How Roberson football sophomores ignored history to win first conference title in 21 years
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ASHEVILLE — It came down to one final play with four seconds left, a culmination of everything Roberson football had been working toward all year and everything coach JD Dinwiddie had been building in his tenure with the Rams.
A 13-game losing streak to crosstown rival Reynolds dating to 2011. A 12-year drought since they last won a conference title dating to 2012. A 21-year drought since they last won the conference outright, all the way back to 2004. All erased.
These Rams, largely sophomores with several key juniors, weren’t scared of the moment. And with big plays — an interception, touchdown pass and one last forced incompletion — Roberson (7-3, 5-0 Mountain Athletic) exorcised demons that had haunted the football team for years in a 21-14 victory.
“It means the world,” Dinwiddie said. “I told them it was their time, and they had to go out and earn it. That’s what they did.”
Roberson had let its 14-0 halftime lead slowly drain away thanks to a slew of three-and-outs and self-inflicted penalties. After its fifth punt of the half, the Rams had pinned the Rockets (6-4, 4-1) inside the 10-yard line with less than six minutes to go.
Needing to move the ball for a chance at taking its first lead of the game, Reynolds quarterback Avery Hollifield launched to throw as he was drilled by two Roberson linemen. The pass sailed right to sophomore Chanten Wynn, who brought it down for his second interception of the game.
Six plays later, sophomore quarterback Karod Harris rolled to his right, looked for junior Jake Farmer and found him for a 13-yard go-ahead touchdown pass.
Reynolds had one last chance to tie the game up. Quarterback Kolton Rymer, who entered the game for Hollifield, rushed for 41 yards to put Reynolds inside the red zone, but with 4.3 seconds left on the final play of the game, couldn’t complete the pass.
“I just threw my hands up,” junior defensive lineman Tariq Sibert said. “Like, we won. We just made history.”
It was a celebration years in the making at Roberson, a cathartic release for a team built largely of underclassmen making plays at all the right moments.
“When I took this job, I wanted to shift it to a more football-focused school,” Dinwiddie said. “Football hadn’t been real important at T.C. We wanted to make it important.”
The Rams had been overlooked all season. With new pieces up and down the roster and a new offensive formation, Roberson wasn’t picked as a preseason favorite for the conference. With a 1-3 start to nonconference play amid a quarterback battle that had dragged into the season, it wasn’t looking up.
But under the radar, Roberson kept working. Dinwiddie was fine with his team being doubted. With no fear of Reynolds and the rivalry’s history, it was the Rams sophomores who finally broke through.
“It’s our standard. CTM — climb the mountain,” Dinwiddie said. “Our kids understand there’s going to be adversity. They stayed the course, and they didn’t panic.”
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: How Roberson football won Mountain Athletic Conference vs Reynolds
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