After dropping the first game of the season to fellow western North Carolina power Pisgah during the opening week, the Murphy Bulldogs have reeled off twelve straight wins and will look to win their ninth football title this Saturday at Wallace Wade Stadium. This is the eighth straight season that a Smoky Mountain Conference team has played in either the 1A or 1AA state championship game. Four different teams (Murphy, Swain, Robbinsville, and Cherokee) have won state titles in this time.
Murphy will be without senior running back Slade McTaggert who was disqualified during the regional final and has to miss this week’s game. Looking to make up for McTaggert’s absence in the backfield will be senior fullback KJ Allen who has rushed for over a thousand yards on his own right this season.
Looking to take down the Bulldogs will be the 13-1 Pamlico Hurricanes of the Coastal Plains Conference. When asked about the strength of the Coastal Plains Conference, which has two representatives in state title games this week, Coach Torrey Nowell stated, “I think our conference is one the best conferences in the state of North Carolina when it comes to 1A football. I think our conference prepares us very well.”
Nowell’s Hurricanes are averaging over forty points a game and doing it mostly on the ground. Leading the rushing charge has been the sensational sophomore duo of William Lovick and Savone Tutt who have combined for almost 3,000 yards and 35 touchdowns this season. Add in quarterback Lamont Murray’s 767 yards and 19 touchdowns and the Hurricanes have a three-headed monster in the backfield that is sure to give the Murphy defense fits this Saturday
.png)
