Former Dalton standout Guerrero signs academy contract with Chattanooga Red Wolves

Published 1:37 pm Monday, March 4, 2024

The Chattanooga Red Wolves Soccer Club has called up Blake Oberholzer, Gharett Morris, and Fernando Guerrero from its Chattanooga and Utah Academies, ahead of the 2024 season.

Guerrero is a former Dalton High School standout who helped lead Dalton to the 2021 Class 6A state championship and to an appearance in the 2022 state championship game.

These signings mark the fourth, fifth, and sixth players from the club’s academies to sign academy contracts. Guerrero, who has spent time with the organization’s academy and will now get a chance to appear on the main squad.

“One of the major strategic moves I want to make as the technical director and the head coach of the Chattanooga Red Wolves Soccer Club is to make sure there is consistent and quality synergy between our youth programs and our first team,” said Scott Mackenzie. “Bringing internal academy players who have developed in our systems into the first team this year is a major achievement for the players, it’s a major strategic step in the right direction to being one of the premier youth development systems in the United States, and it adds an incredibly important boost of youth and hunger to our first team environment. I can’t wait to see what each of these young men does with their opportunities.”

Guerrero is a Chattanooga Red Wolves SC Academy product, having participated in the academy since 2020, and played on the Chattanooga USL Academy Team in 2022 and 2023, winning the USL Academy division in 2022. Throughout his years at the Chattanooga Red Wolves SC Academy, Fernando was a standout on one of the club’s ECNL teams.

“I saw Fernando play a USL Academy game against One Knox in the fall,” Mackenzie said. “He, for me, was the best player on the pitch, running at the opposition, creating chances, doing his job out of possession. Based on that performance I invited him into first team training and he put in a series of great sessions, terrorizing some of our first team guys with his quick feet and explosiveness. I am excited to invite Fernando back into the group on a full time basis, and I am sure he will make the most of this opportunity.”

Oberholzer ended the 2023 season as the overall leading goal scorer in the USL Academy League with 13 goals in 12 regular season games and was an honorable mention in the 2022 USL Academy League Finals All-Tournament Team – Showcase Division. Oberholzer also starred on the club’s USPL team that won the USPL Mountain Division and the club’s USL League Two team that three-peated as USL League Two Mountain Division Champions.

The third signee, Morris, captained the Utah Red Wolves SC USL Academy side to a USL Academy Finals appearance in 2023, knocking off the top ranked team in the country in the process. Morris also played alongside Oberholzer on the Utah Red Wolves SC USL League Two team which three-peated as the Mountain Division Conference Title as well as the Conference champion UPSL side.

The Red Wolves begin the season on Friday, March 15th on the road against Lexington SC.