Mount Tabor last-second FG ends Asheville High football season in first round

ASHEVILLE — While pandemonium broke out on the visitors' sideline Friday night, several members of the Asheville High football team remained frozen on the field, trying to come to terms with what they had just seen unfold.

Mount Tabor kicker Quinn Milner banked a 39-yard field-goal attempt off the left upright and in for the go-ahead score, leaving the Cougars with three seconds remaining in their season.

After erasing an early two-score deficit and getting in position for a comeback win, Asheville came up just short against the Spartans, falling 28-26 in the first round of the NCHSAA 4A playoffs.

"We played our guts out. We played our absolute guts out," Cougars coach Cort Radford said. "It was a great football game. I hate that we came up short, but the effort our kids played with, I'll take it. We're moving in the right direction."

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As a frustrated Asheville defense came off the field late in the first quarter, the game seemed more likely to end with a running clock than a two-minute drill.

Mount Tabor scored in three plays on its first drive and six on its second, averaging 16.1 yards per play as the Cougars struggled mightily to adjust to the speed of run-first quarterback Shamarius Peterkin, a sophomore with multiple Division I offers.

But the Asheville defense stepped up from there, which the team said was a testament to the culture Radford has built in his three years since taking over the program.

"We played Asheville football every play," senior defensive back Heff Finley said. "We didn't fold. We didn't cuss each other out. We played, and that's why I'm proud of my boys."

The Cougars didn't allow another touchdown until just before the fourth quarter, and that came after an interception set the Spartans' offense up with a goal-to-go situation.

Defensive lineman Martavis Davis led the effort up front, with three tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks that stymied the Mount Tabor momentum.

"We made some adjustments. They had a good game plan," Radford said. "When you have Division I kids (such as Peterkin), it's different. But our defense settled in."

Finley, Davis and safety Deshaun Whitmire also boosted an Asheville offense that had sporadic success but never settled into a rhythm, requiring the defenders that power the Cougars' short-yardage package early and often.

Whitmire ran for one short touchdown and caught a 23-yard touchdown pass from Finley on a trick play before halftime, and Finley passed to Davis for a 22-yard score to take a 26-25 lead with 8:22 to play.

"Sacrifice, that's what Coach Radford has always told me," Finley said. "If you're a captain, there's some stuff you have to sacrifice. So I sacrificed([and took) the hit to throw for the touchdown."

Asheville took over on the Mount Tabor 32-yard line with the lead and 6:11 to play but couldn't run out the clock, and the Spartans took over on their 20 with 2:24 left.

Peterkin eluded pressure and threw a 25-yard pass to convert a fourth-and-10 with the game on the line. Though he was sacked on the next play, a Spartans injury stopped the clock at 59 seconds, saving Mount Tabor at least 10 crucial seconds.

A few more passes put the Spartans on the 22 with 9 seconds left, and Milner lined up to kick.

"Obviously, it didn't go as we wanted to," Asheville senior offensive lineman Tanner Graham said. "But we played really well, and I love this team, and I love the culture I was in throughout my high school career."

For all the tears and disappointment from the Cougars after the final whistle — "It sucks," as Radford said — the team's captains also kept the accomplishments of their career in perspective.

From 2016-19, Asheville went 24-23. The Cougars hadn't won a conference championship or a 3A playoff game since 2014.

In Radford's three years, Asheville is 22-8 with a 2021 MAC championship, a 4A playoff win, and two playoff losses by a combined three points.

"We turned it around. We turned it around a lot," Graham said. "The seniors that were here before us, they helped us hold the standard. Now that my senior class is gone, the next senior class knows what the standard is."

Knowing how different the program is now compared to when he was a freshman, Finley said, takes away some of the sting of having to leave it behind.

"We have trust with each other. We come together as a team. When I was a freshman, it was just all about me," Finley said. "Everything has to come to an end though, so, I think I left a mark. I think I left a pretty good mark."

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Asheville High football loses to Mount Tabor in NCHSAA first round