Mighty Mites heading to the ‘ship

Sylva – A monopoly on Cracker Bowl crowns is at stake this weekend.

Oh and there’s that little variable called “bragging rights” to consider, as well.

Just eight days removed from the varsity programs competing on the gridiron for the Smoky Mountain Conference title, Robbinsville and Swain County’s next generation of football studs will vie for the Smokey Mountain Youth Conference Cracker Bowl championship. The game will be held at high noon Saturday, Nov. 4 at Murphy High School. The Maroon Devils are the only team to put a chink in the Black Knights’ armor this year: the Aug. 19 season opener.

Reigning champions – the same group won the Peewees title in 2019, as well as the Termite championships in 2022 (there were no Cracker Bowl games in 2020 and 2021, due to the pandemic) – have not fell since.

“What I do know is this game will come down to defense and who doesn’t turn the ball over,” Robbinsville Mites head coach Andy Blevins assessed. “Both teams are awesome and it should be as awesome a game as anyone could ask for. My hats off to Swain; they handed us a 32-0 loss in the first game of the season. We know how good they are, all around, but we used that game as motivation and  practice, and worked very hard to get to where we need be.

“The championship game – the rematch – I think it will be one to remember, either way. Two outstanding teams that deserve to leave it all on the field this coming Saturday.”

Robbinsville (No. 2 seed, 8-1) denied Franklin (No. 3, 6-3) access to the end zone for 32 minutes in the league’s debut of a semifinal-playoff format Saturday. A first-half score from Conner Hyde – and subsequent conversion run by Canon Menard – was all the Knights needed to prevail over the Panthers, 8-0.

“We knew that it was going be a low scoring game; we played them  earlier in the year and it was a one-score game,” said Blevins. “It was a game of defenses, so it came down to whichever offenses could get going or hit a big play. Both teams played lights out on defense, but we got the big plays when we needed them.”

The Robbinsville Midgets (No. 3, 6-3) were also on-hand at Jackson County, but were pitted against a higher seed in Swain County (No. 2, 8-1). More often than not, the Maroon Devils snagged onside kicks after inflicting offensive damage in the shortened game, running up a 40-8 gamut to halt the game due to score differential at the end of the third quarter.

Ironically enough, a special-teams effort is all Robbinsville could muster in response. Mason Silvers reeled in one of the Swain kickoffs and returned it 55 yards for a touchdown. He then carried in the conversion.

Otherwise, the game was dominated by the Devils. The Black Knights simply could not stunt the progress of Malakii Otero and Aiden Davis, who alternated scoring for Swain County.

All told, both had three touchdowns; Otero mixed in two conversion runs and an interception.

Cain Saunooke drove in the final 2-point dash to end the game.

The conference’s No. 2 and No. 3 seeds were staged at Smoky Mountain High School in Sylva; Copper Basin (Tenn.) housed the No. 1 vs. No. 4 match-ups, by virtue of the Cougars finishing atop the Peewee standings.

In future seasons, semifinal host sites will rotate through the four age groups (Termites in 2024, Mites in 2025, etc.); while the Cracker Bowl site follows the traditional format of alphabetical order by the name of the team – as such, Robbinsville’s Modeal Walsh Memorial Stadium will be the venue for the 2024 Cracker Bowl.