Robbinsville – If anyone was expecting a huge celebration at the end of Friday’s game, they were sorely disappointed.
But that’s only because despite the Robbinsville Black Knights (6-3, 4-1) clinching their third-consecutive Smoky Mountain Conference crown with a 31-14 win over Hayesville (3-7, 1-4), they know the work is far from over. It’s time for the playoffs.
Robbinsville received the No. 4 seed in the 1A state postseason bracket and will host Winston-Salem Preparatory Academy (No. 29, 1-8). The Phoenix visited Graham County during the playoffs last year, a wild game that the Knights won in double-overtime 42-40.
Winston-Salem brings a balanced passing and ground game, with 1,076 yards in the air and 1,144 on the ground.
“We’ll have to be disciplined,” Knights head coach Dee Walsh said. “They’re very unorthodox and wide open. Sometimes, they won’t even have their hands on the ground when they line up on defense. They’re just coming from everywhere and their offense is full of athletes.
“Underestimating them would not be very smart. We’ve got to be ready to play.”
Jackets repelled
Hayesville struck first in the regular-season finale, recovering a Robbinsville fumble on the second snap of the game. Two plays later – and a mere 1:41 into the affair – Logan Caldwell pitched the ball to Jake McTaggart, who turned and aired out a 31-yard halfback pass to Kyle Lunsford for a touchdown. Isaac Chandler’s extra point made it 7-0 for the Yellow Jackets.
From there, the wheels fell off for Hayesville.
Though the Black Knights had to punt the ball away on its next possession, senior Isaac Wiggins connected for a 53-yard kick that left the Jackets at their own 11. A pair of sacks by Cuttler Adams and Eddie Brooms – combined with a holding penalty – eventually negated the 32 yards Hayesville had attained, setting up a Jackets punt from the nine. However, a high snap sailed over the head of Chandler and rolled out of the end zone, resulting in a rare safety that cut the score to 7-2.
Robbinsville zeroed in on its first offensive score afterward, which culminated in a 1-yard Cuttler Adams scoring run early in the second. Dasan Gross later hit Brock Adams with 42 seconds left in the half for a 12-yard touchdown pass, with Gross keeping the ball for a conversion run and helping the Knights carry a 17-7 lead into the break.
Kage Williams scored from six yards out with 4:06 left in the third, before a blocked punt by Hayesville in the fourth set the Yellow Jackets up at the Knights’ 30-yard line. Caldwell scampered 20 yards on the first snap, before connecting with McTaggart on a 10-yard reception in the end zone. Robbinsville later put the game out-of-reach with a 2-yard carry across the goal line by Jaret Panama with 3:53 left.
“It’s really been a tough year. We have had a lot of adversity to overcome,” Walsh said. “My hats off to the coaching staff, for keeping everybody focused and keeping everybody on task. These kids are buying into the system, and trusting, believing and hanging in there. Even when you lose the first conference game and come back to win it outright … there’s something to be said about that.”