Know Your Enemy: Chattanooga Red Wolves

Hearts of Pine march south this weekend to take on Tennessee-side Chattanooga Red Wolves at Chi Memorial Stadium. Kick off for the match is at 7:00 PM EDT and is being broadcast live on ESPN+. The Dirigo Union will be hosting a public watch party at Gritty McDuff’s in Auburn. Hearts of Pine will also be hosting a watch party at Brickyard Hollow in Portland, ME and a ticketed watch party at the Lincoln Theater in Damariscotta as part of their How We Got Here documentary release. Tickets for this watch party are sold out.

History

After years lurking at the bottom of the table, Red Wolves have shown this season they do have the ability to compete. Courtesy of thecup.us

In the annals of lower league American soccer, its hard to find a team more emblematic of 3rd division wilderness experience than Chattanooga Red Wolves. With the jank and organizational fumbles reminiscent of an (almost) bygone age, Red Wolves have somehow endured in a rapidly maturing third division despite the drama surrounding the club’s organization.

The origins of the Red Wolves are perhaps the most controversial in American soccer. Launched in 2018 by local soccer enthusiasts and investors, the Red Wolves entered their Tennessee town with a NISA club already well-established, Chattanooga FC. Such a move was not seen favorably by the elder club nor with fans with accusations running rampant including a claim by CFC that the Red Wolves attempted to muscle the established side out of their stadium. If true, such talk never became reality and Red Wolves played for several years in a stadium in the suburbs of the city while CFC took downtown. That’s left little love lost between the 2 sides who hate each other perhaps with as much passion as a European city with dueling sides.

Red Wolves play their home games at Chi Memorial Stadium, a soccer specific stadium supporting 5,500 fans. While not the best attended club in the USL1, Red Wolves do have a small fan community despite being one of the few USL1 clubs to have no supporters group. Since 2024 Red Wolves have been led by their gaffer Scott McKenzie who previously saw experience coaching the Red Wolves' USL2 affiliate.

Players to Watch

Joshua Ramos – A Florida-born defender who joined Red Wolves this past off-season. Ramos has a knack for winning duels, usually recovering an average of about 4 balls per game on the right-wing. Don’t be surprised if you see him move up the wing into the opposition half to trade barbs with our wingers.

Matthew Bentley – English right-winger Matthew Bentley has been serving well this season as Red Wolves stand-in striker. With 4 goals and 3 big chances created, Bentley is perhaps the biggest reason for his club’s resurrection this season (the other being regular striker Pedro Hernandez). The question is will he continue his development into a full-blown striker or will the demands of this season catch up with him.  

Jason Smith – Between the sticks will likely be young 22-year old Jason Smith. Having started for the Red Wolves in 7 of their matches so far this season, Smith averages 1 goal conceded per match which is slightly worse than Hunter Morse’s .8. We’ll see if the likes of Washington & Liadi will increase that average during their duel this weekend but so far Smith has shown he could be a rising star in the USL1 goalkeeping universe.

What to Expect on Match Day

Current Form: LDWWD

League Position: 4th

Tactical Formation: 5-3-2

Let’s get the first part of this discussion out of the way – undoubtable the pitch will suck. Everyone who has watched a Red Wolves match this season has noticed that the natural grass field at CHI Memorial Stadium clearly lacks good drainage. The result is a quagmire anytime the heavens open for even the slightest of sprinkles. According to the National Weather Service forecast office in Morristown, TN, Chattanooga is set to have heavy rain move in starting at 2:00 PM and continuing through the match. Thunderstorms may make an appearance beginning at 8:00 PM. Keep your eye out, because the ball will over the place. Players will swerve everywhere like cars trying to avoid a pothole on Forest Ave. It’ll be rough but we are in the lower leagues.

In terms of an on-field product, this will largely be a game of speed assuming field conditions allow it. Red Wolves has an incredibly fast mover in the form of Pedro Hernandez ready to strike at the turn of possession. A keen viewer of the Red Wolves match against Tormenta 2 weeks ago will notice these breakaway plays are the bread and butter of the Chattanooga side. This match though, was played in Georgia. When playing at home you can see Red Wolves playing much more deliberately although you can tell they have a good feel at this point for how to be offensive on that pitch.

In attack, Hearts will want to build off their stellar development these last several games. With the arrival of Wada, James, and Kamara a lot of new creative options have opened up. Especially given our strategy to build from the back, we will need that creativity from these 3 musketeers to get around the Red Wolves' back 5. For an example of how to do this, see the goal from Tormenta (which was scored mostly on a keeper’s error but the build-up is the critical part here).

Final Thoughts

Courtesy of Chris Linscott

This is the month to make it or break it for the Hearts of Pine this season. If we do truly want to be competitive in the League between now and our July 6th match against Tormenta will be key. To be sure, we are not playing poorly as repeated draws have shown. But, we need to begin to eek it out and win matches to get ourselves about 11th place. As a reminder, a top 8 finish is required to enter the playoff competition and we currently sit only 1 point below that place. Red Wolves may sit in 4th but if draws against Naples, Spokane, and One Knox show, we are not a worse team than the league leaders. Its time to crank this season up 1 gear and start to show the league why their pre-season predictions were all wrong. But first, we’re going to need to take 3 points home from the mud pit.