Excitement in Asheville highlights North Carolina football playoffs

Asheville was the place to be for the second round of the NCHSAA playoffs — Erwin (Asheville) beat defending 3AA champion South Point (Belmont) 57-56, Asheville knocked off 3A top seed Burns (Lawndale) in triple overtime, and defending 4A champion A.C. Reynolds (Asheville) needed a last-second field goal to beat Sun Valley (Monroe).

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DEFENDING CHAMPION GOES DOWN
Shaquan Curenton of Erwin (Asheville) and Troy Leeper of South Point (Belmont) each scored six touchdowns, but it was Erwin quarterback Garrett Brown who scored the winning points in Erwin's 57-56 playoff win over the reigning 3AA champions. After throwing his sixth touchdown pass to Trey Clark in overtime, Brown (404 yards passing) ran in the 2-point conversion to win the game.

According to the Asheville Citizen-Times, Brown has been responsible for 52 touchdowns this season, the eighth-most in state history.

"Words cannot describe this," Erwin coach Mike Sexton told the paper. "It's one of the most unbelievable efforts I've ever witnessed in my coaching career."

South Point tied the game with 48 seconds left in regulation on a 6-yard keeper by quarterback Patrick Horne, and Leeper gave the Red Raiders the lead in overtime.

Leeper's scores all came on the ground, while Curenton — who owns the NCHSAA single-season record for touchdown interception returns, with five — scored on receptions and a 96-yard kickoff return.

The Citizen-Times reports that Erwin, which has scored 118 points in two playoff wins, has advanced to the third round for the first time since 1981.

ASHEVILLE DEFEATS BURNS IN 3 OTs
In the longest playoff game of the second round, Asheville knocked off 3A No. 1 seed Burns (Lawndale) 38-35 in triple overtime. Mason Moore kicked the winning field goal from 23 yards out.

Burns quarterback Brandon Littlejohn threw two touchdown passes in overtime, but Asheville forced an incomplete pass on 4th-and-goal from the 4 in the third extra period, according to the Shelby Star.

After losing its first game to Crest (Shelby), the Bulldogs had won 11 straight games before Friday night.

ANOTHER SCARE FOR A.C. REYNOLDS
Blake Metcalf kicked a 37-yard field goal on the final play as defending 4A champion A.C. Reynolds (Asheville) beat Sun Valley (Monroe) 24-21.

Playing with backup quarterback Kevin Saxton after starter Ryan Smith suffered a concussion, Sun Valley overcame a 14-0 deficit with 21 straight points in the second half, including the go-ahead score with 1:23 left on a 12-yard touchdown pass to Jadarrius Williams. But the Rockets drove 53 yards on the next possession to set up the winning kick.

Last year A.C. Reynolds trailed 16-0 in the fourth quarter before scoring 25 unanswered points to beat Alexander Central (Taylorsville).

ANOTHER TOP SEED GOES DOWN IN OT
Davie (Mocksville) lost to Mount Tabor (Winston-Salem) 34-0 in the regular season, but won when it really counted, 30-29 in overtime of the 4A playoffs.

"You have to say that team has a lot of heart after the rough start they had to their football season," Mount Tarbor Coach Laymarr Marshall told the Winston-Salem Journal. "Football is a game where you have to come and prove yourself every single day, so you have to give them credit."

Davie County started the year 0-3. Jacob Barber, a converted linebacker, scored his second touchdown to start the overtime and Woody Parrish made the extra point. Brad Morton's 6-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Somerville made it 30-29, but Mount Tabor — which made a 23-yard field goal in the second quarter — missed the extra point this time.

SOUTH COLUMBUS UNBEATEN NO MORE
East Bladen (Elizabethtown) scored 20 unanswered points in the second half to defeat previously unbeaten and 2A top seed South Columbus (Tabor City) 26-12. The Stallions had a season-high five turnovers, according to the Wilmington Star News.

UPSETS OCCUR IN 2AA
Trae Alexander ran for 217 yards as Wilkes Central (Wilkesboro) defeated No. 1 Pisgah (Canton) 24-16, and Germone Hopper gained 138 of his 172 yards in the second half as Phillip O. Berry Academy of Technology (Charlotte) defeated No. 1 Piedmont (Monroe) 14-7. Berry avenged a 24-18 loss to Piedmont two weeks ago that cost the Cardinals a share of the league title.

Harold Gutmann covers the state of North Carolina for MaxPreps.com. He lives in Durham and can be reached at haroldgutmann@gmail.com.