Gary Corsair • Clay County Progress Hayesville standout Tre Graves, 6, finds running room in the second half against the Black Knights.
By Gary Corsair
Sports Writer
Hayesville hung tough for two quarters, but Robbinsville overwhelmed the Yellow Jackets in the second half to post a 29-10 victory Friday in the Smoky Mountain Conference opener for both teams.
“We competed early. I felt like it was a good game in the first half,” Hayesville Head Coach Chad McClure stated. “They just eventually wore us down in the trenches. You have to give them credit. In the third and fourth quarters they just kind of whipped us up front.”
The battle at Big Oaks was nip and tuck in the first half even though Robbinsville didn’t waste anytime defending their home turf. The Black Knights began the game with a 33-yard kickoff return and 51-yard scoring drive.
In fact, Hayesville, 3-2 overall, 0-1 conference, had a golden opportunity to seize the lead in the second quarter after the teams traded punts.
The Yellow Jackets boldly marched into enemy territory on a beautifully executed rainbow over three defenders from Peyton McGaha to Ben Bethel, who turned the play into a 31-yard gain. Two plays later, McGaha struck again, pinning Rylan Graves for 9 yards and a first down. A 7-yard carry by Tre Graves moved the ball to the 8-yardline. Then Robbinsville dug in. Hayesville reached the 4, but it took five plays to get there and the Jackets had to settle for a field goal, which Josue Salas perfectly executed from 23 yards out.
“We had a great opportunity to take the lead,” McClure stated. “We had first-and-goal at the their 4 and they kind of stuffed us on a couple of plays.”
More stuffing followed when Hayesville took the opening kickoff of the second half with the scoreboard reading Robbinsville 6, Hayesville 3.
Things were looking up for the Clay County contingent when Graves gobbled up 21 yards on back-to-back pitches, but the Robbinsville D squashed the next two carries to bring up fourth-and-3 at Hayesville’s 47. McClure elected to go the first down but the Black Knights stopped the run to regain possession.
It was Katie bar the door after that.
Robbinsville marched to pay dirt to go up 9-3, then forced the Jackets to punt after sacking quarterback Lance Coker. Five plays later, Robbinsville was in the end zone again and the score was 15-3 in favor of the men in black.
Another Hayesville punt after three nothing plays led to another Robbinsville TD. The point-after kick made it
22-3 with 8:49 on the fourth-quarter clock.
Following the kickoff, McClure reinserted McGaha at quarterback and Big Red immediately came through with a beautiful pass to Bethel open over the middle that BB turned into a 65-yard touchdown.
“He made a great run after the catch,” McClure raved.
The play was a priceless moment for a team that hadn’t been able to move the ball through the air in the first four games. Note to future foes: Hayesville now has a passing game.
McGaha finished with 116 yards on 5-of-13 flinging and Bethel had three catches for 103 yards.
“I felt Peyton had a good game. I felt like his pock presence was better. He hung in the pocket in the face of some strong pressure and he turned some losses into gains. We’d been rotating our quarterbacks but we talked about it at halftime and we felt like we should stick with him, that he was in the flow of the game.” McClure said.
The big pass, unfortunately, was Hayesville last big play. Salas’ point-after was the Jackets last hurrah.
Plain and simple, Robbinsville dominated. The Black Knights rushed for 273 yards compared to Hayesville’s 60. Fifty-five of those yards belonged to Tre Graves.
Colton Bruggers led Hayesville in tackles with eight. Brendon Collins recorded seven and Johan Webb, playing defensive end in place of the injured E.J. Mapasua, had five.
McClure hopes for a better showing from his team at Rosman, 2-3 overall, 0-1 conference, this Friday.
“We have to play better up front. We have to block better and tackle better,” McClure said.