Robbinsville – On the final play in the first half of Friday night’s playoff game between Murphy and Robbinsville, senior Juan Allen had the end zone in his sights.
Quarterback Kellen Rumfelt scrambled to find Ty Laney, who fumbled inside the Black Knights 30-yard line, but Allen came up with the ball and sprinted to the goal line. With Robbinsville leading 14-7, a touchdown would have put the Bulldogs only one point away from tying the game. But Allen was stopped at the 1 yard line by Cuttler Adams as time ran out.
The play was emblematic of the game and final result. The Black Knights stayed one step ahead of Murphy all night, ending the Bulldogs’ season with a 28-14 loss in the fourth round of the 1A N.C. High School Athletic Association playoffs.
“We had opportunities,” Bulldogs head coach Joseph Watson said. “We had an opportunity at the end of the half where we got ran down at the 1, and the kid made an outstanding play. We had a couple more opportunities we didn’t take advantage of. It’s just a game of missed opportunities.”
It wasn’t just one play that made the difference. Though Robbinsville (10-3 overall) ran for just 3.5 yards per carry, that was enough because of a career performance from quarterback Dasan Gross.
Gross went 10-12 for 147 yards and a touchdown, with all of his completions coming on third down. Led by Gross, Robbinsville went 12-for-16 on third down and won the time of possession battle by more than 15 minutes.
“It was good play-calling on their part,” Watson said. “Their kids just executed better than our kids did on third downs.”
While Gross did exactly what was asked of him, Rumfelt made two throws he wants back: interceptions in the first and fourth quarters that led to Black Knights touchdowns. Rumfelt’s first interception gave the Black Knights the ball at the Bulldogs’ 27-yard line. On third-and-9, Gross found Cuttler Adams on a short pass over the middle, and the sophomore broke one tackle on his way to a 26-yard touchdown.
After running for 377 yards and four touchdowns last week, Adams didn’t break off any long runs but made plays when it counted, finishing with 178 total yards and all four Robbinsville touchdowns. Murphy punted on its next drive, and Robbinsville drove 90 yards to the end zone to extend the lead to 14-0.
If the Bulldogs had any momentum after the crazy finish to the first half, the Black Knights took all of it away by stuffing Ty Laney for a 4-yard loss on the first offensive play in the second half. Robbinsville answered with a 14-play, 77-yard drive, and a 2-yard touchdown run by Adams pushed the lead back to 14 points.
Despite driving into Robbinsville territory on the next two drives, Murphy came up empty. The second time, Rumfelt had a high pass hit Payton McCracken’s fingertips before landing in the hands of Robbinsville’s Brock Adams. The Black Knights would drive 73 yards to seal the game, with Cuttler Adams’s fourth touchdown extending the lead to 28-7 with 1:39 to go.
The loss means the end of the road for 12 Murphy seniors, who went 42-10 during their high school careers and won two state championships.
“These seniors are outstanding…. they’ve played a lot of football in this calendar year,” Watson said. “They’ve played their butts off, and it’s always hard when it’s the last one.”
In what was an up-and-down first year without legendary head coach David Gentry, though the Bulldogs stayed the course and made another deep playoff run, advancing to the Elite Eight for the 12th straight season. It’ll be a fight to do that again next year, as Murphy loses nine starters, including Rumfelt, Allen, McCracken and Hunter Laney, plus linemen Zeke Brinke and Rylan Smith.
However, there’s the potential for a good running back group with Ty Laney, Hunter Stalcup and a healthy John Ledford, who missed this season with a knee injury. That’s a good place to start in the Smoky Mountain Conference.
“They gotta a lot of talent,” Rumfelt said of the Murphy players coming back.
“They just have to get to work.”