Bryson City – It was a game that was on neither teams original schedule, but maybe it should have been. Mountain Heritage came to town Friday for the first ever meeting with Swain. The two teams were dead even over the course of four quarters, in what turned out to be a very entertaining game. This week the Maroon Devils got things going in the 1st half, building a 10-0 lead heading into halftime. But Heritage would respond with 16 unanswered points to take a 16-10 win.
After both teams exchanged possessions in a scoreless 1st quarter, it would be the Devils who drew first blood. Minutes into the 2nd quarter Gabe Lillard broke free and streaked down the Heritage sideline for a 55 yard touchdown run. Gavin Lanning knocked home the extra point to give Swain a 7-0 lead.
That lead would be one Swain would hold onto for the bulk of the 1st half. Then with time winding down before half, Lillard hit Cameron Blankenship for a big gain. Blankenship was knocked out of bounds at the Heritage 4 yard line with no time left on the clock, however Blankenship was hit late out of bounds, and the resulting penalty gave the Devils one untimed down. Gavin Lanning made good on the play by hitting a 21 yard field goal. Lanning’s kick gave Swain a 10-0 lead at the half.
Mountain Heritage would score twice in the 2nd half. Both scores came on the ground. The first was a 21 yard run by Jacob McCurry and the heartbreaker came on a Gabe Silvers 19 yard run. Heritage made both two point conversions for their 16 points.
The Maroon Devils hurt themselves by turning the ball over on 3 fumbles. The fumbles not only thwarted Maroon Devil drives but gave the ball back to the ground control Cougars, who won the time of possession by a wide margin.
Gabe Lillard had a game high 115 yards on 17 carries, including the one score. Carson Taylor added 70 yards on 12 carries. Lillard went 8 of 19 through the air for 104 yards. Cameron Blankenship had 5 catches for 74 yards, while Cooper Hyatt had 3 catches for 30 yards.
Gavin Lanning punted only twice, but on both occasions pinned the Cougars inside their own 20. Lanning also made his first field goal of the season, along with his only extra point attempt.
On the defensive side Carson Taylor finished with 13 tackles, including one for loss. The Devils defense was on the field for a very long time against a very physical ground oriented offense. Josh Collins was in on 10 tackles. Cooper Hyatt had an interception to go along with 8 tackles and a pass breakup.