Panthers

Robbinsville senior Willie Riddle locks horns with Franklin’s Chase Browning during the Nov. 30 home dual against the Panthers. Photo courtesy of Miranda Buchanan/Robbinsville High School Yearbook

Robbinsville senior Willie Riddle locks horns with Franklin’s Chase Browning during the Nov. 30 home dual against the Panthers. Photo courtesy of Miranda Buchanan/Robbinsville High School Yearbook

‘The ‘Ville’ off to 10-1 start

Kevin Hensley
Friday, December 9, 2022
Robbinsville – The only surefire way to ensure improvement from start to finish is to get in as many live-action reps as possible. Back for his fourth stint as the Black Knights’ head coach, David Haney has packed Robbinsville’s 2022-23 schedule with a wide variety of competition.
Robbinsville’s youth football program collected three Cracker Bowl championships Saturday in Sylva. The Termite Black Knights shutout the previously-unbeaten Franklin Panthers 6-0. Photos by Kevin Hensley/sports@grahamstar.com

Robbinsville’s youth football program collected three Cracker Bowl championships Saturday in Sylva. The Termite Black Knights shutout the previously-unbeaten Franklin Panthers 6-0. Photos by Kevin Hensley/sports@grahamstar.com

3 games, 3 titles

Kevin Hensley
Thursday, November 3, 2022
Sylva – Nail technicians across the region had to be swamped Monday morning.
Lenoir City’s Zane Ward (9) jogs off as Robbinsville’s Dalton Hill, Eddie Brooms, Cuttler Adams, Kage Williams and Isaac Wiggins (back, from left) swarm Briley Tolbert (23), following Tolbert’s second-quarter interception Friday night. The Black Knights would pull ahead during the ensuing possession and never looked back, besting the Panthers 35-19. Photos by Kevin Hensley/sports@grahamstar.com

Lenoir City’s Zane Ward (9) jogs off as Robbinsville’s Dalton Hill, Eddie Brooms, Cuttler Adams, Kage Williams and Isaac Wiggins (back, from left) swarm Briley Tolbert (23), following Tolbert’s second-quarter interception Friday night. The Black Knights would pull ahead during the ensuing possession and never looked back, besting the Panthers 35-19. Photos by Kevin Hensley/sports@grahamstar.com

Here’s a quarter; call someone who cares

Kevin Hensley
Tuesday, October 5, 2021
Lenoir City, Tenn. – After a month off, it naturally took a full quarter to knock off the rust. Robbinsville (2-1) scored its first touchdown in four weeks early in the second quarter of Friday’s game in Lenoir City, Tenn.
Briley Tolbert (23) and Ben Wachacha (74) close in on Brevard quarterback Anson Burgess during Aug. 27’s road game. Robbinsville has not played since the 15-14 loss, but will suit up for a trip to Tennessee on Friday. Photo by Miranda Buchanan/Robbinsville High School Yearbook

Briley Tolbert (23) and Ben Wachacha (74) close in on Brevard quarterback Anson Burgess during Aug. 27’s road game. Robbinsville has not played since the 15-14 loss, but will suit up for a trip to Tennessee on Friday. Photo by Miranda Buchanan/Robbinsville High School Yearbook

Back at work

Kevin Hensley
Thursday, September 23, 2021
Robbinsville football fanatics, rejoice: the boys will be putting their pads back on soon enough. For the first time since Aug. 27, the Black Knights (1-1) will play under the Friday night lights – but will have to travel out of state to do so, as the Lenoir City (Tenn.
Call them what you will, but this feline-based creature can spark a debate anytime it is discussed. The U.S. Fish & Game Service declared the Eastern Mountain Lion extinct in 2018, yet sightings continue to roll in. Photo courtesy of U.S. Forest Service

Call them what you will, but this feline-based creature can spark a debate anytime it is discussed. The U.S. Fish & Game Service declared the Eastern Mountain Lion extinct in 2018, yet sightings continue to roll in. Photo courtesy of U.S. Forest Service

Mountain lions: fact or fiction?

Robbi Pounds
Thursday, September 26, 2019
Panther, mountain lion, catamount, screamer, puma, cougar, painter – folks cannot come to a consensus on what to call the cat that once roamed all of North America.  But call them what you will, in western North Carolina, just do not call them extinct.  Last year, the U.S.