Football Recap: Hayesville Comes Up Short

Hayesville played a tough contest on Friday in which they were outscored in every quarter. They had to suffer through a 50-7 loss at the hands of the Murphy Bulldogs. The Yellowjackets were in a tough position after the first half, with the score already sitting at 44-7.

Lance Coker threw for 47 yards on two of five attempts. Ben Bethel was his top target, picking up 52 receiving yards and one TD.

Cameron Clem continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines for Murphy, rushing for 75 yards and four touchdowns on only seven carries. That's the most rushing touchdowns Clem has posted since back in October of 2024. Grayson Hall also helped with two scores in total.

This is the second loss in a row for Hayesville and nudges their season record down to 5-4. Admittedly, the team was facing some tough opposition over that stretch, including 4-3 Swain County (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 67.5% over those games). As for Murphy, they pushed their record up to 7-2 with the win, which was their 12th straight at home dating back to last season.

We've got plenty of inter-conference action coming up soon. Hayesville is set to challenge their familiar foe Andrews at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Meanwhile, Murphy will take on rival Swain County at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. The two teams have allowed few points on average (the Bulldogs 12.8, the Maroon Devils 14.4) so any points scored will be well earned.