By Gary Corsair
Sports Writer
Eastern Randolph has plenty of reasons to believe they’ll tear the wings off the Yellow Jackets Friday night — a glitzy 10-1 record and 10 game winning streak, a legendary coach, an exceptional quarterback-receiver tandem and a Division 1 lineman.
Hayesville has something the Wildcats will never have. The Yellow Jackets have been forged by fire from competing in the Smoky Mountain Conference, a loop topped by three powerhouses — Robbinsville, 10-1; Swain, 10-1 and Murphy, 8-3. Hayesville hung tough with all three, losing three battles by a total of 21 points.
As frustrating as it was to come up short against the cream of the SMC crop, the experience of taking the Black Knights, Maroon Devils and Bulldogs to the wire could pay dividends in the second round of the Class 1A playoffs when No. 14 seed Hayesville travels to Ramseur to face No. 3 seed Eastern Randolph.
Hayesville’s 7-4 overall record was earned against teams with a combined record of 61-52. Eastern Randolph, 5-0 in the Piedmont Athletic Conference and 10-1 overall, won a conference where only one other school was better than .500 and Wildcats opponents had a combined record of 54-65.
Whether those stats mean anything or not remains to be seen.
“Eastern Randolph is a very good football team. They made it pretty deep in the playoffs last year,” Hayesville Coach Chad McClure said. “They have a lot of athletes. Their quarterback has a good pocket presence and can make big plays. They can run the ball. We’ve got our hands full this week.”
Five players merit heightened attention:
• 6’ 4” quarterback Carter Revelle has passed for 1,978 yards and 23 touchdowns, with just six interceptions, and gained 560 yards, an average of 10.4 per carry, with his legs.
• Revelle’s favorite target, 6’ 3” Nicah Taylor, is a big-play maker whose 39-yard touchdown reception was the difference in a 22-21 win over previously undefeated Randleman.
• Running back Lucas Smith is tough to tackle.
• 6’ 4,” 305 pound two-way tackle Jani Norwood has committed to play football at University of North Carolina next year.
• Linebacker Luis Garcia, the team’s leading tackler, covers lots of real estate.
Coach Burton Cates is no ordinary Joe. The Wildcats play in a stadium named after their coach, who has won more than 350 high school football games.
With all that talent on the green-and-gold sideline, McClure believes prolonged possessions will give the Yellow Jackets their best chance of upsetting the two-time state champion, 1983 and 2006, Wildcats.
“We have to control the clock,” McClure said. “We’ll try to control the ball and keep it away from their offense. That was our plan last week.”
That game plan worked like a Jacky Jones Jeep. Hayesville ran 59 plays to 48 by guest Christ the King as the Yellow Jackets rolled to a 28-0 victory in the first round of the playoffs at Frank R. Long Memorial Stadium.
Hayesville kept the chains jangling with 17 first downs as sensational sophomore Tre Graves rushed for a season-high 135 yards, Taylor McClure and Cole Vining combined for 96 more and quarterback Tate Roberts hit on 5-of-7 flings, his best passing percentage of the year.
“Tate was very efficient. He passed well when we needed him to and the receivers caught the ball,” McClure said. “We moved the ball and ran some option. I thought Tre played a really good game. Not only rushing, but doing the small things, like carrying out fakes. We were able to rotate our running backs and keep them fresh.”
Hayesville’s ability to move the rock was largely due to the blocks of granite in the trenches who have steadily improved this year. Lane O’Dell, Will Brown, Dante Robinson, E.J. Abrams, Patrick Denton, Nathaniel Dockery, Kasen Chastain and Rayland Martinez controlled the line of scrimmage most of the night. “The offense line played well up front,” McClure said.
Ditto for the special teams. “Lance Coker stepped in and did a good job punting, after Seth Leek was injured, and another freshman, Johan Webb made the first tackle. We did a good job on kickoffs,” McClure said.
Coach also praised Hayesville’s defenders for holding the Crusaders to 122 yards rushing and 44 through the air on sickly 5-of-24 passing.
“Our defense was solid most of the night,” McClure stated. “Dawson Devane had a good game defensively and our secondary did a good job. We knew they had to throw the ball a lot.”
Devane had five tackles. McClure and Graves led the team with seven tackles apiece. Will Brown had four and Isaac Chandler and Leek both had three take-downs. Maverick Imlay forced a fumble that Eli Jack recovered.
The defense was on point from the start. The Crusaders punted away the ball after the first possession netted just 7 yards on five plays.
The Yellow Jackets promptly did a Veg-O-Matic number on the Crusaders line, going from midfield to goal line in a quicker than you could say “Gardner-Webb University,” the Division 1 school Taylor McClure will play for next year.
McClure’s 21 yard run moved Hayesville into field goal position, Graves busted for 10 yards, McClure dragged half the defense 8 yards for a first down, Graves zoomed for another 10 and McClure took the ball in from the one with 6:53 on the clock. Chandler’s kick gave Hayesville a 7-0 lead it would not relinquish.
The Crusaders’ second attempt to advance also ended with a punt after five plays to nowhere. Once again, Hayesville moved and grooved like a disco king. This time, Cole Vining got in on the fun with an 11-yard gain on an option pitch. Following a penalty against the hosts, Graves erupted for a 10-yard gain, followed by a 9-yard run, followed by Roberts’ 11-yarder. The final 35 yards were eaten up by two Michael Mauney carries, an impressive 3-yard pick-up where McClure was stopped short of a first down but emerged from a pile and earned the needed yards through sheer willpower and a 4-yard touchdown by McClure on a pitch-out. Once again, Chandler split the uprights. Hayesville 14-0.
The Crusaders third attempt to get past midfield was thwarted by vicious hits by Devane and McClure, great pass coverage by Mauney and Leek on a sideline bomb and Graves’ near interception.
A dismal 20-yard punt gave Hayesville possession at the Yellow Jackets 44. Vining promptly gobbled up 16 yards, Graves took seven more and Vining rambled 19 on a hand-off set up by Roberts’ slick fake. Graves finished the exodus with a 9-yard burst and a 13-yard run to pay-dirt in which he simply refused to be brought down and he spun and twisted his way over the goal line. Chandler made it 21-0.
Two face mask penalties against Hayesville helped the Crusaders struggling offense reach the Yellow Jacket 15, but the defense held and the visitors attempted a 36-yard field goal which fell short.
The Crusaders received another opportunity when Hayesville fumbled the ball away with 4 minutes left in the first half. A 13-yard pass completion gave the blue-and-white hope, but a quarterback plunge on fourth-and-2 was a whisker short and Hayesville took over.
The second half was primarily a defensive showcase interrupted by frequent penalty flags.
“We had way too many penalties. We can’t do that at this point of the season,” McClure said.
Hayesville’s final score came early in the fourth quarter when Vining scored on a 1-yard touchdown run and Chandler kicked the point-after. That scoring drive featured two big plays — a 14-yard fling by Roberts to Colton Bruggers and Chandler’s 21-yard sizzle on a reverse.
“It was just a good win. Anytime you get to a playoff win game that’s a good win,” McClure remarked. “Now we move on to a tall task, but we’re looking forward to it.”
Eastern Randolph enters the second-round of the playoffs with a 10-1 record, but five wins were against teams with losing records, and four other victories were against teams that finished 6-5. Here’s how the Wildcats reached the second round:
Eastern Randolph Wildcats, 10-1
Loss, Eastern Almanance, 8-3, 35-13
Win, Asheboro, 1-9, 27-16
Win, Southern Lee, 6-5, 36-15
Win, Central Davidson, 6-5, 40-19
Win, Parkwood, 2-9, 43-0
Win, Southwestern Randolph, 6-5, 41-0
Win, Trinity, 5-6, 48-0
Win, Providence Grove, 6-5, 47-0
Win, Wheatmore, 2-8, 43-0
Win, Randleman, 10-1, 22-21
Win, Cherryville, 2-9, 68-7, playoffs
Honey From The Hive
• The Yellow Jackets will be far from 100 percent Friday night. Ben Bethel has a fracture that will keep him out of action. Slade Crouch and Jacob Jones are questionable. Taylor McClure is still dealing with after affects from an injury suffered against Swain. Eastern Randolph is reportedly healthy, although the Wildcats lost senior lineman Ian Moore for the season last month.
• Jani Norwood, Eastern Randolph’s ballyhooed 6’ 4”, 305 pound answer to Michael Oher, finished second in shot put in the Randolph County Championship Track and Field Meet with a heave of 37’ 8 ¾.” Not bad. Norwood’s impressive put isn’t in the same league as Taylor McClure, who set the HHS school record with a put of 49’ 8” on March 8.