Bryson City
The Maroon Devils entered Friday’s Smoky Mountain Conference opener with a 1-4 record over the last five years against visiting Robbinsville. Little of that mattered to this year’s squad who scored 6 unanswered touchdowns, before Robbinsville scored on the reserves late in the game, to post a 42-7 win.
Robbinsville made the conscientious decision many teams are going to have to make, who would they stop from the Devils offense. The Knights chose to try to stop Matthew Maennle, Greg Tisho and the Devils potent passing attack. That opened up things for senior running back Garrett Lane, who rushed for a career high 205 yards on 14 carries and scored 3 touchdowns. Robbinsville was successful in not giving up a long pass play on the evening, but paid the price in the Devils ground game.
Swain pounded out 370 rushing yards and finished with 499 yards of total offense. Matthew Maennle scored 2 touchdowns, one on a 51 yard run, and the other on a 9 yards pass from Raymius Smith. Storm Jordan finished off the scoring with a 1 yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. Colyn Petty made good on all 6 extra point attempts.
The Maroon Devil defense was outstanding all night as they recorded 5 sacks and 5 interceptions, while limiting the Knights 230 yards of offense, most of which came in the game’s final quarter. Swain’s first team defense has not given up a touchdown in the last 4 games.
Next up the Devils(5-0, 1-0) go outside of conference play for the final time this season as they travel to Pikeville Kentucky for a Saturday matchup. Kickoff will be at 2 o’clock on Saturday.
Garrett Lane and his teammates celebrate one of his 3 TDs in Friday’s 42-7 win over Robbinsville. Lane finished with a career high 205 yards rushing.