When Rosman went on that run in 97, wasn't there a rule that if you beat the higher seed, you got the home field or am I just making it up?
Have to mention those Cherokee teams again and how they probably could have won it all, but they ran into Elkin a couple of those years when they were running the table.
Yeah, back in those days a lower seeded team could take the higher seed's place if they were fortunate enough to win...Both Rosman and North Edgecombe played at home after beating the top seeded teams with 9th seeded Rosman(9-3) beating unbeaten(12-0) #1 Thomasville on the road in the 2nd round back in 97 and 16th seeded North Edgecombe(6-4) beating (45-33) top seeded(10-1) Camden County 45-33 on the road in the first round back in 1998 which propelled the Warriors all the way to the title game where they lost 22-20 to Starmount(15-1) who claimed their only 1A state title to date, so guess the Ram's fans will have to chime in on whether that team was Starmount's best team ever or not?
That Rosman playoff run in 97' when the Tigers beat 4 teams in the West who were all 2A schools the year before, will always be one of the proudest and brightest moments in the history of the Rosman Football program....It's a shame that team came up a little short in the title game(38-28) to North Edgecombe who finished that 1997 season unbeaten(15-0)....The Warriors lost(13-0) in the title game to unbeaten(14-0) Murphy in 96', which was a couple years after the 94' Warriors(13-2), handed Murphy(13-1) their only loss(7-6) of the season in the title game....Raymond Cobb's name doesn't get mentioned on here a lot, but he was a hellava football coach for the Warriors during that span of the 1990s...
That Rosman 84' team that ran the Notre Dame Box offense doesn't get talked about a lot, but that Tiger team featured Jay Sheridan at RB, and that team ended in the first round(21-6) of the playoffs, Robbinsville's 5 year reign as 1A champs that had begun back in 1979, and ran thru 1983...That group of Tigers came up short in the title game to Jamesville 6-0, near the coast of N.C.....A good friend of mine who played on that team was furious that Coach Franklin Cecil who was in his frist and only year as Tigers' Coach, would not throw the ball to him....Cecil had inherited that team from Jim Fox who had left to take the Pisgah job after 1983....My good friend was a 3 time 1st team All-Conference player for the Tigers from that position..One of the very few Tigers to ever be a 1st team All Conference performer for 3 straight years....Said that Cecil was bound, and determined to run the football that night, and would not pass even though Jamesville had 10 men in the box....I always felt that Tiger team was one of the hardest to stop on offense, and was a great team defensively....Maybe the best defensive team Rosman has ever put on the field, but I'll leave that to be debated among Tiger fans... That 84' team beat a very solid Cullowhee team in the Semifinals that year 10-7 with QB Todd Cottrell under center for the Rebels that night.....Yeah, Hayesville head basketball coach Michael Cottrell's brother....Todd was a very good QB who had led the Rebels to the SMC title that season, and that team may have been the best team Cullowhee ever fielded before they later merged with Sylva-Webster to form current day Smoky Mountain....
Anyway, enough of my ramblings!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
