For the first time that I can remember, Rosman and Robbinsville will meet this friday as unbeaten conference foes as both teams enter friday night's game in Rosman with identical 2-0 conference marks with first place in the SMC on the line...
The Black Knights and Rosman first met on the gridiron back in 1964 with Robbinsville winning that first contest 21-7 over the Tigers....
Thru the years, the teams have met 40 times with Robbinsville holding a commanding 30-10 edge....In SMC play, the Black Knights hold a 16-7 advantage over the Tigers with Rosman's last victory in this rivalry coming in 2011 when the Tigers won 41-28....
The last time that these two teams met in Rosman was 2013, and what a game it was as Black Knight Jr. QB Skylar Matheson rushed for over 300yds with Rosman's Tanner Green also putting on a display that night rushing for a TD while also returning an INT and Kickoff for TDs in a game that whoever had the ball last was going to win, and that turned out to be Robbinsville( 43-37)...
Most know about the heartbreak that the Tigers have endured at the hands of the Black Knights thru the years as Robbinsville has stopped the Tigers from playing for several state titles in the late 70's early 80's when the Black Knights won 5 straight from 1979-83', ending the Tigers season from 81'-83' in the playoffs...
Fast forward to last year, and once again it was Robbinsville that ended the Tigers season with a 28-14 victory in the 2nd round of the playoffs in Robbinsville on their way to a perfect 16-0 record and a 13th state 1A Title....
As for the game this friday, Robbinsville comes to town after a hard earned victory at Murphy on Monday in which the Black Knights defense stopped the Bulldogs 3 times in the 2nd half inside the Redzone...On offense, it's the Millsaps' boys that are doing a lot of the damage as QB Colton directs the offense and RB Lane does about everything else...lol, and that was the case once again last night in Murphy as both Millsap kids made a lot of plays, especially in the final 6 minutes when Robbinsville drove 70yds to take a 30-22 lead that they held onto as Murphy's pass into the endzone on the final play fell incomplete....The Black Knights are physically imposing upfront, and have a tremendous amount of experience on both lines....Other than the Millsap kids, Big FB Colby Hemphill is a load behind the big line, once the Black Knights get inside the 10yd line, and that was the case in the first half, last night in Murphy....
As for the Tigers, the defense has really improved this season, and they will need to be at their best this friday when the Black Knights roll into Tigertown....The Tiger offense continues to chug along inspite of missing a couple QBs, and that offense is going to have to move the ball against the Black Knights, or the game could get away from the Tigers in a hurry this friday....
It's been a very long time since the Tigers have played a SMC game of this magnitude, and I hope the Tigers are up to the task...
Expect a big crowd this friday night in Tigertown, and I wish all the Black Knight fans a safe trip to SW Transylvania County!
Roar Tigers Roar!
