they'll both be out. [Taeylor] Fisch is another leader in our group, has been around and understands the system. And guys like Ben Horchak. More than anything we look to the guys that have been around and say, “Hey you understand how this works with the playoffs, now it's time to perform”.
You reached this stage in the Fall and lost 7-5 to Kalonji, who went on to the national QFs. What lessons will have been learned from that experience?
Well, that you gotta bury it and make sure you’re ahead! That even referees can screw up a two goal lead, so don’t leave it in the hands of the referees. I don’t want to pick on referees, but there were some brutal calls in that game. Bottom line: don’t leave it in the referee’s hands. You can't be disappointed when they make mistakes because they are human. So, go out there, build and then maintain a strong lead.
Without giving away too much of your game plan; where are you aiming to stop CRW from executing their game?
Last time they clearly had the upper hand in many areas of the field, especially after Adin [Castle] went down. Now, it's more of “Hey, can we adjust and still look to execute what we’ve always done?” With a key senior team member out, how do we adjust and still execute the same thought process and play in a similar fashion? If we do what we know we’re capable of, then win or lose we can be satisfied with that as long as we’ve done what we worked on. The Red Wolves practice more, some have first team experience, they have consistency of sacrificing day-in and day-out for their soccer careers. We have guys with other lives, jobs, and families to attend to and this causes inconsistencies in practice and things of that nature. That’s a hurdle we recognize, we ‘re not trying to win for the sake of it. We’re trying to build and follow the process. Win or lose, that’s what matters most.
Analysis and Prediction:
Let’s be honest, with two wins over Scenic City already and a seven-game winning march; the Red Wolves are the favorites. If bookmakers fielded bets on the UPSL, I imagine the odds on them would be clear. But this is playoff soccer, and this is Scenic City SC. There’s no easy games anymore (if there ever were) and this is one-and-done football. Both sides have enough in them to make this a contest and no result would surprise me.
For Scenic City, while there’s battles to be won across the park, finding a way to nullify Donoho is going to be critical. The Red Wolves have other good players, but the 20-year-old was the most integral to their two wins over Scenic City this season.
Equally, the Red Wolves need to be vigilant. From the Conrad brothers to Clay Gallant and Stone Davies, Scenic City has the players with the skill and intelligence to open them up. Lake and Ngwenya will be as critical to a Red Wolves win as Lee or Donoho.
What a cracker this game should be, I can’t wait! My thanks, as always, to Nathaniel and Josh for speaking with the National Soccer Network. May the best team win!
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