Erwin’s Historic Season Has Chilling End - TribPapers
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Erwin’s Historic Season Has Chilling End

Caden Ingle fires a pass in Erwin’s finale. Star 280-pound tackle Cody Luther (68) blocks for him. Photo by Pete Zamplas.

West Charlottte – Erwin Warriors (10-2) had a monumental season, in many ways.

This is their first time ever as a West Region number one seed. This is the third time (after 1987, 2010) that Erwin reached round three, and fourth time they won ten games. Once was in 1981, when the Warriors were state runners-up and fell in round four. They won league titles in 1963, ‘79, ‘81, 2000, ‘12, and in this hurricane-interrupted 2024 season.

Immense Pride

Erwin head coach Rodney Pruett said of his 2024 squad, “This group made me very proud. I hate it ended the way it did. But we ran into a team that was just better.” Pruett emphasized how “when the sting of this one wears off, we can reflect on all the positives that this team accomplished. I’m very proud. It was a wonderful season. All credit goes to my kids and coaches.”

Quarterback Caden Ingle said how he is “very proud of our guys, and all we accomplished. We will be back next year” in the playoffs.

Strong-armed lefty Ingle, a second-year starter, passed for 35 TDs and ran for nine scores in 2024. His four picks on Friday doubled his seasonal total. His 2,964 aerial yards are third most behind Damien Ferguson’s 3,589 in 2016 and 2,993 in ’15.

The future bodes well for Erwin, since Ingle is a sophomore. Lawson Reynolds is a junior. He led Erwin with 71 catches. He tied Michael Petty with 15 receiving scores. Reynolds amassed 1,118 receiving yards.

Senior Petty will be missed, though Erwin annually reloads its skill. Petty led Erwin with 1,272 yards on 65 catches. Senior Milky Ray reflected Warrior tenacity when slowed but fighting for extra yards, running near halftime. Ray rushed for 948 yards and 11 TDs in ’24.

First Drive is Best

On the game’s opening drive, Ingle was hot passing. Erwin reached the Lion 20-yard-line. But an incomplete screen pass on fourth down turned the ball over. After that, it was all Lions. Eighth-seeded West Charlotte (10-2) seemed to better adjust to the sub-freezing cold, which blunted Warrior punting.

West Charlotte outgrew its current 3A classification, with more than twice as many students as Erwin has. Subdividing from four classes to eight in 2025 eases such discrepancies, putting West Charlotte into a larger class than MAC and M7 schools.

The Lions led 36-0 at halftime. They nearly secured the 42-point, running clock lead before halftime. Jaquavion Allen foiled that by picking off a red-zone pass.

Jamouri Nichols, like Ingle, is a sophomore with nine rushing TDs. Nichols threw three TD passes to total 23 TDs and 2,031 yards, with merely two interceptions.

Cotton ran for a “wildcat” quarterback TD. The junior scored on a 19-yard, fourth-down reception. Cotton is a pick of ‘Ole Miss and Missouri recruiters, his coaches noted. Senior RB Aidan Turner often bulled ahead for extra yards.

The Lions’ future is bright with an even number of sophomores, juniors, and seniors. They toughened as the sole 3A school in an otherwise all-4A league.

Three mountain teams advanced – 2A ninth seed Brevard, and 1A top-three seeds Mountain Heritage and Murphy which square off.

Falcon Three-year Run

West Henderson (8-4) ended its season in round two, by losing 54-21 at home to North Knights — not rival North Henderson, but the triple-option Knights from North Lincoln.

Down 30-0, West scored on swift senior Neil Robinson’s 44-yard reception in the second quarter. He spun off of two North Lincoln Knights at once. Robinson caught two Cade Young TD passes. Sophomore Isaiah Cash ran for the other TD.

Young averaged 154 yards and 1.3 TDs per game. He is a junior. So is 1,356-yard back Zane McCraw (136 YPG). Junior receivers Asa Ostman and Zack McMinn, RB Cash, and freshman WR Cooper Lowrance are among emerging Falcon standouts.

Young said, “I liked the turnout of the season,” overall. “There’s one more year” for the juniors. The Falcons are riding a magnificent three-year run. They tied their all-time single-season varsity football mark with 12 wins two season ago. They then won a best-ever 13 games last season, when baseball won it all.

This fall, they went 8-4 and three-peated (in a tie) as league champion while volleyball won a state crown. Coach Paul Whitaker’s Football Falcons’ three-year record is 33-6, averaging 11-2.

On the all-star front, The Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas lost its sole WNC player when A.C. Reynolds’ Max Guest injured his knee weeks ago. The game is on Saturday, Dec. 21, at 1 p.m. at Spartanburg High School.