The 1990s saw several changes to the Smoky Mountain Conference.
The N.C. High School Athletic Association did another realignment of the conferences in 1988 that would take effect in 1989. Murphy was 30 students over the 1A limit and, after a lengthy back-and-forth appeals process, were placed on playoff restrictions in which they were not allowed to go to the playoffs but every other year.
Swain County would take the first state championship of 1990, as it was Heath Shuler’s senior season for the Maroon Devils. They defeated Robersonville-Roanoke 40-14.
Since 1985, the Smoky Mountain Conference title had come down to one game played in November, either in Murphy or Bryson City, between the Bulldogs and Maroon Devils and two coaches, Boyce Dietz and David Gentry. The 1991 game was a classic.
It was one of the years Murphy was eligible for the playoffs and, with the departure of Shuler, the playing field was level again. Murphy came into the game undefeated on Nov. 8, 1991, and Swain had one conference loss to Robbinsville, which the Bulldogs defeated earlier in the season.
Swain upset visiting Murphy 21-20 that year to cause a three-way tie for the conference championship. There had to be coin flips between the three coaches, and Murphy won the flip to claim the top seed in the playoffs. It set up a rematch on Nov. 29, 1991, in a game still referred to as simply “The Kick.”
Murphy was trailing 7-6 with 1:05 remaining when quarterback Paul Martin began a drive on the Bulldogs’ 15-yard line. He completed two passes to Doug Swanson that got Murphy to the 47 yard line.
A holding call against Swain moved the ball down to the Maroon Devils’ 43. Two passes, later the Dogs were on the Devils’ 14-yard line.
Only a few second were left when Jonathan Cook entered the game and, with Martin holding, kicked a 24-yard field goal to give Murphy a 9-7 win. Murphy went onto win the state 1A championship that year, defeating Rosewood 30-3. Chris Dockery touched the ball seven times for 160 yards rushing and was named the game’s Most Valuable Player.
There was always an interesting Dietz comment when the games played out the way they did, and 1991 was no different. A couple of years later I ran into him, and the first thing he asked was, “Have they made that Cook boy the mayor of Murphy yet? I figured they would right after he made that kick.”
The next year was the last one with Murphy under playoff restrictions. The Bulldogs went 10-0 and won the conference crown, but were unable to advance to the playoffs. Murphy would beat Robbinsville 41-0 that year, yet the Black Knights sailed through the 1A playoffs to claim the title for the Smoky Mountain Conference for the eighth year in a row.
Black Knights coach Dale Smallen was interviewed on Raleigh television after the game. “Maybe one day,” he said, “we’ll be good enough to beat Murphy.”
The Smoky Mountain Conference would play in the state championship game for the next three years, but would not win another one until 1996. Swain lost to Hobbton 29-12 in ’93, Murphy lost to North Edgecombe 7-6 in ’94 and Swain lost to Williamston 21-7 in 1995.
Murphy had a terrible year in 1993, starting 0-6 and ended up with a record of 3-7 Robbinsville won the conference but was knocked out of the playoffs by Swain in the second round.
Hayesville was really excited to play Murphy that year, as the Yellow Jackets were coming into the game with a 6-1 record in which they had beat Swain and Robbinsville. Murphy at that time in the season was 2-6.
The game was postponed from Friday night to Monday night because of rain. On a local radio call-in show, some Hayesville fans insinuated that the reason Gentry canceled the Friday night game was that he feared getting beat. Paul Clayton had a banner night as Murphy rolled over the Yellow Jackets 40-20.
The Bulldogs wrestled back the conference crown in 1994, as Murphy went undefeated going into the state championship game against North Edgecombe. They fell to North Edgecombe 7-6 in that game.
Swain County took the conference crown in ‘95. After losing their first two games of the season, the Maroon Devils reeled off 12 wins in a row before losing to Williamston 21-7.
It should be noted that the two teams that gave the Devils their closest game in the playoffs that year were in Cherokee County. Swain beat Andrews in the playoffs 17-6 and Murphy 12-0 the next week.
Murphy reclaimed the Smoky Mountain championship in 1996. One player on that team, Joseph Watson, would eventually go on to be the head coach of Murphy High.
The conference championship was decided the first week in November between Murphy and Swain. Swain was driving in the fourth quarter with the score tied 7-7. They reached the Murphy 19-yard line and were faced with a third and eight situation. Watson picked off a pass on the next play and Murphy began their game-winning drive.
Watson followed up the interception with runs of 26 and six yards on that drive to move the ball to Swain’s 25 yard line.
Jonathan Collins took the handoff, slammed into a wall of Maroon and appeared to be stopped, but he rolled off would-be tacklers and raced 25 yards down the sideline to give Murphy the win.
The Bulldogs would play Swain again and defeat them 7-0 in the third round of the playoffs before going on to win the state championship against the No. 1 ranked offense in North Carolina, North Edgecombe.
Murphy’s first-string defense had not been scored on in the playoffs, while North Edgecombe was averaging 42.9 points per game.
Early in that game, North Edgecombe’s 270-pound fullback, Thurman Knight, who was averaging over 100 yards per game, met Erik Laney at the line of scrimmage. Laney proceed to plant him in the turf.
The back went to the sidelines after that play and was a non-factor, as he only had six carries for 34 yards.
The NCHSAA radio announcers for that game said, “The No. 1 offense in the state just met the No. 1 defense in the state, and the defense definitely won that battle.”
The headline in the Asheville Citizen-Times said it all when they wrote about Murphy’s ’96 state championship. “Shutdown, shutout.”
The SMC would see Rosman fall to North Edgecombe 38-28 in the state championship game in 1997, the last year of the 1990s that the conference had a representative in the 1A playoffs.
Another reclassification by the NCHSAA brought several larger schools into 1A starting in ‘98. Many in this end of the state said that is was done to stop the dominance of the Smoky Mountain Conference on 1A football, and it worked for a little while.
The next two years Murphy, Swain or Robbinsville lost to the eventual state champions Starmount or Williamston.
Next week: The 2000s.