In the first round of the State Playoffs, Avery County travels to Bryson City to face off against the Swain County Maroon Devils. In a game that was decided early on. The Swain offense comes out firing as Senior Quarterback Reese Winchester finds Keyanthae Graham on a pass from 19 yards out for the early 7-0 lead. As Avery looks to respond after the early Sain touchdown, Swain’s Graham dives for a miss-thrown ball from Avery’s Brooks Berry for the interception at midfield. Looking to capitalize off of the great field position, a 20 yard rush each by Joshua Collins and Josiah Glapsie got the Devils inside the 10 yard line. On a play action by Winchester, he finds Sophomore Corey Stilwell in the endzone to extend the early Swain lead, 14-0. 

The Swain defense completely shut down the Avery offense, forcing them to go 3 and out on their next 5 drives. Meanwhile, the Devil offense has no sign of slowing down as Glaspie records a big 19 yard rush which would soon be completed by a 37 rushing touchdown, Swain 21 Avery 0. Keeping the ball on the ground the next drive, Collins breaks loose for a 44 yard rush but gets tripped up from behind. Zeke Glaspie will enter the game and will have a rush of 10 yards followed by a big 28 yard rush to get into the endzone for the Devils, Swain leads 28-0. 

Mixing it up between rushes and passes on the Swain side, Winchester connects with Stilwell for a gain of 33 yards directly followed by a pass to Graham who makes a diving over the shoulder catch in the endzone for his 2nd receiving touchdown, and Winchester’s 3rd passing on the night. With a lead of 34-0, the Devil offense takes the field once again. In a game where Winchester really shows off the arm, which we haven’t really seen so far this season, as he connects with Graham on another big gain of 27 yards. To then hand the ball off to Stroman who gets in the endzone from 25 yards out for a Swain lead of 40-0. As the defense goes back out after quickly stopping Avery every drive, a fumble in the backfield is picked up by Sophomore Linebacker Skeet Cook who runs the ball back 30 yards for a fumble recovery touchdown to add to the Swain lead 47-0 as the 1st half comes to a close. 

With a running clock and the starters out of the game, the game quickly comes to a close by a final score of 47-0, to eliminate Avery County from the playoffs and to have Swain County advance to the next round. 

Look Ahead: The Maroon Devils will travel to Bessemer City for the second round of Playoffs.