Robbinsville falls short in state title game, but 'Title Town' is back
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CHAPEL HILL – After postgame handshakes following the NCHSAA 1A state championship game, Robbinsville football gathered near midfield, its stunned silence mixing with the emotions of a heartbreaking defeat.
After three stops inside the 5-yard line and two delay of game penalties, the No. 1 Black Knights weren’t prepared for what Wilson Prep did next. For the first time all season, the Tigers chose to kick a field goal.
With 20 seconds left in the game, Ethan Nelson’s 27-yarder sailed through the uprights and Wilson Prep (9-5) shocked Robbinsville (10-4) on Dec. 11 at Kenan Stadium.
Robbinsville fell short of its ultimate goal of adding to the trophy case. But for a proud football program, with 17 state championship appearances and 14 state titles, there was a silver lining.
“Our culture has been built around a family, all year,” Robbinsville coach Lucas Ford said. “These guys have gotten tight. The culture has completely come to a full-circle family and when you see stuff like that, what they did tonight – family is when something goes bad, someone else picks them up.”
Robbinsville rallied around its football team. It fed them dinners multiple times a week. It filled nearly a full section of Kenan Stadium with many more fans than the opposite sideline – an impressive showing for a 4 p.m. Thursday kickoff and a five-hour drive.
“We have the greatest town, the greatest community,” senior Kellen Ensley said. “We come from a small town, but they have a big voice.”
After a couple empty trips deep into Wilson Prep territory, Robbinsville finally broke through. A 41-yard pass from quarterback Luke Lovin to Eli Lambert set the Black Knights up at the 1-yard line, then senior Isiac Collins scored to take a 8-6 lead.
But a hobbled Black Knights offense limited what they could do.
Senior Kyzik Teesateskie, Robbinsville’s leading rusher, left with a knee injury in the first quarter, shortly after he took a screen pass 50 yards. He wouldn’t return. Sophomore Benton Gibby suffered an injury that took him out of the game in the second. Collins played through a sprained ankle that kept him out of the regional final.
The offense could never overcome it. After a 228-yard first half, Robbinsville had just 35 yards after the break.
Near midfield, with 4:34 left in the game, the Black Knights’ attempt at a fake punt failed. They had gotten the look they wanted, Ford said, but couldn’t execute. It gave Wilson Prep enough time and good enough field positioning to drive and kick the game-winning field goal, ultimately dooming them.
“Hindsight is 20/20,” Ford said. “We should’ve punted the football. We got the look we wanted, we made the call, we messed up.”
After a six-year drought – a long time to go without a state championship appearance in Robbinsville – this year’s team put “Title Town” back on the map.
In Ford’s first year, he took the Black Knights from a 7-7 team to a 10-4 one. In the smaller 1A bracket, Robbinsville dominated. And after the leadership floundered in 2024, this senior class brought the school’s culture back.
“When you take a team on, and you look at your core group of seniors, that’s your tone setters for your program,” Ford said. “You couldn’t have asked for better men.”
Evan Gerike is the high school sports reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times. Email him at egerike@citizentimes.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @EvanGerike.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Robbinsville falls short of 1A state title while representing small town
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