Bryson City – David Gentry didn’t start coaching football setting out to break any records. He just set out to win football games.
Nearly 50 seasons later, Murphy’s head coach finds himself holding one of North Carolina football’s most prestigious records – the all-time winningest high school football coach in state history.
“It’s a big number, and it means a whole lot to us as a team, as a program,” Gentry said in his office Monday after Murphy’s practice. “To me personally, I never thought when I first started this position … I just try and win the next game.”
He paused, taking a moment to think. “I don’t know if I can take it all in until after the season,” he added. “We’re concentrated on what we have left to do this year.”
Gentry’s record-breaking 413th win was one for the ages, which he described as an “instant classic” after the game.
The one-point win over Murphys’ biggest rival, Swain, took place in Bryson City, where Gentry and the Bulldogs hadn’t won a game since 2005. It would have been a monumental victory for Murphy even without the historical aspect.
For Gentry, establishing himself as the state’s all-time winningest head coach against the Smoky Mountain Conference team that’s given him the most trouble since he came to Murphy in 1983 was the cherry on top.
“That’s just been the best rival since I’ve been here,” Gentry said of the record coming against the Maroon Devils. “So to beat your rival, at their place for the record … that’s probably as good as it gets.”
The record didn’t come without its drama. Gentry and the Bulldogs entered the closing minutes of the football game trailing by a touchdown with the ball in their possession.
When Murphy made it into the end zone with 1:07, Gentry was faced with a decision that he was no stranger to. Kick the extra point and tie the game? Or go for the two-point conversion and the win?
After a Swain County false start on the extra-point attempt, Gentry went with his gut and sent his offensive unit back out onto the field.
“I’ve gone for two late in the game before, and I’ve lost doing it,” Gentry said of the game-winning decision. “In the state championship game in 1976, I went for it and we lost. I mean, it ain’t my first rodeo going for two.”
“I told Yousef (Mugharbil), ‘We’re going to go over you and I believe in you,’ ” Gentry recounted the huddle before the two-point attempt. “ ‘Devonte (Murray), you’re going to get it. The rest of you are going to block like crazy, and we’re going to get these two points and win this football game.’ ”
The decision paid off for Gentry, as senior Murray barreled into the end zone behind Mugharbil to give the Bulldogs a 15-14 lead that is etched into history.
“It’s good for the community, it’s good for the school,” Gentry continued about the record. “I got most of my victories here, so they more feel a part of it, its ownership I think.
“It’s good, it’s all good.”
While Gentry and the rest of the Bulldogs are happy to have gotten the record, the euphoria of the record-breaking outing has already been pushed behind them as they continue the march to their next goal – a ninth state title for the Gentry and Murphy.
However, Gentry doesn’t want his players getting two ahead of themselves with three games left in the regular season, including a season finale at home against the undefeated Robbinsville Black Knights that will decide the conference crown.
“I tell them that they’re only as good as their next game played,” Gentry said of the team’s championship aspirations. “I want them to win another state championship, but first of all we have to win the conference. Robbinsville is going to be a tough team.”