7 Knights named All-Smoky Mountain Conference
Robbinsville – After making such a name for himself over his varsity career, it was long overdue for Carlos Wesley to get the recognition he deserved.
His 49 tackles – 31 solo – and ferocious presence as a two-way lineman earned the Robbinsville senior recognition as the Smoky Mountain Conference’s Player of the Year. The division’s awards were released last week, and members of the Robbinsville coaching staff shared their collective thoughts with The Graham Star about each accomplishment.
“Carlos is a hard worker a great kid, on and off the field. He’s the epitome of what we want our players to be by the time their tenure is over here. No matter what his endeavors end up being, he will be successful in life, just because of the type of kid his mother has raised him to be.
“It is a remarkable achievement for him to be Lineman of the Year and a goal he has always had. When you say Lineman of the Year, that’s a two-way player. That’s a dominant football player and that just goes to show the respect of the other coaches (in the conference) that Carlos has attained.”
All-Conference
In addition to Wesley, four seniors and two sophomores received the All-Conference distinction.
Junior Brock Adams led the Knights’ receiving core with 545 yards on 40 receptions. As a threat in the secondary, Adams also picked off seven passes and amassed 57 tackles.
“Brock made a lot of big plays for us and had a lot of big plays on both sides of the ball: catches, interceptions and pass deflections. He was very consistent all year and we are very excited to have him back next year.”
Sophomore Cuttler Adams broke Robbinsville’s single-game rushing record in the third round of the 1A state playoffs – trampling his way to 377 yards on the ground against North Rowan – and finished the year with 2,193 to his credit. He now has 2,489 in his career.
Defensively, Cuttler recorded 54 tackles and had one interception.
“Cuttler overcame an early injury that would have shut down a lot of kids, but not this kid. He had worked too hard to be denied. He loves the weight room and knows that’s where a lot of his improvement will come from.
“He’s just as important to us on the defensive side of the ball as he is on offense. He’ll give his praise to the lineman and those around him, but that young man deserves a pat on the back, as well. That’s the mark of a great player.”
Senior tight end Eddie Brooms snagged six receptions for 144 yards and had 37 tackles this season.
“Eddie came up big for us in several games. Our offense revolves around the block of the tight end. We run a lot of sweep and counters, so our tight end has to be able to block. Eddie did a good job of that this year.”
The value of senior kicker Cody Cline cannot be underscored. Still undecided about taking his talents to the next level, Cline’s three field goals – including one made at the final buzzer – propelled Robbinsville to a 23-20 victory over Murphy during the regular season.
Cline’s career ends with 165-of-177 (93 percent) in extra points, plus 15 field goals.
“We’re going to miss Cody. We’ve coached years where we didn’t have a kicker and those were tough years, because you have a lot of decisions that you normally wouldn’t have. Over the past few years, if we get inside the 30, we’re going to try a field goal. That’s not necessarily the case when you don’t have a Cody Cline on your team; you end up having to strategize third and fourth-down plays inside the 30.
“He’s so consistent. We don’t have that guy coming up; we have to find a kicker. Cody has done a fantastic job and is a great, young man. Hopefully, someone will give him a chance and he will go kick at the next level, because if they don’t, they would have one of the best kickers in the state on a campus somewhere … not kicking.”
Senior Ben Wachacha had 39 tackles, but did some of his best work applying pressure in the pocket.
“Ben played from the strong side to the weak side, as defensive end. He was very successful for us and we asked him to do a lot of different things for us this year. We started some different techniques for our ends that he had to adjust to.
“In our system, it’s tough to understand when to penetrate and when to stay straight down the line. Ben did a really good job of seeing the difference quickly and doing what needed to be done.”
Senior Isaac Wiggins served as the team’s punter over the last two seasons – even breaking the school record with a 62-yard launch in 2020 – but also posed a threat on both offense and defense.
“Isaac is a kid that we ask to do a lot of different things. He started out at cornerback and moved to strong safety. He played almost every position in the secondary. You really got to see how good he could be. He had a very successful year.”
Lastly, sophomore Kage Williams proved to be a viable threat as fullback, rushing for 1,007 yards this season. He also led the team in tackles with 75 (46 solo).
“Kage is another player that is just as important on offense as he is on defense. He had a great year running the ball for us and a great year running the ball. “The thing about Kage is, whatever his goals are, he’s going to reach them. He is going to work until he does.”
Jude Campbell, Dasan Gross, Haden Key and Carson White each received an honorable mention on the list. Campbell and Key will be back as seniors next year.