Wildcats flatten North Buncombe, move to 3-0
Weaverville – The tone was set from the opening kickoff. Andrews junior Dalton Rose flattened a would-be North Buncombe blocker, answering head coach James Phillips’ challenge to make sure his Wildcats were the more physical team.
It stayed that way the rest of the night, as Andrews moved the ball at will and was excellent on defense in a 52-6 win.
“That’s the mentality and philosophy of our program,” Phillips said. “To try to play tough and execute. We’re a small school and typically a small team, and we’ve got to try to be perfect in our execution and try to be tough because there ain’t many of us. The kids do a good job embracing that philosophy.”
North Buncombe entered the year having not scored in two losses to Swain County and Madison, but Phillips thought he saw a team playing harder than the one that lost to Andrews 44-20 last year. That didn’t matter, as Andrews’ first-string offense scored every time it had the ball, and the backups scored twice.
The Wildcats had 508 yards of offense, including 246 through the air, more than the first two games of the season combined. Senior quarterback Donovan Bateman completed seven of eight passes for 189 yards and two touchdowns.
“First two games, I wasn’t really in my rhythm, a little rusty offensively trying to force everything,” Bateman said. “Today I started off slow, got in my rhythm fast and the receivers made some good plays.”
Bateman completed his first pass of the night to Cole Anderson for a 16-yard gain on Andrews’ first drive, and Isaac Weaver capped it off with a 7-yard touchdown run to put the Wildcats on the board with 5:40 left in the first quarter. Anderson intercepted North Buncombe quarterback Gabe Banks on the ensuing Black Hawks drive, which Andrews capitalized on as Austin Martin finished off the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run on the final play of the first quarter.
Bateman had his best throw of the night on the Wildcats next drive, and it was also their biggest play of the night. He hit Cole Anderson on a deep pass down the North Buncombe sideline, and Anderson shed a tackler to run the rest of the way for a 76-yard touchdown. Anderson finished the night with four catches for 121 yards, all in the first half.
“The leap from last year to this year is ridiculous,” Bateman said of Anderson. “He’s played like an all-star the first three games; he’s going to help us a lot.”
The Wildcats’ first string would score three more times, earning the rest of the night off after Bateman hit Cameron Rattler over the middle for a 14-yard touchdown on the first drive of the second half. North
Buncombe, meanwhile struggled mightily on offense, gaining only one first down the entire first half before finally scoring against Andrews’ second string.
Andrews will take a huge step up in competition next week when it travels to Bakersville to face Mitchell. The Wildcats beat the Mountaineers 26-14 last September, only to watch Mitchell win 11 straight games before losing in the 1A state championship game.
Mitchell star quarterback Ty Turbyfill, who accounted for 3,715 total yards and 59 touchdowns last year, didn’t play in the Mountaineers’ 28-21 loss to Watauga last week. However, the Mountaineers appear to be deeper in the backfield this year, as Turbyfill only had 25 carries in the first two games.
It’ll be a tough task, but the two-plus hour bus trips Andrews has taken to Morganton and North Buncombe will help with the trip up the mountain. And the Wildcats have improved the last three weeks, cleaning up the little things while not giving three overmatched opponents a chance.
“I expect a war,” Phillips said. “I think both schools, both teams, both communities probably expect that.”