Asheville has two Shrine Bowl players up front on both offense and defense. The Cougars are also loaded with speed at the skill positions.
That balance was too much for West Iredell on Friday as Asheville beat the Warriors 46-8 in the opening round of the 3A state playoffs.
"They have a great blend on offense," West Iredell coach Mark Weycker said. "I thought we played well defensively, we really made them work for everything they got. We just didn't have any consistency on offense."
The Cougars (11-0-1), seeded No. 3 in the 16-team bracket, scored on the third play of the game and were never seriously threatened.
Asheville dominated time of possession, but had to settle for field goals early.
The Warriors' offense, though, was in neutral throughout the first three quarters. West Iredell (5-7) had just one first down with 2 minutes, 30 seconds remaining in the third.
West spread it out with four and five receivers most of the night, and sophomore wide receiver C.J. Gibbs line up at quarterback in a type of Wildcat formation that gave Asheville problems at times.
"We felt like we had two different sets that would give us a chance," Weycker said. "Both were predicated on moving the chains and taking short gains. We just were not able to do that."
Gibbs rushed for 48 yards, and Shrine Bowl selection P.J. Clyburn added 32 on a reverse.
Quarterback Brandon Whiteside led Asheville's balanced offense with nearly perfect play at the quarterback position. He finished 14-of-16 for 217 yards and two scores.
Tight end Trevor Sawyer, a 6-foot-6 tight end committed to East Carolina, hauled in five passes for 72 yards.
Tysean Holloway added 153 rushing yards for Asheville.
West's sophomore quarterback Sayer Robinson passed for 62 yards and led an impressive 10-play, 80-yard scoring drive in the fourth quarter.
"After the game, we thanked our seniors for everything they'd done for the program," Weycker said. "We started two freshmen and seven sophomores tonight. Hopefully, this will help them gauge where they are at and give them some motivation to make a deep playoff run."
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