The adrenaline that came with helping guide Marion County’s football program back to the state semifinals kept first-year head coach Troy Boeck awake until the wee hours of Saturday morning.

But after a few hours sleep, some of the excitement of the Warriors’ unlikely playoff run evaporated when Boeck realized that Marion must travel to four-time defending Class 2A state champion Alcoa, rather than hosting as he believed.

Because the 2A playoff field is selected differently than the other four Division I brackets, the higher seed hosts each round, rather than a predetermined host site. Since Marion finished second in Region 3, it will travel for a third consecutive week, going to Alcoa, which won Region 2.

The Warriors avenged a one-point regular-season loss to Boyd-Buchanan by eliminating the Buccaneers, 7-6, in the quarterfinals. Had the Bucs won, because they were Region 3 champions, they would have hosted.

“It was a double-take, a confusing situation when I got up and saw the bracket wasn’t what we thought,” Boeck said. “I called (TSSAA executive director) Ronnie Carter this morning and he told me about the rule. Having to travel three weeks in a row is unfortunate. A one-point loss after a bad call is what has caused us to have to travel this week.

“Another aspect is that it obviously raises our expense, because we have to get a bus and line up a pregame meal. Plus we lose any concession we would have made with a home game.”

The only other area Tennessee team to survive the quarterfinal round was Ooltewah in 5A. For the second straight week the Owls eliminated a team they had already beaten in the regular season. This week Ooltewah hosts Murfreesboro Oakland, in what will be the fourth straight home playoff game for the Owls.

Marion beat Boyd-Buchanan, despite being outgained 415-140 in total yards, by capitalizing on six turnovers. The Warriors stopped one Bucs’ drive with a fumble recovery at their 1 and set up the winning touchdown when Joe Muir returned an interception deep into Boyd-Buchanan territory. Muir then scored on a 3-yard run with seven minutes left in third quarter.

Much like Ooltewah, Alcoa has yet to travel in the postseason.

“That’s great news for us,” Alcoa coach Gary Rankin told the Maryville Daily Times. “That’s the best news we had all night — that we get to stay at home for the semifinals. I don’t know anything about (Marion County). I know they must be a good football team to be in the semifinals, so it will be a great battle next week.”

Financial losses aside, Marion’s on-field task was made much more difficult against an Alcoa team that hasn’t lost to another 2A school in three years. The Tornadoes’ only losses the past two years came to four-time defending 4A champion Maryville. Since that second-week loss to Maryville this season, Alcoa has won 11 straight games, as has Marion.

The Tornadoes are averaging 44 points per game and have 10 games in which they did not allow a touchdown.

“It will take a tremendous effort to go up there and win,” Boeck said. “Having to sit on a bus for a few hours before a game has never helped anybody. It puts us at a disadvantage we don’t need to have.

“There is that ‘wow’ factor because of what they have done in the past. There were teams that used to think they couldn’t beat Marion County in the 1990s and were beat before they got off the bus. That’s kind of where Alcoa is, but I don’t think that will happen to us.

“They’re a very good football team, but I don’t think they have any type talent we haven’t seen. We’ve had some really good defensive showings up to this point against some very good teams. We’re riding a high right now. It’s been so long since we’ve been in this situation, we can’t be upset by anything about being in the semifinals.”