Bryson City – The formula for Andrews football has been simple so far this year. Run the ball, wear out the opponent’s defense and control the clock.
It added up to five wins in the first five games. That came to an end last Friday night, when the Wildcats fell at Swain County 21-12.
“We didn’t execute plays as well as we had been playing,” Andrews head coach James Phillips said. “Playing at Swain against a pretty good Swain team is always difficult.”
The Wildcats were still able to run the ball against the Maroon Devils, finishing with 286 yards. That included a big load for Isaac Weaver, who went back to taking his usual role in the backfield and finished with 157 yards on 27 carries. However, Andrews (5-1 overall, 1-1 Smoky Mountain Conference) didn’t capitalize on its chances the way Swain County (3-2, 1-0) did.
The Wildcats had four drives where they crossed into Swain County territory and came up empty on two of them. The Maroon Devils only crossed midfield on two drives and scored touchdowns on both.
Weaver was able to intercept Swain County quarterback Gabe Lillard once, but the Maroon Devils fumbled four times and Andrews didn’t recover one. Meanwhile, Swain County scored a touchdown off of Andrews only turnover, a Weaver fumble in the third quarter.
“It’s probably the biggest game we’ve played since Mitchell,” Phillips said. “It definitely had a playoff feel to it. Swain just outplayed us.”
A shanked Andrews punt gave the Maroon Devils field position at the Wildcats’ 38-yard line on their first drive. They took advantage. An 18-yard completion by Lillard to Donnavin Groenewold moved the ball to the Andrews 11-yard line. Three plays later, Lillard found the end zone on a 1-yard quarterback keeper to put Swain County on the board.
Both teams traded punts on four straight drives, before Lillard found the end zone from the 1 yard line again. This time though, it was his own 1 yard line. Taking the ball on a designed quarterback run, he cut to his right, then back to his left, then switched directions again back to his right before sprinting up field for a 99-yard touchdown for a 14-0 lead with 1:32 left in the second quarter.
The play accounted for almost half of the Maroon Devils’ 204 rushing yards. Outside of that play, Andrews held Swain for just over three yards a carry. The Wildcats were able to get in the Swain backfield at times, but not consistently.
“We worked on tackling the dive on the veer all week,” Phillips said, “and we didn’t do that consistently enough. In games like that, whichever team makes the least mistakes is usually the one that’s going to win.”
Austin Martin got Andrews on the board on the final play of the first half to cut the lead to 14-6 before the two-point conversion run failed. Weaver’s interception on the Maroon Devils first drive of the half gave the Wildcats a chance to tie the game, but he gave it back on a fumble.
Swain County took advantage, and Lillard’s third rushing touchdown of the night gave the Maroon Devils a 21-6 lead. That made the difference, as Andrews scored again but ran out of time.
The Wildcats welcome Cherokee to Hugh Hamilton Stadium for homecoming Friday night. The Braves have impressed in their first two conference games, losing to Murphy by only one point and beating Robbinsville 20-7.
“They’re a dangerous team,” Phillips said. “And I fully expect it to be a war.”