Asheville first up for conference champs
Robbinsville — It’s finally here.
The Robbinsville Black Knights make their return to the gridiron Friday, for their first game since the 1A Western Regional Final at Mitchell on Dec. 3.
The Knights will make the trek to Buncombe County, to return the favor in a home/away agreement with Asheville High School. The Cougars fell to Robbinsville in the 2021 season opener, 45-23.
“We’re feeling pretty good,” junior Cuttler Adams said during a pre-practice interview Tuesday. “We’ve worked hard and we’re ready to get back.
“We really want to get past the loss to Mitchell (in the regional final). It was a hard loss, but the Monday after that, we started working. So we’ve been looking forward to this all year.”
The game — which will be telecast on the Cougar Sports Network’s YouTube page — kicks off the Black Knights’ stacked non-conference slate, which includes the home opener Aug. 26 against Brevard; another Cougar showdown, as Mountain Heritage on Sept. 2; a short trip to Smoky Mountain on Sept. 9; and the homecoming game against Alleghany on Sept. 23.
The 4A Cougars — who finished last year’s docket 9-3, but won their conference and advanced to the second round of the playoffs, before losing a 13-12 nailbiter to Mallard Creek — set up shop at Asheville Memorial Stadium, which received an upgrade to artificial turf in 2018.
“They’ve got a lot of speed; we’ll have to play some really good defense,” observed Adams, who amassed 2,189 yards on the ground last year and set a new program standard for rushing yards in a game, with 377 in a third-round playoff win over North Rowan.
“One of the (Asheville) players said we embarrassed them last year and they’d be out to get us. But all we’ve got to do is go play Black Knight football and we’ll be ok.”
Follow publisher/editor Kevin Hensley (@KevinHensleyCNI) on Twitter, or The Graham Star on Facebook or Twitter (@thegrahamstar), for real-time updates throughout the game.
The Graham Star Sports Network’s first telecast of Robbinsvillle football will take place Friday, Aug. 26, when the Knights welcome the Brevard Blue Devils for Youth Night.
Asheville High School is located at 419 McDowell St.