JV Knights win home finale against divisional rival
Robbinsville – It started off as a heavyweight battle, between two titans of the Smoky Mountain Conference.
But Sept. 7’s junior-varsity home finale against the Murphy Bulldogs eventually tilted in favor of Robbinsville (3-1), who made a strong case for winning the divisional crown outright by stifling the opponents down the stretch in an 18-14 triumph on Bob Colvin Field.
“This is a team that has shown improvement every week,” Black Knights JV head coach Wren Millsaps said of his squad. “When teams do that, it makes for a fun season.”
It was a rocky start for the hosts. Murphy promptly took the opening possession downfield and scored on an 8-yard Blake Davis run. Aayden Williams would later recover a Robbinsville fumble for the Bulldogs, but the free gift was squandered and the Knights tied the affair on a 58-yard Cameron Allison sprint with 2:30 left in the opening quarter.
Murphy pushed back ahead on an 18-yard scoring heave from Peyton Baine to Zack Hogsed with 8:01 left in the first half – and a Davis conversion run gave the Bulldogs a 14-6 nod.
But in the waning moments of the second, Austin Angelo swooped on top of a Murphy blunder and Benton Gibby scored on a 4-yard run. A failed conversion run allowed the Bulldogs to enjoy a 14-12 lead at the break.
What proved to be the game-winning score came with 4:24 left in the third, as Robbinsville dug deep into the playbook and broke out the halfback pass for the second week in a row – quarterback Tucker Jones pitched to Allison, who turned for an undeniable spiral into the waiting clutches of Bam Nelms. Ultimately, the chicanery turned out to be all Robbinsville would need down the stretch; though a Brayden Lane fumble recovery late in the stanza helped the cause.
The Bulldogs continued to battle throughout the fourth, with Grayson Hall snagging an interception and Trenton Cook recovering another Knights’ fumble.
But the stubborn Robbinsville defense held firm and burned Murphy on a 4th-and-22 heave to the end zone at the 1:18 mark of the fourth, breaking up the pass and sealing the win for the Knights.
“Murphy opened the game and punched us in the mouth, then the boys responded,” Millsaps said. “It’s always fun to get a win over your biggest rival, but this group has its eye on an outright championship. We have three more tough opponents.”
Indeed, Robbinsville will need to withstand a three-game road trip to reach the mountaintop: a visit to Andrews at 6 p.m. tonight, followed by treks to Hayesville on Sept. 21 and Swain County for the Sept. 28 season wrap-up.