Andrews – With East Henderson going for fourth and 27 from Andrews 32-yard line while trailing 21-0 early in the second quarter, the Wildcats’ coaching staff told its defensive backs to bat down a deep pass to give their team better field position. Isaac Weaver disagreed.
“I said I wanted my pick,” Weaver said.
And he got it. Weaver intercepted Eagles quarterback Joseph Justice near the goal line, against his coaches wishes. He cut up field, then to his left toward the Andrews sideline. Around midfield, he made a defender miss and ran to the end zone, with his teammates on the field and bench sprinting downfield to celebrate the touchdown.
It was that kind of night for the Wildcats and Weaver, who scored four touchdowns in a dominant 46-14 win over an overmatched East Henderson.
“I think they responded to what we talked about this week, doing some small things better,” head coach James Phillips said. “We executed better, we got out of the huddle, we blocked, we ran, we caught, we threw better.”
The Eagles presented a different look than Andrews usually sees in the mountains, running a spread offense out of the shotgun and throwing on two-thirds of their plays. But the Wildcats were well prepared, with Donovan Bateman setting the tone by picking off Eagles quarterback Joseph Justice on their first offensive play. It was the first of five interceptions on the night for Andrews.
“We went over a lot of their routes,” Weaver said. “Watching film, knowing what they ran, just playing our coverages, that’s really it. Getting our keys, we done what we were supposed to do.”
East Henderson also had no answer for Andrews offense either, as the Wildcats finished with 542 yards. A total of 426 yards came on the ground, including 208 from Weaver and 107 from Austin Martin.
Weaver got his first on a 33-yard run with 10:39 left in the first quarter, then Martin scored on a seven-yard run up the gut on the next drive with 6:48 to go in the quarter. On the second play of the second quarter, Weaver made multiple Eagles defenders miss on a 45-yard touchdown run.
Following Weaver’s pick 6, Cole Anderson intercepted Justice at Andrews’ 1 yard line, and the Wildcats drove down the field again. It took almost six minutes, but Eli Aguilar’s 7-yard touchdown run put Andrews up 34-0 with 13.8 seconds left before halftime. The first string added one more touchdown, with Weaver running through the hole from four yards out with 22.8 seconds to go in the third quarter to extend the lead to 40-0.
Andrews reserves scored, too, with Everett Tatham throwing a 50-yard touchdown pass to Ty Clark in the final frame. It was more than enough to keep the packed home side of Hugh Hamilton Stadium happy.
“That was probably the most people I’ve seen here in a long time,” Phillips said of the crowd.
The Wildcats head back on the road this Friday, when they travel to Weaverville to take on North Buncombe, which they bested 44-20 at home last season. The Black Hawks finished 0-8 last year and have lost at home to Swain County (21-0) and at Madison (14-0) to start the season.