Much like the abbreviated season itself, Swain struck first in its final regular season game on Friday night, but faltered along the way to fall 41-26 to Hayesville and finish the season 2-4.
The Devils built a 20-7 lead by the second quarter before Hayesville reeled off 34-straight points to take a commanding 41-20 lead. A Damian Lossiah touchdown pass to Cooper Hyatt with five seconds remaining in the game closed the gap, but not nearly enough.
“They established the run,” said interim head coach Eric Stephenson on Hayesville’s resurgence. “They’ve got one of the best running backs in the conference and just struggled stopping some of that. They just got some things going.”
Swain threw several look at Hayesville from the quarterback spot. Carson Taylor completed a 44-yard touchdown pass on a toss sweep to Donnavin Groenewold. Gabe Lillard completed three passes for 29 yards. Lossiah was two-for-three for 23 yards. Lillard, a sophomore, will be in contention to replace Lossiah, a graduating senior, under center for the Devils next season.
“They are both similar, and it’s not like we change our offense for one or the other,” said Stephenson of the two quarterbacks. “We stay with our option attack stuff, so it’s very similar.”
The Devils were balanced in the running attack as Lillard (64 yards), Groenewold (60 yards) and Lossiah (51 yards) each surpassed 50 yards rushing.
The loss marks the end of a strange season of playing only six games, competing in the spring season, and doing all of it without Head Coach Neil Blankenship, who took a leave of absence in late January.
“I appreciate what our kids did this year with the bizarre season,” said Stephenson. “They played really hard all year. They didn’t quit. It would have been very easy for them just to walk away, but they grinded it out and I am proud of them for that.”