CPA, Kane Patterson beat Lausanne, Eric Gray in top prospects matchup to make DII-AA final

They shook hands and stopped each other in line Friday night.

The top two college football prospects on the field — and two of the best in the state — shared a brief moment standing in the sloppy mud at midfield at Christ Presbyterian Academy.

That's when CPA linebacker Kane Patterson gave his best recruiting pitch to Lausanne running back Eric Gray.

"He's nasty," Patterson of Gray's running style after CPA's 21-14 win in the Division II-AA semifinals. "I'm going to try and get him to go to Clemson."

CPA (13-0) will play BGA (11-2) in the DII-AA state championship game at 3 p.m. Nov. 30 at Tennessee Tech's Tucker Stadium. BGA was a 50-7 winner over FRA.

Patterson is the No. 7 college prospect in Tennessee, according to 247Sports and No. 204 overall in the country. Gray is the No. 8 college prospect in the state and No. 209 in the country.

Right now, though, both plan to go different directions in college. Patterson is committed to Clemson. Gray has committed to Michigan, but is keeping his options open.

"(Patterson) is a great player," Gray said. "He was actually going to Ohio State, so we would have played each other again."

This was Patterson's best performance of the season. CPA coach Ingle Martin has limited Patterson's play at times this season. Patterson was coming off a knee injury in last year's playoffs. The Lions lost to Notre Dame in the 2017 Division II-AA semifinals.

"We wanted a shot at Eric Gray," Patterson said. "This was probably the best defensive performance we've had all season.

"My goal was to just to try and get a shutout. I thought that would be awesome to get that."

Patterson had 14 carries for 84 yards and a touchdown. He also had seven total tackles.

His 13-yard touchdown run gave the Lions an early 7-0 lead. Noah Henderson reeled in Ryan Eledge's 29-yard pass to push it to 14-0. Gray trimmed it to 14-7 with a 10-yard touchdown run with 9:18 left.

Gray finished with 30 carries for 147 yards and a touchdown. He battled the mud and CPA defenders all night. He'd cut one way and often slip. He finished his career with a TSSAA state record 138 touchdowns.

CPA's Andrew Madden extended the lead to 21-7 with a 15-yard run before Lausanne ended the scoring with Schyler Forest's 35 yard TD pass with 2:34 left.

The Lynx had their 38-game win streak snapped. The Lynx (11-1) last lost 42-10 to St. George's on Nov. 13, 2015 in the second round of the Division II-A playoffs.

Lausanne won the previous two DII-AA state titles, including a 41-13 rout of Notre Dame last season.

"It's been a long journey since ninth grade," Gray said. "It feels like we were just ninth graders and now we're seniors that have played the last game we'll ever play. 

"We played a good team. They have some great players."

TSSAA football playoffs:See the Tennessee high school football third round scores

TSSAA football playoffs:Division I semifinal matchups, Division II championship schedule

Reach Tom Kreager at 615-259-8089 or tkreager@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Kreager.