Kevin Hensley
sports@grahamstar.com
Robbinsville – Defensive positives were spurned out of several offensive negatives.
Oct. 14’s regular-season finale between the junior varsity Robbinsville Black Knights (3-2) and Swain County featured a combined six fumble recoveries, but just one interception.
It was the Knights that ended up on the right side of the pick, scoring what would be the game-winning touchdown with 8:28 left in the fourth quarter – and defeating the Maroon Devils by the same margin as their April 1 triumph in Bryson City, 14-12.
The game was scoreless entering the second quarter, even though Robbinsville’s Roman Jones – as well as the Swain County duo of Cameron George and Trenton Jones – had scooped up loose balls to force turnovers.
Kellen Ensley’s fumble recovery early in the stanza was finally capitalized upon by Robbinsville, as quarterback Bryce Adams would weave through the defense and break loose for an eventual 52-yard touchdown at the 6:57 mark.
Undeterred, the Devils knotted things at 6-6 on an 11-yard dash by Mason Cochran with 2:44 remaining in the half. Swain County later took full advantage of a high snap on a Robbinsville punt attempt in the third, with Kelan McCullough falling on the ball in the end zone.
But Jones would pick off Maroon Devils quarterback Aiden Southards at the dawn of the fourth and Quinn Jumper would soon make a mad dash toward the end zone, scoring on a 67-yard run to tie the game again at 12-12. The only successful conversion attempt of the evening – a run by Jones – would put the game out of reach, as Ensley recovered a loose Swain football during the ensuing possession and the Black Knights simply ran out the clock from there.