Andrews – Head football coach James Phillips warned his No. 2-seeded Andrews team that No. 15 seed Mountain Island Charter had a few athletes who could cause problems if the Wildcats didn’t come ready to play Thursday night.
However, just a few athletes isn’t enough to beat the Wildcats this year. The Raptors became the 12th Andrews opponent to find that out this year, as the Wildcats got a great defensive effort and ground out drives on offense for a 35-0 win in the second round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association 1A playoffs.
“I told them all week that Mountain Island (Charter) had enough athletes to be dangerous,” Phillips said. “And at time they were … It just seemed like they didn’t have a lot of offense tonight. Defensively, it seemed like they were piling bodies in there and giving us multiple looks. We were having to gut through some things, but we still found a way to put up 35 points.”
It wasn’t the sharpest night on offense for Andrews (12-0 overall), but it didn’t matter with the Wildcats’ defense posting its second shutout of the season. Mountain Island Charter (5-6) had the playmakers to do damage on both the ground and in the air, but went pass-heavy against Andrews.
It failed miserably, as the Raptors completed just 2-of-22 passes, with Andy Tatham and Drew Martin getting interceptions. Reggie Daniel, who entered the game as Mountain Island Charter’s leading receiver, had just one catch for 27 yards. The running game wasn’t much better, as most of their 70 rushing yards came on scrambles from quarterback Dwayne Fields.
“Our D-line done good,” senior Isaac Weaver said of his team’s defense. “They kept good containment on them. All our DBs (defensive backs) did good keeping them contained, especially Donovan (Bateman), Donovan had a big contest with (Daniel), he’s a quick tall kid. He shut him down.”
Weaver took the opening kickoff back 97 yards for a touchdown, which ended up being enough points for the night before the Wildcats’ offense even took the field.
While not being as crisp as they would’ve liked, Andrews offense still scored four touchdowns and put up 375 yards of total offense. The ground game was methodical with 261 yards on 60 carries, and Bateman completed 10 of 14 passes for 114 yards and a touchdown, but he was under duress too often.
“We went away from some of our rules sometimes, and we have rules for everything,” Phillips said. “They just went brain-dead on some plays.”
The Wildcats were able to run the ball almost all the way down the field on both of their first-half scoring drives. Bateman’s 1-yard run capped off a 11-play, 61-yard drive with 2:08 to go in the first quarter, and Eli Aguilar’s 4-yard run capped off a 13-play, 79-yard drive with 7:58 left in the second quarter.
Mountain Island Charter didn’t fold and played with physicality all night, and its defense never let Andrews’ offense get into a consistent rhythm. After failing to capitalize on Tatham’s interception in the third quarter, Weaver lined up at quarterback in a wildcat formation on the Wildcats’ next drive. It ended with him taking a direct snap for a 17-yard touchdown, and 28-0 lead, in the final minute of the third quarter.
Andrews’ final scoring drive started in the final seconds of the third quarter and took nearly eight minutes of game time, ending when Bateman hit Weaver for a 17-yard touchdown. Weaver would finish with 191 yards of offense and three touchdowns.
Andrews knows there’s a lot to clean up when it hosts Murphy next week in the third round, starting with play up front and 10 penalties. There’s also some injury concerns, as fullback/linebacker Austin Martin and center Alex Jones didn’t play at all in the second half, though it’s hard to imagine either player sitting out this week unless it’s an incredibly serious injury.
But this is exactly where the Wildcats wanted to be at the start of the season, with a chance to knock off its most-hated rival and make its first Elite Eight appearance since 2011 in front of a potentially massive crowd. Andrews beat the Bulldogs 42-12 to win its first Smoky Mountain Conference championship since 1983 on Oct. 29, and the stakes are even higher this time.
“We played pretty good when we were there, but that’s ancient history,” Phillips said. “That game means nothing at this point. Playoffs is a whole new season.”