Dan + Shay and John Legend went head to head over a country contestant on Monday night’s (March 11) episode of The Voice, during the final week of Blind Auditions for this season.

A 20-year-old firefighter from Alabama named Ducote Talmage delivered an impressive cover of Morgan Wallen’s “Sand in My Boots” during his time onstage. Not only did Legend and Dan + Shay turn their chairs for him, but all three stars applauded him with a standing ovation after he finished his performance.

Talmage obviously has country chops, and from the sounds of the family members watching from the sidelines, it seemed a pretty safe bet that he was hoping for a chair turn from Coach Reba McEntire, too.

Unfortunately, he didn’t get one: both McEntire and Coach Chance the Rapper cited pitch issues as the reason they decided not to throw their hats into the ring to try to lure Talmage to their team.

But with two great coaching acts fighting over you, it’s pretty tough to be disappointed. Legend praised the grit in the young singer’s voice, while Dan + Shay spoke about developing his songwriter side.

“I have, like, a thousand unfinished ones,” Talmage admitted after the duo asked if he wrote his own songs.

“We’ll help you finish those songs,” Dan Smyers replied.

“Honestly, we have no one that is like you [on our team.] You would be an absolute standout, I promise you that,” Shay Mooney told Talmage.

“… Man, your voice sounds like it should be on country radio right now,” Smyers added. “It was incredible. You really opened up. You got a lot of power to your voice, man.”

Ultimately, Dan + Shay’s pitch won the day: Talmage opted to join their team over Team Legend, and he’ll move on to the next round of competition on The Voice.

The show airs on NBC on Monday and Tuesday nights. Blind Auditions will wrap up with Tuesday night’s episode (March 12).