Football Recap: Kingston Welch's Punishing Run Game Keeps Rolling

Braves

Previous Games

@ RHS 10-30-2026	21-41	L
vs AHS 10-23-2026	49-35	W
vs SCHS 10-16-2026	51-26	W
vs HHS 10-2-2026	57-21	W

Cherokee dropped down to 6-4 on Friday, ending the team's three-game win streak. They lost 41-21 to the Robbinsville Black Knights. While losing is never fun, the Braves can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina football rankings (they are ranked 262nd, while the Black Knights are ranked 127th).

Kingston Welch and Dillon Beam certainly did their best on Friday to avoid the loss. Welch rushed for 104 yards and 1 touchdown, while Beam rushed for 31 yards and 1 TD. Welch's rushing yards production has been exceptional as that marked his sixth straight game with at least 100 yards.

As for Robbinsville, they have now won nine of their last 12 games at home. Despite that, they're 5-5 this season. The home victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 32.8 points over those games.

Benton Gibby had another great game (as he tends to do), rushing for 224 yards and 3 scores while picking up 13.2 yards per carry, and also picking up 56 receiving yards and 1 touchdown. He has averaged 1.5 rushing touchdowns per game over his last four games compared to 0.3 in his previous 17 games. Another player making a difference was Cameron Allison, who threw for 160 yards and a pair of TDs (1 INT) on only 12 passes.

Cherokee has already played their next contest, a 39-12 win against Hayesville on the 6th. As for Robbinsville, they will get to enjoy the win for a while: their next game is against North Stokes at 7:00 p.m. on the 13th.