Pisgah football falls to Swain 20-7

Sep. 13—Pisgah fell 20-7 to Swain County in a game riddled by penalties and miscues Friday, Sept. 9.

“The effort was the best we have seen in three games that we have played. I thought the kids played extremely hard. They were getting after it and giving us everything they had,” said Pisgah head coach Brett Chappell. “We’ve got to be able to execute better than what we did.”

Game summary

Pisgah punted on its opening possession, and Swain set up on its own 41-yard line.

Swain junior quarterback Reese Winchester threw the ball deep into Pisgah territory but was intercepted by Pisgah sophomore defensive back Sawyer Belue on the Pisgah 16-yard line.

On the ensuing Bears possession, two gains by junior Breydon Reynolds were negated by holding and illegal block in the back penalties, forcing Pisgah to punt the ball.

Swain took over on its own 44-yard line, but a busted play and two run stops by Pisgah forced a Maroon Devils punt.

On the 20-yard line, Pisgah sophomore quarterback Aaron Clark found junior receiver Cadden Davis for a 24-yard reception. A 12-yard reception by senior Caden Robinson put the Bears on the Swain side of the field. Another holding penalty set the team back, but Clark found Robinson again for an 8-yard gain. Swain’s defense held up, though, and Reynolds was dropped for a 3-yard loss on third down. Pisgah’s punt ended the first quarter of play.

On Swain’s first possession of the second quarter, it started on its own 14-yard line, the worst field position of the night so far. Rushes of 4 yards and 7 yards earned a Maroon Devils first down, and then a 41-yard rush down the sideline set up Swain in Pisgah territory. Swain tried to catch the Bears off-guard with a pass down the left sideline, but the pass was intercepted by Belue, his second of the game.

Pisgah began its next drive from the 19-yard line. A 14-yard rush by senior Logan Free was negated by a holding penalty. Then, a 6-yard pass to Robinson earned a first down, as did a 10-yard rush by junior Hudson Smith. Swain’s defense tightened up and held Pisgah to gains of 2 yards, 3 yards, and then dropped Clark for a 1-yard loss to force the Bears’ punt.

Story continues

Swain junior Josh Collins returned the punt 56 yards to the Pisgah 25-yard line with four minutes left in the half.

Three straight rushes earned a first down for the Devils. Winchester threw the ball to a wide open receiver in the end zone, but the catch was ruled incomplete. An offsides penalty on the Bears pushed Swain right up to the goal line. A trick play allowed senior running back Gabe Lillard to loft a pass to Winchester in the back of the end zone for the game’s first touchdown. After the extra point, Swain lead 7-0.

With 1:15 left to play in the half, Pisgah took over on its own 27-yard line. An 8-yard pass to sophomore Jake Lowery and a 4-yard gain by Reynolds gave the team a first down. A late hit penalty on Swain moved the ball to the Swain 40-yard line.

Clark scrambled for 8 yards with eight seconds left, then threw the ball to Lowery in the end zone, but the pass was incomplete. With 0.2 seconds left in the half, Clark threw a Hail Mary that was intercepted by Swain on the goal line to end the second quarter.

Swain opened the second half running the ball, but was plagued by penalties. A holding call negated a 10-yard gain and a facemask penalty pushed the team backwards, too. On a third down with 30 yards to go, Swain lost another 2 yards and was forced to punt.

Pisgah started on its own 45-yard line, the best starting field position all night. After short gains and a bobbled snap that Clark managed to recover, the Bears were faced with a third down and 22 yards to go. An 8-yard gain by Free ended the series. Junior Walker Fox’s punt was blocked and Swain took over on the 28-yard line.

A 12-yard rush on third down gave the Maroon Devils great field position. Two rushes later, Swain crashed into the end zone to go up 14-0.

“The touchdown right before the half was big for them. We played really well with our backs against the wall in the first half,” Chappell said.

Facing a two-touchdown deficit, Pisgah took over at its own 23-yard line. Two rushes set up a third down with 4-yards to go. Clark completed an 8-yard pass to Belue on third down to reset the chains and end the third quarter.

On the next play, Belue was wide-open down the middle of the field, but the pass was overthrown. Reynolds then found space on a counter trap, and ran 53-yards downfield to the Swain County 11-yard line. Sophomore Carter Browning ran twice to set up a third down and short, and a facemask penalty on Swain set up the Bears on the 2-yard line. Clark rushed the ball into the end zone for the first Pisgah touchdown of the game to make it a 14-7 game with 8:49 left to play.

“I was really proud of our kids punching it in there because I knew how tough [Swain] was up front. We’d made up our mind that we were going for it on fourth down,” Chappell said.

Swain’s next possession was marred by mistakes, including a false start, incomplete pass and a busted play that lost the Devils three yards.

After a punt, Pisgah took over deep in its own territory. A rush by Reynolds lost 2 yards and a 5-yard pass to Belue was negated by a chop block penalty. A delay of game penalty backed up the Bears to their own 6-yard line. Rolling out to his left, Clark’s pass was tipped and intercepted by junior Josiah Glaspie, who returned it for a touchdown. The PAT was no good, so Swain lead 20-7.

Pisgah took over on its own 20-yard line but Clark was intercepted again after the ball was tipped and caught by Collins. Swain knelt the ball to end the game.

TakeawaysChappell wasn’t surprised the game was decided in the fourth quarter sinc both of Pisgah’s prior games have been.

“We knew it was going to be a four-quarter ball game. We can’t make anything more harder on ourselves,” he said.

Pisgah ran 46 plays for 189 total yards (107 yardson the ground; 82 passing).

Swain ran 44 plays for 166 total yards (164 yards rushing; 2 yards passing).

Chappell was pleased with his offense and defense, and the way the running game worked out on both sides of the ball.

“We were the first team in their three games to go over 100 yards rushing as a team,” he said. “They were averaging over 240 yards rushing a game, and defense held them to 166 total yards.”

Chappell said the team made some personnel and schematic changes during the week.

“You’re just trying to find that right mixture to get your best people on the field in the right places to be successful,” he said.

The longest offensive play of the night was Reynolds’ 53-yard rush in the fourth quarter.

“Breydon had a really nice run. He feels good. We knew we had to have a big game to be successful,” Chappell said. “Breydon is our best athlete. We’ve got to get the ball in his hands, no doubt, and get him out in open space.”

Clark threw two interceptions, but Chappell doesn’t believe the turnovers are indicative of a larger issue.

“On the one right before halftime, I told him to put it up. You’ve got some good receivers in there. I told him to trust it,” he said. “At the end [of the game], you really can’t fault him for that one. Time’s running down and you have to make a play.”

Overall, Chappell has been pleased with Clark’s performances.

“He’s been able to get the ball to people we need to get it to. Those are things we saw coming out of spring practice. He’s done a really nice job,” he said.

Pisgah’s starting field position made for tough-sledding all night. The team started from its own 31, 16, 20, 19, 27, 45, 23, 14 and 20-yard lines.

The Maroon Devils, meanwhile, enjoyed better positioning, starting from its own 41, 44, 14, 35, 28 and 35, as well as twice in Pisgah territory from the 25 and 41-yard lines.

The disparity was a combination of poor kickoffs (there were multiple kick out of bounds penalties for Pisgah) and a lack of execution from the Bears offense.

“Their starting field position was much different than ours was,” Chappell said. “They were on a short field most of the night. We gave them a much shorter field to work on.”

Another obstacle Pisgah faced was recurring penalties. Pisgah was penalized 12 times for 92 yards, among them holding, chop blocking and a delay of game penalty.

Swain was penalized seven times for 63 yards, although the majority of those came in the second half.

On the injury front, the Bears lost a few players during the game to injury, including Robinson and senior lineman Joshua Robertson. The team also dealt with a makeshift offensive line.

“Against what they were throwing at us, I thought our line held up pretty good in protection,” Chappell said. “I thought our line did a good job against a defensive line that was better than us. It’s kind of a makeshift line because we’ve had to move so many people around.”

What’s next?

Swain travels to Smoky Mountain this Friday in its first Mountain 7 3A Conference game of the season. The Mustangs are 2-2, but its two losses have come at a combined 10 total points.

“I think we’re trending in the right way,” Chappell said. “We’ve got to start off the best that we can and give ourselves a chance to be in the [conference] hunt.”

He believes the game will be another tough, four-quarter matchup.

“We’ve got to keep grinding. If we can continue have [effort], we’re going to win some of these fourth-quarter ball games. I’m expecting [the Smoky game] to be another hard-fought ball game that’s going to be decided late in the game.”

Pisgah travels to Smoky Mountain 7:30 p.m., Friday, Sept. 16.