MURFREESBORO — B.J. Coleman will be wearing orange at the University of Tennessee next fall. But Saturday night he had to settle for silver.

The Chattanooga McCallie School senior quarterback gave his best effort to claim the school's second state title against Brentwood Academy, but his fourth-quarter rally fell short in a 37-34 loss to the Eagles in the Division II-AAA championship.

"I knew we would have to make some plays," Coleman said. "The guys played hard and never gave up. That's just the way these things go sometimes."

Coleman led a furious McCallie rally in the second half after being down 31-13 at one point, throwing for 346 yards and a touchdown on 17-of-28 passing while also rushing for two touchdowns.

"We always believe we can win," he said. "I never had any doubt at the end."

Brentwood led 17-14 at halftime and was able to take advantage of some mistakes by McCallie in the third quarter to open up its lead. The Eagles started getting pressure on Coleman and forcing him to rush his throws, making it hard for the Tornado to find any kind of offensive rhythm.

"They did a great job and got a lot of pressure on me," Coleman said.

The late rally was reminiscent of McCallie's fourth-quarter comeback and Coleman's Hail Mary touchdown pass to beat Riverdale 33-27 in the team's season opener.

"Coleman is the greatest quarterback I've ever seen in high school," said Eagles senior quarterback Trent Caffee, who transferred to Brentwood last school year after playing in Texas at Aledo High. "He's better than Jevan Snead, who is a freshman at Texas this year."

Coleman's counterpart had a good night of his own in leading his team to the title, throwing for 188 yards and a touchdown while rushing for three scores, earning him the Offensive Most Valuable Player award. Even though he could only watch from the sidelines, Caffee knew Brentwood had a big challenge on its hands stopping Coleman and McCallie.

"I'm not sure you can completely stop him," Caffee said. "You just have to contain him."

One of the most prolific passers ever at McCallie, Coleman has thrown for more than 7,000 yards in his career, including 2,940 yards and 19 touchdowns this year.

"I may coach for 20 more years, and I may not have another guy like (Coleman)," McCallie coach Ralph Potter said.