Thursday, October 1, 2026
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Cherryville, NC (WNN) - The Cherryville Ironmen returned to the field Friday night, October 3rd. After the bye week, Cherryville hosted the West Lincoln Rebels in a conference matchup. A huge crowd was on hand for both teams. This night was not how the Ironmen wanted to kick off the second half of the season. Cherryville had some good drives, but the ground game of the Rebels proved to be just a little too much as Cherryville came up short by a score of 51-20.
The first quarter was packed with action. West Lincoln got the fireworks started on their first drive. Quarterback Gus Avery faked a toss to the running back and bolted down the right sideline for a 62-yard touchdown. After the point, the Rebels led 7-0. Cherryville answered back on their next drive. Key plays from the drive were a big run of around 30 yards from Jackson Heavner and a 16-yard scamper out of the wildcat by JJ McElhaney. JJ would again run out of the wildcat and score from 7 yards out. The extra point was no good, leaving the score at 7-6. West Lincoln made quick work of their next drive as T.J. Stradford took a pitch and run 55 yards for the Rebels' second score of the quarter. They elected to attempt a two-point conversion, which was successful, raising the score to 15-6.
The second quarter began with the Ironmen coming up short on a fourth-down attempt. West Lincoln fumbled on their first play, and Cherryville recovered. Jackson Heavner started a promising drive with a 15-yard run. The drive consisted of a heavy dose of Jackson Heavner and JJ McElhaney. It appeared JJ had scored a touchdown, but was called back due to a chop block. Cherryville was unable to punch the ball into the endzone, so they settled for a field goal attempt. Things got a little crazy after that. The kick was blocked, and both teams stood around thinking the play was dead. A West Lincoln defender picked up the ball and ran the length of the field with the defense in pursuit. A lengthy discussion occurred between the officials on whether the blocked field goal could be advanced. It was determined that it was a legal play and that the touchdown counted. They went for and made the two-point conversion to go ahead 23-6. The rule on blocked field goals is that if the ball is behind the line of scrimmage and has not stopped rolling, the defense can advance the live ball as far as they can. In this case, the officials ruled it was still a live ball, resulting in a touchdown.
The first half statistics showcased Jackson Heavner's return to action. He rushed for 104 yards and 3 first downs. JJ McElhaney complimented that with 45 yards, a touchdown, and 3 first downs. Jayden Adams, the quarterback, used his legs more than his arm as he ran for 45 yards.
Cherryville's first drive of the second half ended in an interception by West Lincoln's T.J. Stradford. A few plays later, quarterback Gus Avery punched it in to run the lead to 30-6 in favor of West Lincoln. The Ironmen were unable to move the ball on their next possession and punted back to the Rebels. They took advantage and had a steady drive that ended in a 27-yard touchdown run up the middle for Cole Carpenter. The extra point extended the Rebels' lead to 37-6. Jackson Heavener had a huge return on the ensuing kickoff; unfortunately, it was negated by two penalties, one for an unsportsmanlike dead-ball call that backed the Ironmen way back. The next play was a fumble near the goal line that was picked up and walked in for another score for West Lincoln. The score was now 44-6. The next drive, Jackson Heavner scored from 5 yards out as the quarter expired. JJ McElhaney added the two-point conversion, cutting the lead down to 44-14.
Landon Blevins scored on a 14-yard run, increasing the West Lincoln lead to 51-14. The Ironmen put together a good final drive that was capped off by Jayden Adams running a quarterback keeper in from 7 yards out. The point after attempt was a little wide to the right, resulting in a final score of West Lincoln 51, Cherryville 20. The Rebels improved to 3-3 overall and 2-2 in the conference. The Ironmen are now 3-3 overall and 1-3 in conference play. Jackson Heavner finished his first game back with 13 carries and 111 yards. Jayden Adams and JJ McElhaney each added 69 and 70 yards of rushing. Elijah Proctor had 2 receptions for 22 yards, and JJ had 3 for 23 yards. Next week, on October 10th, the Ironmen will host East Gaston for homecoming.
WNN's Rusty Wise talked with Coach Bowman after the game. When asked how he thought the night went, Coach responded, "It felt like we moved the ball early, okay. Kinda shot ourselves in the foot, with some mental mistakes, which we obviously can't do against a good team like them. I mean, they're well coached, they play hard. They're good at what they do. So, you've got to take advantage when you get a chance, and we didn't do that tonight." He was asked about the touchdown being called back and the blocked field goal, which was a turning point in the game. "That goes back, you know, we talk about mental errors, we do that, then we literally take a score off for us with a chance to tie it, and then turn around and give them a score on a blocked field goal. So, but hats off to them, you know they're well prepared and they played hard and executed when they had a chance. It was pointed out that the team sometimes looked good and had some flashes. Coach Bowman commented, "Yeah, there were flashes, that's the most aggravating part. You see what we can be and feel like it, but it doesn't always stay together all the time, and that's on me. I've got to make sure it does and do a better job getting us ready. So, I'll take that, and we'll get back to work on Monday. He was asked his thoughts on homecoming next week. "Yeah, no one does homecoming like Cherryville, do they? But yeah, I'll be back to work in the morning. East Gaston's a good football team. They're rolling with some momentum right now, so we'll have to play well against them. Hopefully, it's a big crowd, everybody will come out, and it'll be a good night.
Weston Bowers is a senior who plays half back and defensive end. He was asked what he thought about tonight's game. "I think we have a lot of potential on this team, and we made a lot of little mistakes that messed us up. I think this was one of the years that we had the best chance to beat West Lincoln, and we just didn't put it together, and we didn't go out there and play as a team. When asked what he thinks needs work, he said, "I really think we just need to focus on defense and getting better at learning how to stop their run and the sweeps. Really, up the middle we did pretty good, but the outside run is really what got us tonight, I think. Just the little things, the fundamentals, that's what we need to work on. There were quite a few flags tonight, and his thoughts were, "Yeah, a lot of stupid mistakes made by ourselves, and nobody else can change that but us. We just need to get right in our minds and just play how we should play." Finally, he was asked if he was ready for homecoming next week. "Oh yeah, I'm excited. It's going to be my last one, so I hope we'll pull through and win this one."
