Asheville – A.C. Reynolds Rockets dominated the first half and held off host Asheville Cougars in the second half, to win 28-14 on Friday.
The teams traded touchdowns, scoring four TDs total in the second half. But Reynolds secured its final margin of two TDs in the opening 14 minutes, while shutting out the Cougars. Reynolds out-rushed AHS 123 yards to 32 in the first half.
ACR’s first half was like its blowout win over AHS in 2022. The second half was reminiscent of recent close contests at Asheville.
Reynolds (4-3) and T.C. Roberson (5-1) are both 3-0 in the league. They play Oct. 20 at Roberson. TCR won 58-13 at Enka Friday, as senior quarterback Lex Dinwiddie ran for 271 yards and five scores including an 88-yarder.
First, Roberson welcomes Asheville this Friday, Oct. 6. The victor is very likely the MAC’s top 4A seed and can host a playoff opener, since both teams likely beat struggling 4A McDowell. Thus, the Roberson clash “is our playoff game,” AHS head coach Cort Radford told the Tribune. Reynolds was 4A, but returns to 3A to join MAC schools Erwin, Enka, and North Buncombe.
Asheville and Erwin, both 2-4 overall, are 1-1 in the MAC. AHS won 29-15 at Erwin two Fridays ago. Erwin, idle last Friday, plays at ACR on Oct. 6. A three-way tie for the overall MAC title happens if AHS wins at TCR this coming Friday, and TCR beats ACR two weeks later. But losing to TCR tags the Cougars with two conference defeats. That’d also set up a TCR-ACR battle for league supremacy.
Coach Radford sees a silver lining in playing Reynolds evenly on the scoreboard in the second half Friday. “We found out what toughness is. We’ve now found that. We’re tough. We can go out and play better.”
ACR’s ‘Guest Stars’
Superstar Rocket runner Max Guest has not played yet, remaining out with a preseason ankle injury. Latest medical estimates are that he should return for the playoffs, and could be back as early as the showdown at TCR Oct. 20.
Reynolds made several big plays without him. “We played well, when we needed to,” head coach Shane Laws told his triumphant Rockets after they beat AHS and huddled. “I’m proud of you.” MY40 televised the game.
Both defenses put the clamps on initially. The game was scoreless for its first nine minutes.
But Reynolds broke through for pivotal long gains. First, lefty QB Hayden Craig lofted a 19-yard completion to fellow senior Wes Rumbough, who leaped to make the catch at the left sideline.
Up the Gut Twice
Sophomore tailback Tyvon Patterson dashed 33 yards up the middle to inside the AHS two-yard-line. Three players later, he ran two yards to cap the second ACR drive, with 3:05 left in the opening quarter. Patterson ran for two TDs and 130 yards.
Reynolds made it 14-0 a minute and half into the second quarter, on a nine-yard TD run by Hendersonville senior transfer Malik Angram. He bounced off a tackler. A play earlier, Angram — like Patterson — broke free up the middle. He sidestepped a Cougar, and zoomed 29 yards to the AHS nine. Angram’s punt return set up that 53-yard scoring drive.
ACR nearly went up by three TDs in the first half’s final minutes, but the teams traded lost fumbles near the Cougar goal line. ACR’s big Edwin Santiago hit QB Meek Slydell, jarring the ball loose. Senior LB Ayden Hines promptly scooped it up at the AHS 15, and returned it to nine.
Soonafter, from the five, Craig scrambled then scampered ahead. He eluded star senior LB Noah Shaw. But Craig smashed into Rumbough by the goal line, just before Rumbough could block aside free safety Kayden Williams. That slowed Craig’s forward momentum, enabling CB C.J. Fleming to smash the ball loose – but very possibly after Craig scored. Yet, officials evidently deemed the fumble occurred before he crossed the goal line. Shaw recover it at the AHS two.
Craig’s best improvisation was scrambling and — with Shaw grabbing him — heaving a first-down pass to senior Ty Johnson at midfield.
Just before halftime as AHS ran out the clock, its sophomore left tackle J’von Howard left with a leg injury.
Cougars Get Going
Asheville’s offense got untracked in the second half, matching ACR’s two scores but not getting closer than two TDs. First came the game’s longest score. Patterson sped 70 yards on a screen left. Reynolds led 21-0, with 4:18 remaining in the third quarter.
The Cougars got on the board three minutes later. C.J. Morgan caught sophomore Meek Slydell’s 20-yard TD pass in the end zone.
But Reynolds opened the final quarter with Craig’s TD bomb to Johnson. AHS closed scoring with 3:19 left, on lefty halfback Kyheem Plummer‘s trick pass to wide open Morgan in the end zone. Morgan and Johnson both were Erwin Warrior receivers in 2022.
Johnson noted that beating the Cougars is extra sweet for him, after losing to them all three years as a varsity Warrior. “We came together as a team” well to beat AHS, he said of Rocket effort.
Hayden Craig relishes conquering “our cross time rival, for bragging rights.” He said the Rockets avoided responding to Cougar online boasting before Friday. Instead, he said, “we made our statement on the field – not on social media.”