Black Knights shine in preseason scrimmage
Sylva – The transition from the hardwood to the gridiron seemed almost seamless.
Though the Black Knights’ basketball season ended a little sooner than anticipated, members of the hoops squad quickly joined the ranks of the Robbinsville football team Saturday for a preseason scrimmage at Smoky Mountain. And with a final outcome of four Robbinsville touchdowns to the Mustangs’ two – for an unofficial final score of 25-12 – the Knights looked sharp in their first foray onto a football field in 14 months.
“We knew we hadn’t been on the field much and when we had been, it has been so wet that we couldn’t do much,” Knights head coach Dee Walsh said. “We knew it would start out sluggish and it did, especially when we played our 1s (defense) against their 1s (offense); we hadn’t really seen that speed yet.”
After giving up a pair of scores on Smoky Mountain’s first two drives, the defending 1A state champions played stubborn defense for the remainder of the exhibition.
With the showcase alternating between number of plays and which members of the depth chart were on the field, Kayden Brock and Judd Shuler both recorded a sack, while Cuttler Adams had an interception and David Queen scooped up a fumble that thwarted later Mustang possessions.
Robbinsville’s scoring was handled by rushes from Lex Hooper (4 yards), Nathan Collins (19 yards) and Cuttler Adams (48 yards), with a late pass from Dasan Gross to Brock Adams tacking on a 23-yard touchdown. Cody Cline went 1-for-2 on extra points.
Simply put, it was the definition of a “team” effort.
“Our kids came around and played very well. I was pleased,” Walsh added. “We had a lot of positives and will try to build on those.”
Due to the threat of heavy rain Friday night, Robbinsville begins the 2021 season tonight, welcoming Rosman under the Big Oaks.
Kickoff is at 6 p.m.