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Jefferson County baseball coach Zach Reese will be the first to admit that this season was not an easy one.

In fact, Reese said it was one of the toughest he’s ever been a part of.

However, Reese would also argue it was one of the more enjoyable seasons he’s coached. The Patriots battled with their backs against the wall all year and responded to adversity with toughness. While the season didn’t end where they wanted, it was one to remember for Jefferson County. Because of this, Zach Reese has been named the Citizen Tribune Lakeway Area Baseball Coach of the Year.

“Anytime I have received a coach of the year award it is correlated to our team having success,” Reese said. “We have been able to receive this award several times and it is an honor every single time. This was probably my toughest years as a head coach with a lot of ups and downs but ended with our team in position to advance to the state tournament for only the 2nd time in school history. As a coach I thrive on getting to and seeing our team compete on that big stage like we were in the sectional at Farragut…that is why we coach.”

Coming into the season, the Patriots were expected to be contenders. While they lost some valuable pieces, the Patriots also returned the majority of their lineup from their 2022 team.

For Reese, he was confident that this team could make a run into the postseason and accomplish the goals they established before the season.

“I thought we had a chance to be successful,” Reese said. “Our goal every single year in this program is to advance out of our district into the regionals and that is our standard. And I definitely thought we could achieve that. Advancing out of regionals is what turns our season into something special. In the new format to have a special season you have to put it together for two days and we were able to achieve that. We scrimmaged Farragut in the preseason and I told the team I only scrimmage and play Farragut with teams I think have a realistic chance to get back to them in the sectional round.”

One of the reasons that Reese was confident in his team was the senior leadership he had. While the class of seniors was not large, it was impactful and helped keep the Patriots together as a team.

“Leadership and experience is always a key contributor to a team’s success or lack thereof,” Reese said. “We had a small but great group of seniors who had a ton of playing experience, were really good baseball players, relentless workers and guys who cared about the team winning. That group helped hold things together when things weren’t going well at times and they were rewarded in the end. I love each and every one of them and thank them for their commitment to our program.The junior class was very talented as well and some of them have a lot of game experience so it was a really good blend.”

It was an up-and-down season for Jefferson County but came with three moments that Reese believed showed what his team was made of.

The first moment came early in the season in a Friday night game against Science Hill. In 2022, the Patriots lost three times to the Hilltoppers and that was on Jeff County’s mind as they traveled to Science Hill. While Science Hill was 18-0 heading into the game, the Patriots stunned the Hilltoppers with a 5-4 victory.

“There were three times during the season where I could see that killer, refusal to lose mentality out of this group which told me as a coach we had it in there…and that’s what you need to advance in the postseason,” Reese said. “The first game was at Science Hill on a Friday night in early April. They had ended our season the year before in the regionals and had also beat us 20-something to 1 and a lot of our guys remembered it. They were also like 18-0 going into this game and our guys were as ready as you could be for a Friday night regular season game…and we won.”

The second moment came in mid-April when the Patriots took on Morristown West for their second series of the season. In the first series of the season, West run-ruled the Patriots and left a sour taste in Jefferson County’s mouth.

With that in mind, Jeff County took home two wins to secure the No. 2 seed in the District Tournament. And then in the District Tournament, West once again beat Jefferson County in the opening round. However, the two teams faced off later in the tournament with a Region Tournament berth on the line. The Patriots jumped out in front and held on for the win.

“Our second series with Morristown West our guys had circled…they run-ruled us in our first series and our guys took exception to it because it was the first time they had beaten us like that in a long time,” Reese said. “After our regular season series, I told our guys that would be the team we would have to beat to advance to regionals. There was no way our team was going to let Morristown West end our season and after a bunch of talk and chatter, we were able to beat them to advance to a district final and to region. All three of those instances I saw a dugout where every single player on our team was about doing whatever it took to win the game and motivated by just team success.”

With the win over West, the Patriots clinched a spot in the Region 1-4A Tournament. Because of a new format, the Patriots would have to lose twice in the tournament for their season to come to an end.

The tournament didn’t start well as the Patriots fell 6-0 to Science Hill. However, with their backs against the wall once again, Jeff County beat Daniel Boone 5-4 to set up a winner-take-all game against Sevier County.

Heading into the game, Jefferson County had fallen to the Smoky Bears five times during the season. But as they had done all season, the Patriots responded and won 8-2 over Sevier County to punch their ticket to the State Sectionals.

“It was incredible,” Reese said. “The whole new region format, I had no idea what to expect but it was a lot of fun…like an NCAA Regional format. After losing to Science Hill that Friday, that Saturday was like eight hours of the most pressure packed high school baseball you can find. Our kids thrived in that scenario. Our region is one of the toughest in Tennessee Class 4A and it was cutthroat. The early Daniel Boone game was huge and we got down early with Beau (Revord) on the mound. We could have packed it in but we settled in and kept fighting and competing and were able to come out on top.

“The Sevier County game, I think our guys finally said enough is enough after going 0-5 against them and played with that fire. We kind of stunned them early on and you could see our confidence just explode. To watch this team celebrate and advance was one of the highlights of my coaching career.”

The season didn’t end the way the Patriots wanted, falling twice in the Class 4A State Sectional Series against the eventual State Champions Farragut.

However, it will be a season that Reese and Jefferson County will never forget.

“It was an awesome year,” Reese said. “The Farragut sectional series is not something I want this team to be remembered for. Farragut was the best team in the state but having our guys on that stage again on the cusp of the state tournament is something as a coach I cherish. This was our 2nd time to reach the round of 16 since I’ve been here and only the 5th time in school history. I sat back and tried to enjoy it a little more this time. People think it is easy and should happen every year, but I have realized that it is extremely hard and our team should be recognized for this accomplishment and not the ending.”