Mountaineers to face Swain Friday night in Ledger
LEDGER — The Mitchell High varsity football started the 1A state playoffs following a familiar script— scoring early and often and blowing out the opposition.
The No. 3-seeded Mountaineers (9-2) throttled visiting No. 30 seed South Davidson (1-9) 49-10 on Friday, Nov. 5 in the first round of the playoffs. All of Mitchell’s wins have come by double digits and the playoff rout marked the sixth time this season the Mountaineers have scored at least 42 points.
Mitchell’s explosive offense clicked early through the air as junior quarterback Ty Turbyfill tossed a pair of touchdown passes to senior Ethan Willis and junior Gage Young in the opening minutes of the first quarter to give the hosts a quick 14-0 advantage.
Mitchell poured it on, adding one rushing touchdown from Turbyfill and another from senior Gabe Brandt to extend the lead to 28-0 after one quarter.
Turbyfill connected with Young again for a 28-yard score in the first minute of the second quarter and followed with his second touchdown run of the night, this time from 56 yards out, to give Mitchell a 42-0 lead at halftime.
Mountaineers head coach Travise Pitman emptied his bench in the second half. As the temperature plunged into the low 30s on a clear, cold night in Ledger, freshman Caleb Cook took over as quarterback, sophomore Marley McCourry became the every down running back and a slew of underclassmen trudged out to occupy the offensive line.
McCourry registered a 31-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter. South Davidson earned a safety and scored a late rushing touchdown to make the final score 49-10 after a successful 2-point conversion.
Turbyfill paced all Mitchell rushers with three carries for 130 yards and a pair of touchdowns while completing 5 of 9 passes for 87 yards and four touchdowns.
Young caught two passes for 50 yards and two touchdowns while Willis caught a pair of passes for 35 yards and a touchdown and Brandt had a catch for two yards.
Senior Carter Hoyle chipped in 70 yards on seven carries and McCourry ran twice for 34 yards. Cook scampered five times for 54 yards.
Senior linebacker Gabe Honeycutt led the Mitchell defense with 5.5 tackles. Willis and junior Dalton Hollifield each picked off South Davidson quarterback Gavin Gathings.
Friday night
Mitchell’s win sets up a second round duel against No. 14-seeded Swain on Friday, Nov. 12 in Ledger. Swain (5-5) also cruised in the first round, downing visiting Hayesville 40-14.
The Maroon Devils were 4-2 before suffering a three-game losing skid to end the regular season. The COVID-shortened 2020 season was a down one for Swain, which went 2-4, but head coach Neil Blankenship guided his team to an 11-3 finish in 2019.
Kickoff between Swain and Mitchell is 7:30 p.m. in Ledger.