Playoffs begin at
home on Friday
By Gary Corsair
Sports Writer
Hayesville’s 12th graders made decisive plays on Senior Night, but underclassmen were also worthy of honor as the Yellow Jackets clinched their second consecutive winning season by closing out Andrews, 14-6.
Hayesville sophomore Tre Graves was the brightest youngun, leading the team with 61 yards rushing and 20 yards in kick/punt returns, making three tackles and forcing a fumble, deflecting a pass on the final down of the game and producing the biggest and most exciting play of the game
Graves’ gem came on the final play of the first half with Andrews in possession of the ball and Hayesville leading 7-0 with just :06 on the clock.
With the end zone 62 yards away, the Wildcats tried a quick flare pass toward the sideline that Graves read like a text message from Taylor Swift.
Speaking of Swift, Graves jackrabbited laterally across the Frank R. Long Memorial Stadium turf on the interception return, found a seam near the home sideline and ran like a cheap nylon stocking for a thrilling 42-yard touchdown.
Graves wasn’t the only classy underclassman. Junior quarterback Tate Roberts displayed poise and polish as he scrambled for one of Hayesville’s five first downs and passed for 51 yards on 9-of-11 flinging — check that, four of his deliveries were dropped or slipped through the hands of receivers.
“Tate did a real good job of finding receivers, but we had some drops,” Hayesville Coach Chad McClure lamented.
A group of super sophs also came up big as Hayesville, 2-3 SMC, 6-4 overall, secured home field for Friday’s playoff game with Christ the King, 5-5, which has won two of its last three games.
“We were young up front. We started four sophomore on the offensive linemen against a really good Andrews line,” McClure remarked.
The youth movement in the trenches was necessitated by an injury to senior Dante Robinson in the previous game. His replacement, Rayland Martinez, looked right at home alongside seasoned sophomores Patrick Denton, E.J. Abrams, Will Brown and senior Lane O’Dell in protecting Roberts and opening holes for Graves and Cole Vining.
“Martinez stepped in and did a good job for Dante,” McClure said. “We tell them they have to be ready and he was.”
Hayesville’s defense was certainly loaded for bear. The Black-and-Gold defense held Andrews, 0-5 SMC, 4-6 overall, to 104 yards on the ground and an unimpressive 26 in the air.
Seniors, of course, made the biggest defensive plays.
Lively linebacker Taylor McClure led all defenders with 11 tackles, seven of them solo. Hit-and-Run McClure’s take downs included a bone-jarring flattening of a ball carrier for a 1-yard loss on third-and-7 when Andrews was driving with 6:50 remaining. The Wildcats punted on the next down.
Jacob Jones, back in the lineup after missing two games with a spinal bruise, registered five tackles after announcing his presence with authority by recovering a fumbled kickoff on the opening play. O’Dell made three tackles, two of the stops limited Andrews to a mere yard on short-yardage downs and the third nailed the coffin shut. O’Dell exploded through the line and sacked the quarterback on second-and-2 at Andrews’ 45 with 1:15.
Senior Seth Leek was another thorn in the Wildcats’ paw. He averaged 36.2 on six punts and played intense defense as usual.
Junior Dawson Devane added five tackles, while classmate Michael Mauney stopped three plays. Mauney’s blanket coverage also prevented a completion on third-and-7 on the next-to-last play of the game.
“Our defense won the game for us,” McClure said. “The (Dalton) Rose kid had multiple 100-yard games this year, even 200-plus yards, and we kept him under 100 (93). I’m proud of our defense. They made big plays.”
“Offensively we were horrible,” Andrews Coach James Phillips remarked. “From turnovers to poor blocking/decision making we could not overcome our mistakes. Not taking anything away from Hayesville at all. Defensively they put pressure on us inside and on the perimeter and we did not block well enough to win. The two turnovers on offense were crippling, especially the timing at which they both happened.”
Hayesville prevailed even though Andrews ran more plays, 53 to Hayesville’s 42, had more first downs, 10 to 5, more yards rushing, 104 to 99, and had far fewer penalty yards, 20 to Hayesville’s 80.
“Hats off to Hayesville for doing what they needed to get the job done,” Phillips said. “They simply outplayed and out executed us and that’s on me.”
The Yellow Jackets gained less than 100 yards for the first time this season, but 99 was enough on this night.
“We knew they had a good defense coming in. Their interior defense and their size gave us problems with our running game,” McClure stated. “Sometimes you have tough nights on offense, but good teams will find a way to win.”
Hayesville drew first blood thanks to Jones’ fumble recovery just 15 yards away from pay dirt on the opening kickoff. Five plays later, Hayesville’s Leek crossed the goal line after catching a 6-yard toss from Roberts. Isaac Chandler kicked the extra-point.
“It was a big game for both teams. I felt like the kids were well prepared and that our coaches had them ready to go,” McClure said.