Mitchell’s Ben Young.
People sometimes forget that high school football is a numbers game, especially in Western North Carolina.
Mitchell graduated 15 seniors off of last year’s 14-2 team that won a 1-AA Western Regional championship. The Mountaineers only have 28 total players on their current roster.
Don’t pity one of three defending champs from the 2015 Western Highlands Conference championship race (Hendersonville and Mountain Heritage were the other two).
Former All-WHC quarterback Ben Young passed for 114 yards in last Friday’s 20-6 home win over West Wilkes and the much-touted junior ran for 101 more. Alex McKinney placed his hands around three receptions for 55 yards and a a touchdown. Landon Miller only rushed for 28 yards, but found the end zone twice in Ledger.
Mitchell beat Cherokee, 49-7 in 2015, but a lot has changed for both sides since then. The Braves are home for Friday’s encounter at 7:30 p.m.
“I think that (Cherokee) is much-improved,” Mountaineers coach Travise Pitman said.
“They have a great quarterback and great running back. The lines have gotten stronger. They are fundamentally-sound and make good things happen on both sides of the ball. We have to be ready. The biggest thing we are facing now is that we don’t have those veteran kids now. If you need to make adjustments, it’s not as easy.”
Leading tacklers for Mitchell in last week’s win over West Wilkes were Jacob Yelton (12), Landon Miller (nine), Trevor Self (nine), Ben Robinson (eight), Jesse Pressley (seven) and Brody Smith (six).
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