Nov. 17—Pisgah football is on to the third round of playoffs after a strong performance against West Iredell in the second round.
“We did a really, really good job of just continuing to battle,” Pisgah Coach Ricky Brindley said. We had a lot of difficulties in the first half on defense. We struggled, but we were able to get stops there at the end when we needed to get the football back for our offense and be able to close out the game. I’m just very proud of what our team was able to do, just continuing to be resilient.”
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No. 4-seeded Pisgah never trailed against No. 13 West Iredell, eventually pulling away for the 41-26 win. While Pisgah ended up with the 15-point victory, the game was a lot closer throughout the night — staying within a single score until late in the third quarter.
The Warriors were able to trim it down to a one-point game with time expiring in the third quarter, but the fourth quarter was all Pisgah, as the Bears pulled away with two touchdowns for the win.
A big part of the win was the performance of senior Hunter Nelson, who played lights out on both sides of the ball. He finished the night catching all three of senior Matthew Mehaffey’s passes for 65 yards and a score, rushing for another 50 yards and snagging the game-sealing interception late in the fourth.
“I told the entire team in here when we were done that was the best football game I have ever seen him play,” Brindley said. “But it doesn’t come as a surprise, because if there’s one kid that we have had that you go, ‘That dude’s locked in,’ it’s 32. He is locked into everything we do. He’s everything you want in a football player. It doesn’t surprise me at all what he was able to accomplish on both sides of the ball.”
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The game felt different from a lot of Pisgah games this season. The offense wasn’t grinding the game to a slog. Instead, West Iredell held on to the ball a lot and put up a lot of points, turning the game into a shootout early on.
“We knew that they were explosive on offense. We knew that they could score some points,” Brindley said. “So, we felt like we had to be really good on offense. We needed to be able to control the ball and put points on the board when we had it.”
Pisgah got into the end zone every single time they touched the ball, which proved to be the difference, as the defense earned two stops.
The defense also stopped a pair of two-point conversion attempts early that put the Bears ahead of the curve.
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“For us to be able to keep those points off the board and get to a two-possession game there in the second half, I thought that was critical for us,” Brindley said.
That first stop came just before halftime. The Warriors were driving down the field, trailing 20-12. West Iredell was set to receive the kick after halftime, so a score before the break could have been a massive momentum swing towards the visitors’ sideline.
Instead, the Bears’ defense stood tall. The half ended on a throw to the end zone by West Iredell sophomore quarterback Ja’braylan Patterson that looked as though it had been caught for a score. However, the referee ruled the receiver wasn’t able to get a foot in and the teams headed to the locker room.
“That’s a credit to our defense, just for their ability to be able to bow their neck and get to stop when we had to,” Brindley said. “That just comes down to what we preach with our kids, which is about that mental toughness and just being able to keep fighting and keep playing, and we were able to do that and get the stop right there. I thought that was a huge momentum swing in our favor.”
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Patterson kept his team in the game late, only making a couple of mistakes in key situations. He completed 21 of 28 passes for 231 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
The second stop came in the fourth quarter to close out the game. Nelson stepped in front of a pass from Patterson, picking it off with about 3 minutes left and the Bears leading by eight.
On the Bears’ first play of the next drive, senior Landon Pope took the handoff and went 52 yards to the end zone to ice the game. The senior finished the night with fewer touches and yards than he’s accustomed to, but left his impact on the night nonetheless. He finished with 24 rushes for 153 yards and four touchdowns.
“Pope is an animal,” Brindley said. “He didn’t have his typical 250-yard night, and he didn’t get as many carries as he typically gets, but that’s really a credit to them and their ability to control the clock and move the sticks, and they did a really good job of that. We’re a ball-control offense, but tonight they kept it away from us, and we had to be efficient when we had it. It was a great night for him, but it was not his typical.”
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While it was a Pope run that closed things out, he wasn’t the focal point of the offense early. On the first few drives, Nelson and senior Mason Putnam were the major focal points of the Bears’ attack.
“It was huge for us to get Hunter Nelson involved. He had some explosive plays. He has been very selfless as far as his ability to take ownership in his role, and that’s to be a violent blocker at the point of attack, but he is a very good player with the ball in his hands,” Brindley said. We’ve always known it, but we knew what was best for our team, and he knew what was best for our team, so he accepted his role and it says a lot about how impressive he is as a human being.”
Putnam was the team’s leading rusher until midway through the third quarter. The senior has been a dynamic piece of the offense for the Bears this season, though it’s been as a receiver more often than a rusher. He finished the night with six rushes for 97 yards and a touchdown. That touchdown was a 53-yarder early in the second half.
“It’s huge to be able to have that second guy who has the explosive ability to take it to the house anytime he touches it,” Brindley said. “It’s just really nice to have somebody that explosive, to be able to have as a second option with Pope. And I ain’t gonna call him a second option. I’m gonna say it’s 1a and 1b. It’s a thunder and lightning combination.”
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Pisgah now gets set for its second-straight home game in the playoffs as the No. 4 Bears host No. 5 Mount Pleasant, who are coming off a hard-fought 44-34 win over No. 12 Tuscola.
A win for Pisgah would set up a potential rematch with No. 1 Brevard in the regional semifinals next week.
“It makes absolutely no difference who we’re playing. We’re going to have that same competitive stamina and consistency in what we do. That’s the expectation. I think the onus falls on our leadership and our captains. I think it starts with those guys and what they’re able to do as far as rallying the rest of the team.”
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