Bryson City – The Maroon Devils gave up 21 second half points friday to Murphy, it proved to be enough to doom Swain as the Bulldogs took a 38-14 win. Murphy’s win broke a Maroon Devil 3 game winning streak in the series between the two rivals. As is usually the case it was a physical, brutal battle. Murphy senior Deion Johnson scored 4 touchdowns and ran for over 200 yards for the game, while the Bulldog defense limited Swain to a season low 19 rushing yards.
Swain junior Jordan Cody turned in a magnificent performance. Cody finished with 7 catches for 94 yards, but made 2 spectacular catches and a heady defensive play which ended as a Maroon Devil touchdown. Cody stripped Deion Johnson of the ball on a tackle and then ran 9 yards for a Maroon Devil touchdown to tie the game at 14. Prior to that Cody put the Devils on the board when he made a spectacular diving touchdown grab that covered 41 yards on a pass from Kobe Stephenson.
The loss to Murphy was a bitter pill for the Devils to swallow as it pushed them to the 3rd seed from the Smoky Mountain Conference.
The NCHSAA is using the seeding system, or tier system in this year’s playoffs. This consists of each conference getting to send their top 3 finishers to the playoffs, with the remaining spots being filled by the teams with the best overall record. So, in this system, all conference champions are placed in the brackets and then sorted by overall 10 game winning percentage. Then all 2nd place teams are done the same way, followed by the 3rd place teams. Teams with 4 wins or more are taken next, and then the brackets are filled in as needed by teams with 3, or in some cases less, wins.
For the Maroon Devils, not even a good 8-2 record, was enough to save them from being pushed to a 10 seed in a top heavy big 1A bracket. The 3rd place finish means the Devils join North Stanly and Walkertown as 3rd place finishers. Both North and Walkertown received higher seeds as 8 and 9 seeds, leaving the Devils with 10. Mount Airy did not fair much better than the Devils, as they finished 9-1 and the top 2nd place team only to wind up as the 7th seed.
Where you finish in your conference takes precedence over your record in these situations. For instance Mitchell’s record is not as good as Walkertown, Mount Airy, North Stanly, or Swain. But they finished as the top 1A team in the split 1A/2A conference, and therefore were considered a conference champion despite not actually being a conference champion.
For reference, none of the other #10 seeds (in 1A and 1AA East or the 1A West brakcts) have winning records.
And, just as bitter, the Maroon Devils, despite their 8-3 overall record likely will not have a home game during these playoffs.
So, Maroon Nation, get your gas tank filled up and let’s get ready to be some serious Road Warriors!