Andrews – In the third quarter against Mitchell on Friday night, the Andrews football team had a golden opportunity. Trailing 12-3, Mountaineers punter Chris Wences had trouble getting a punt off, and Dalton Rose recovered the fumble at Mitchell’s 22-yard line.
The Wildcats had a similar scenario in the first quarter, when Landon Greene sacked Mitchell quarterback Caleb Cook and Colton Rose recovered at the Mountaineers 13-yard line, but had to settle for a 29-yard field goal by Ty Clark. On this drive, they came up with zero points.
After forcing a Mitchell punt, Andrews gave the ball right back to the Mountaineers with a fumble at the Wildcats’ 34-yard line. Unlike Andrews, Mitchell capitalized, with Cook hitting Dillon Barnett on a 4th down-and-13 for a 37-yard touchdown on the second play of the fourth quarter.
On a night where the Wildcats were undermanned and needed to take advantage of every opportunity, it was the Mountaineers who executed when they needed to come away with a 20-3 win.
“I don’t think anybody can fault our fight, our effort and our grit,” Andrews head coach James Phillips said. “We just ran out of bullets.”
Phillips has expected “a war” when his teams have met Mitchell the past three years, and it was that way again, albeit a sloppy one, on Friday night. The Wildcats (3-1 overall) and Mountaineers (4-0) combined for more than 300 yards of offense, and both teams turned the ball over twice.
It was Andrews’ offensive limits that made the difference. With starting quarterback Everett Tatham out after hurting his right knee last week, Holden Todd was under center for much of the game and Eli Aguilar was in shotgun at times for a wildcat look. The duo combined to complete two of four passes, but the Wildcats couldn’t aggressively attack downfield.
Mitchell sold out to stop the run, dominating up front on defense; 105 of Andrews’ 146 yards came on its first and last drive, which resulted in no points. Phillips thought Todd did what they worked on in practice all week, but it was always going to be a challenge.
It didn’t help when senior offensive lineman and N.C. State commit Tyler West hurt his knee in the third quarter and didn’t return after walking off under his own power. Andrews dressed just 20 players for the game, with two being junior varsity players.
“There’s just so much you can do in one week trying to get ready to throw the ball against a pretty good football team,” Phillips said.
The Mountaineers, meanwhile, had just enough balance to make it work. They got on the board with 6:16 left in the second quarter when Cook threw a screen to Wences who weaved his way into the end zone for a six-yard touchdown and a 6-3 lead.
After forcing a punt, Rylan Cooper ripped a 43-yard run down to the Andrews 10-yard line. A nine-yard completion from Cook to Barnett moved the ball to the 1-yard line on third and goal, with Cooper punching it in on the next play with 1:20 to go in the quarter.
The Wildcats have a bye this week before playing the homeschool/Christian based Hickory Hawks (0-4) at Lenoir-Rhyne University on Friday, Sept. 22.Though Phillips said no coach likes going into a bye with a loss, it’s a chance for players like Tatham and West to heal up – and for the team to really hone in on what to improve after facing the toughest team on their schedule so far this season.
“We talked all week that this is a gut-check for us – a check engine I guess, if you will – to see what we needed to get better at and do better at,” Phillips said. “I think film will show us those things.”