Andrews – Mayor James Reid knew he was witnessing history. After Andrews scored a touchdown to go up 22-12 on Murphy with 3:37 left, he went live on Facebook for the final minutes of the game, then the postgame celebration after the Wildcats bested the Bulldogs for the first time in 40 years.
“Everyone sees the impact it has on the town,” Reid said. “Just to have that confidence and have that monkey off your back. We’ve finally done it.”
It was a moment that resonated not just in Cherokee County. At the Hayesville-Robbinsville game, the final score received the biggest ovation of the night, even as the Black Knights were looking to win another Smoky Mountain Conference championship.
Reid has received congratulatory messages from all over the conference, including Murphy fans. Andrews alums reached out, too, even one who moved all the way to Washington state.
For Reid, Friday night’s win was the biggest moment Andrews has had in the last few years.
“I think this ranks up there as the top,” Reed said. “The very top. Even outranks the eclipse. It’s monumentous for the school, the guys and everyone else.”
While Reid was encouraging fans to charge the field as the clock ran down, Andrews Principal Lance Bristol couldn’t get ahead of himself. He’s the public address announcer during Wildcats’ football games, and his wife sits besides him as his spotter.
With about 2:50 left, she told Bristol it looks like this may finally be the year. Bristol had to wait until the final minute before it finally started to sink in.
“I think maybe with 50 seconds to go, I realized it would take a miracle,” Bristol said.
As one of the smallest schools in North Carolina playing high school football, Andrews started the year with its typically light roster. But Bristol said this year’s group was different. Maybe not beat Murphy different, but different than in previous years.
After a 5-0 start, Andrews lost three straight conference games by just 22 points. The hurdle was more about doing something that hadn’t been done since 1981 than any mismatch on the field.
“I’ve been at Andrews since 2014,” Bristol said. “And the mindset of those kids going into that game was they expected to win. That’s something I was proud to see. It was just a swagger that they had.”
Mickey Maennle, who was a member of the last team to beat Murphy before Friday, was hoping this day would come a long time ago. Like Reid, he remembered when beating Murphy wasn’t a once-in-a-generation occurrence.
About 10 years ago, when he was an assistant for the winningest Wildcats team this century, he remembers having a conversation with then assistant Randy Glass, who today is a manager on the Murphy team. They thought it might be the year, and decided that if it was snowing that Friday night, they would do snow angels on the field if the Wildcats came out on top.
It wasn’t snowing Friday night, and Glass was on the opponent’s sideline. However, it was still a family affair for Maennle.
His brother, Frank, who was an assistant football coach in 1981, is Andrews’ athletic director. His nephew, Matthew, is an assistant coach for the Wildcats. He has two other nephews, Colton and Dalton Rose, who play at Andrews.
“I’ve told my nephews, I hate to say it, you’re probably going to famous,” Maennle said. “Not just my two nephews, but those Martin boys, Isaac Weaver, Donovan Bateman, those defensive players, those linemen – they’ll always have people asking them what does it feel like to be the last team to beat Murphy.”
Even with a home playoff game this week, the excitement from Friday night won’t die down for a while. Reid said he’s planning to hold some kind of event to honor the team, possibly a parade. When something occurs that hasn’t happened since the first year of President Ronald Reagan’s administration, it’s not something you want to forget anytime soon.
“It’s just the total package for us,” Bristol said. “As well as those kids played, we had big community support that night. We had a great group of cheerleaders with it. And then the best band in the land. And really, it was just a total package.
“It was a perfect night for Andrews.”