Hendersonville – The Maroon Devils stood toe-to-toe with North Henderson Friday night, but it in the end it would be turnovers that proved costly for the Devils. Swain battled back to pull within a touchdown in the 4th quarter. With all the momentum on the Devils side they were driving for what might have been a touchdown to tie the game, only to fumble the ball back to North. In the end North took a 34-28 win.
The decisive fumble occurred after the Devils had cut the North lead to 26-21 with 5 minutes remaining in the game. Swain’s defense had forced North to punt setting up ideal field position for their offense, which had just scored back-to-back touchdowns. After 3 running plays moved the ball from mid-field to the North 33 yard line, the Devils fumbled it back to North.
North’s Quintin Wright took the 3rd play of the possession 67 yards for a touchdown, which, with 2:26 remaining all but sealed the game for North. Wright would finish with 177 yards rushing for North.
In the 3rd quarter North used a back breaking 16 play drive to take 11:02 off of the game clock, effectively keeping the ball for almost the entire 3rd quarter. North capped that drive with a 3-yard touchdown run.
The Maroon Devils got their lone score of the first half when Will Paul blocked a North Henderson punt and Ice Littlejohn recovered it in the endzone for a touchdown. Holden Petty added the point after. The touchdown would cut the score to 12-7 in favor of North.
In the 4th quarter Brodie Bowman scored on back-to-back possessions for the Devils. The first coming on a 1 yard plunge, following a 9 play 62-yard drive by the Devils. Bowman’s second score came one possession later, as he bolted 54 yards down the Swain sideline on an option play to score. Holden Petty knocked home both extra points, which cut the North lead to 26-21.
Swain’s final score came with 1:17 left on the clock. Bowman found Zeke Bradley for a 7-yard touchdown pass. Petty again hit the extra point.
On the night the Devils committed 4 costly turnovers. Of the Devils first four possessions they turned all of them over, 2 by interception and 1 fumble to go along with turning the ball over on downs.
For Swain Brodie Bowman finished with 75 yards on 10 carries. Through the air, Bowman was 7 of 13 for 93 yards. Keshaun Beaner finished with 51 yards on 9 carries, while Hunter Burrell had 40 yards on 7 carries.
Zeke Bradley had 3 catches for 37 yards, while Brier Younce had 2 catches for 11 yards.
The Swain defense, which was on the field for much of the night, got big performances from the linebacking duo. Wren Gunter finished with a game high 16 tackles, while Ice Littlejohn finished with 14. Thomas Allen, Nolan Brown and Will Paul all finished with 10 tackles each. Tanner Wiggins had a pair of pass breakups while Brier Younce and Dylan McLeod had 1 breakup each.