One Knox Clinches Playoffs with Rivalry Win

USL LEAGUE ONE MATCHDAY 30	1ST HALF	2ND HALF	FINAL
CHATTANOOGA RED WOLVES SC (14-12-4 | 46 PTS)	0	0	0
ONE KNOXVILLE SC (14-7-9 | 51 PTS)	2	1	3

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Nearly a year ago at Covenant Health Park, Nico Rosamilia turned in a performance on a championship stage that led One Knoxville SC to lifting the USL League One trophy and, for himself, Most Valuable Player honors. 11 months later on the very same pitch, Rosamilia again shined when the lights were brightest.

The 24-year-old grabbed a goal and an assist in a 3-0 Wednesday night drubbing of in-state-rival Chattanooga Red Wolves SC, clinching a playoff berth for One Knox.

“I felt super confident going into this one” said Rosamilia afterwards. “I’ve felt like I’ve put together a couple of good weeks of training and games. I had a lot of energy, so I was happy to help the team win.”

It marks the third consecutive postseason appearance for the defending USL1 champion, who moves back into fourth place in the standings on 51 points with two matches remaining in the 2026 season.

It was also the second win in three meetings with Chattanooga this year, with One Knox now leading the Smoky Mountain Smackdown with a 6-5-2 record all-time.

“We’ve had a hard stretch here in not getting the results that we wanted,” said One Knoxville Head Coach Ian Fuller, who was back on the sideline after serving a two-match suspension. “It’s good to comeback this way, especially at home. A lot of our fans haven’t seen three goals and a clean sheet in a long time.”

A Chattanooga red card set up a free kick goal from Teddy Baker 12 minutes into the match and Knoxville was off and running from that moment forward. Rosamilia and Denis Krioutchenkov added in on the fun as the home side found the back of the net three times for sixth time this season, and the first since its last victory – a 3-2 result at Fort Wayne FC in mid-September.

“This was a huge match for us,” Rosamilia explained. “We had a rough one at Richmond and so we knew we had to come out against our rivals and compete. We knew Chattanooga was going to bring it, so we had to match it and then some and I think we did that tonight.”

In addition to the goal and the assist, Rosamilia was also the one who drew the Red Wolves red card as he darted behind the backline for a free ball heading towards the Chattanooga box. Defender Michael Knapp tried to get to it first, but tripped up the One Knox forward, earning the send off for the denial of goal scoring opportunity.

With the ensuing free kick placed just outside the top of the box, Baker struck the ball over the Red Wolves’ wall and into the top right corner as goalkeeper Jason Smith could only watch.

“We put the pressure on early to get the sending off and then Teddy hit one of the best free kicks that I’ve seen in a while,” Fuller recalled. “From there, we just kept going and that’s what I’m so proud of the guys for.”

Rosamilia then doubled the lead in the 41st minute with a superb first-time finish after running onto a loose ball from a deflected Stavros Zarakostas pass, sending it low and to Smith’s left from a similar spot as Baker’s free kick.

Armed with the 2-0 lead and a man-advantage, Rosamilia and Knoxville kept pushing for more and it came in the 54th minute. With Krioutchenkov deflecting a pass to cause a Chattanooga turnover in the attacking third, Rosamilia rewarded the rookie forward’s hustle with a pass into the box. Krioutchenkov did the rest with a driven strike into the back of the net to seal the victory.

“We put a great shift out there,” Rosamilia said of his squad’s attack. “We had a great gameplan coming in in how we wanted to go about things tonight with me coming into the pocket on the left side and Stavros staying hide and wide on the right. Denis played great as well, so that was huge.”

It marks back-to-back games with a goal for Krioutchenkov who pushed his club-leading goal tally to 10 in USL1 play and 13 across all competitions.

With the winner decided, One Knox put the exclamation point on a memorable evening, keeping the Red Wolves at bay to just one shot on target en route to the club’s ninth clean sheet of the year.

“You can’t hold (Nico) down and for Denis to get his 10th goal in league play is fantastic,” said Fuller. “(Jordan Skelton and Finn McRobb) were fantastic (in defense) tonight, even when we were 11 vs 11. I put a lot on those two and I thought they were great.

“This was an overall good performance tonight. Now, let’s build on it.”

NEXT UP
One Knoxville SC returns right back to Covenant Health Park in three days, as it concludes the home slate of the regular season against Spokane Velocity FC on Sunday (tickets). Kickoff for the special Family Day match is set for 3:00 p.m. ET. Fan activities include a club-branded photo station for families and a pre-match STEAM at the Stadium presentation featuring technology, science, arts and robotics activations all throughout the concourse. Knoxville concludes the 2026 USL1 season on Saturday, October 17 at the New York Cosmos.