Hayesville – Despite two late touchdowns, the Andrews varsity football team fell to Hayesville 55-14 in the final regular season game Friday.
Under the frosty Friday night lights, the Wildcats (1-9) traveled to Hayesville to face the Yellow Jackets (6-4) in the last game before both teams start their playoff journey.
The Yellow Jackets started the game with multiple rushing touchdowns in to take a quick lead. The Wildcats found the end zone as Kelby Waldroup rushed in their first score of the game. After a successful extra point kick, the score was 21-7.
Late in the first quarter, Hayesville rushed in another touchdown to lead 28-7 heading into the second quarter. The Jackets extended their lead before halftime with two rushing touchdowns, missing an extra point kick but still leading 41-7.
To start the second half, Hayesville rushed the ball in to extend its lead to 48-7.
The Wildcats fought back, as Waldroup found the end zone again on the ground and Myca Gibson kicked the extra point to make the score 48-14. In the fourth quarter, the Yellow Jackets once again found the end zone on the group to close out their win.
“I think we had some kids that played well, played hard and gave great effort. We just made too many mistakes that they capitalized on,” Wildcats head coach Jason Johnson said. “We had a chance then we got back in the game a little bit, and we were getting ready to drive, then we fumbled. Hayesville took advantage of that, and they just put us away.”
Johnson said Waldroup, quarterback Brady McLelland and Gabe Aguilar stood out to him Friday night. For their first-round matchup, Johnson added that the Wildcats will first have to handle the five-hour ride, then come off the bus will a lot of energy and get off to a quick start.
In the first round of the 1A state playoffs, Andrews will hit the road to face the College Prep & Leadership Academy in Jamestown on Friday. The Royals come into the first-round matchup with a 1-8 overall record, with their lone win coming against Chatham Central (1A, 1-9) in their third conference game of the season.
The Wildcats’ win came against Rosman (2-8), also in their third conference game.
The Royal are the No. 8 seed, while the Wildcats are the No. 9 seed. The winner of the game will go on to face No. 1 seed Robbinsville on Friday, Nov. 14.