4-0! Swain County Defeats Tuscola In An Instant Classic To Remain Unbeaten

Photos courtesy of Joanna McMahan

Written by Rowan Ellis

 

 

Devils continue Their Win Streak in Nail-biter Against Tuscola

 

Looking to continue their hot start, the Devils faced off against their toughest matchup of the season, the Tuscola Mountaineers. Despite being the underdogs in the matchup, the Tuscola offense looks to start off the game strong. Senior Quarterback Jed West marches the Mountaineers down the field and rushes in for a touchdown to give Tuscola the early lead, 8-0. The Devil’s quickly bounce back as Joshua Collins breaks out with a 61 yard rushing touchdown to tie the game, 8-8. As it seems that both teams are finding their offenses early the Mountaineers continue strong with the passing game. West finds receiver Jonas Howard on a 64 yard pass, followed by another touchdown rush by West to extend Tuscola’s lead, 14-8.

Swain looks to bounce back but a fumble by Collins gives the Mountaineers the ball back. With no signs of slowing down, West launches an 87 yard touchdown pass to once again add to their lead, 20-8. Even after the fumble, Swain looked to keep trusting the run game with Collins, getting loose with a 40 and 20 yard rush, which allowed QB Reese Winchester to score on a keeper. Devils still trail 20-15.

Coming out of the half firing, West finds Howard on a 40 yard pass, however the Mountaineers cannot convert on a 4th and short to hand Swain County the ball. The Tuscola defense could not stop the Devil running game all night as the Swain offense combined for a total of 397 rushing yards. Collins wastes no time in pounding the rock downfield and rushes in for another touchdown, Swain takes the lead 23-20. Tuscola responds with another huge pass to Jeremy Horton, followed by another touchdown rush by West, Mountaineers lead, 26-23.

 

Being faced and going for two 4th down attempts, the Devils keep the running game going as Collins converts on both crucial plays and ends up in the endzone once again. Swain regains the lead 30-26. With less than 3 minutes left in the game, the Mountaineers show no signs of backing down. A big pass to Horton and a rush by West got Tuscola inside of the 10 yard line with less than 30 seconds left. Looking to score and come away with a win, West gets pressured by the Swain D-line and has to roll out right. Spotting what looks to be an open receiver in the endzone, only to have the pass land right in the chest of Swain’s Joshua Collins. Swain kneels out the game to come away with the close win to extend their record to 4-0. Final score, 30-26.

 

In an interview after the game with Swain’s top performer Joshua Collins, he quotes, “My offensive line did outstanding tonight, you know when you don’t get hit until after 5 yards every play, it’s pretty easy. Shoutout to my guys Nse Uffort, Grady Lewis, Andreas Cisneros, Nolan Fisher, Cole Wikle, and Brandon Frost.” Collins had a career night for himself tallying around 300 yards rushing with 3 touchdowns and the game winning interception.

 

Look Ahead: The Devils will have their bye week but will travel to Mars Hill University to face the Madison Patriots as their last Non-Conference game. The Tuscola Mountaineers will be on the road to face off against the Franklin Panthers.