Asheville – Erwin clawed past A.C. Reynolds to win by a touchdown at home on Friday, displacing the Rockets as MAC champions.
The Warriors (8-1) are much stronger than usual defensely, to accompany their usual explosive offense.
They won all five of their league games, playing four of them post-Hurricane Helene. They doubled their win total of last year, despite playing two fewer contests.
They broke two-time defending MAC champ Reynolds’ 16-game league winning streak. ACR (5-4; 4-1 MAC) is the league’s second 3A seed, behind Erwin.
4A Cougars Romp
Asheville (5-2; 3-1 MAC) thumped T.C. Roberson (4-4; 1-3) 45-15 in the battle for the MAC’s top 4A playoff seed.
Josh Ellis ran for 122 yards and two TDs, and Kyheem Plummer added 119 yards and a Cougar score. Meek Slydell threw three TD passes.
Erwin,4A seventh-seeded AHS, 3A 12th seed ACR and 3A seventh seed West Henderson open playoffs at home on Friday. TCR and 2A Hendersonville (HHS) are away.
Overdue Warriors
Erwin won its prior MAC football crown in 2000, the season before Rodney Pruett joined its coaching staff. He is in his eighth season as Erwin’s head coach, after 26 as an assistant.
Pruett calls this his biggest win as the Warrior chief, since it was “for the championship.”
This historical triumph is “all about the kids and coaches,” Pruett said. “They played their butts off. Our coaches coached their tails off.”
Milky Ray ran for the game’s final two touchdowns, the only scores of the second half. Erwin tied it at 21 and won 28-21.
Trench combat was fierce, Coach Pruett said. “Up front, we played well all night. It was a battle from start to finish.”
Fast ACR Start
Reynolds reversed the script of two prior games, when it trailed at halftime but beat T. C. Roberson then Asheville. At Erwin, the Rockets started strongly. They scored the first two TDs, and led 21-14 at the break.
Quarterback Max Guest raced 31 yards up the middle, busting through two defenders to score. Jayden Smith rushed two yards, and ACR led 14-0 in the opening quarter.
Defense Tightens
After that, Erwin’s defense was “big for three quarters,” Pruett said. The game was a tale of two halves. Reynolds amassed 240 yards offensively in the first half, but merely 27 afterwards.
Pruett singled out two senior linebackers. “Dravo Ferguson is a feel-good story. He does everything right, and was a difference maker.” Judah Dayton, among others, is also “always team-first.”
Warriors Respond
Erwin’s offense got going, and tied the game at 14. Fittingly, the first score on Reynolds was by a Reynolds. Lawson Reynolds caught Caden Ingle’s 10-yard pass in the end zone’s right front corner.
The very next play was Reynolds’ worst in the game. The kickoff bounced off of Tyvon Patterson and his teammate, then into Warrior hands.
Ingle burst in on a keeper, and triumphantly pumped his hand. He felt momentum and inevitable victory.
However, ACR went back ahead before halftime on Guest’s TD pass to basketball sharpshooter Declan Brown.
Ray of Hope
The scoring was all Erwin’s in the second half. Ray ran 14 yards, evening it at 21.
Michael Petty snared Ingle’s 31-yard lob down the right sideline, barely inbounds.
Ray broke several tackles on his masterful 31-yard touchdown. Erwin had its first of the game, and it held up.
Ray rushed for 92 yards (8.5 YPC) and those last two scores.
Ingle passed for 194 yards and a TD. He was accurate, completing 24 of 38 passes, and ran for a pivotal score.
Dynamic Duo
The top two Warrior receivers were Petty with ten catches for 106 yards, and Reynolds with seven receptions with a TD. They combine for 98 receptions and 25 aerial scores. Petty surpassed 1,000 receiving yards with 1,031.
Erwin had 309 yards of offense, versus 275 for ACR, and ran more plays (61-45). Erwin’s spread attack thrives on ball-controlling short-yardage passing.
Max Injured
Guest, like Ingle, ran for a TD and threw for another score. The senior had nearly 200 yards of total offense, and 1,375 total yards in 2024.
But Rocket Nation groaned when Guest left midway into the final quarter, with a seemingly significant left leg injury. He missed most of last season with a leg injury. Patterson filled in at QB.
West’s McCraw Out
West Henderson (7-3) also lost its running star, Zane McCraw. He ranks in the top five in 3A as a 1,300-yard rusher. The junior left with a broken fibula (calf bone), in the 56-0 win at East Henderson.
This leaves bullish senior Da’Zion Murray as the go-to back. Swift quarterback Cade Young also runs well.
West earned the all-3A Mountain Seven’s top seed over co-champs (at 5-1) Smoky Mountain and Pisgah due to a higher RPI (wins and opponents’ collective ratings).
HHS (5-4; 3-2 MFC) pummeled Polk 69-0.