Thursday, October 1, 2026
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Gastonia, NC (WNN) - The Cherryville Ironmen looked to bounce back tonight in a Southern Piedmont 2a/3a/4a conference matchup at Highland Tech in Gastonia, NC. That's exactly what they did. Beginning on their second possession of the game, it was all Cherryville. After the Rams failed to convert a fourth-down play, the Ironmen started from the Highland Tech 44-yard line. The first play from scrimmage resulted in a 44-yard touchdown pass from Jayden Adams to J.J. McElhaney. The Rams were forced to punt on their next possession, which was returned to the 15-yard line of the Rams by Enijahe Whitworth. J.J. McElhaney took the direct snap into the endzone for a 15-yard score to put the Ironmen up 14-0. Enijahe Whitworth would score his first touchdown of the season on a 30-yard pass from Jayden Adams to end the first quarter scoring with Cherryville leading 21-0. The second quarter was filled with more penalties and turnovers than points, as both teams went scoreless. The Rams had one good drive that stalled deep in Ironmen territory, and the Ironmen made it down to the one before a fumble ended the threat. Halftime saw the Ironmen 21-0 despite some sloppy play that was very uncharacteristic of this team. J.J. McElhaney led in rushing with 69 yards, and Enijahe Whitworth added 46 yards. McElhaney also had the most receiving yards with 40. Jayden Adams and J.J. McElhaney had one defense interception, and Maddox Carrigan led in tackles with 6, followed by Elijah Proctor and Justin Harris with 5 each.
The third quarter ended with Cherryville 21-0 over Highland Tech. The Ironmen got back on track in the fourth quarter. J.J. McElhaney ripped off a 39-yard run, followed by him on the next play scoring on a wildcat run from the 8-yard line. After Holden Walker added his fourth point after of the night, Cherryville pulled ahead 28-0. The Rams had a nice drive going when they fumbled, and Cherryville recovered it. A long pass from Jayden Adams to J.J. McElhaney put Cherryville deep in Ram territory. Senior Justin Harris was able to run it in, and Holden Walker added the extra point to stretch the lead to 35-0. The ensuing kickoff was a squib kick that Highland could not handle, and Cherryville recovered it on the 15-yard line. The drive stalled with a missed field goal. The Rams cannot put together an extended drive, and the game ends with a 35-0 Cherryville victory.
Coach Bowman spoke with WNN's Rusty Wise after the game. He described his team's effort tonight: "Well, overall we didn't play very well. I know the scoreboard says 35-0, but for us to be the team we want to be, we have to attack the same every week. I didn't feel like we did a good job of that, and that starts with me. It's my job to make sure they're ready to play, and we'll get back to it and make sure they're ready to play next week." He had the team running sprints after the game, and he was asked if he thought the team was expecting that after a win. "I think most of them probably were. You know we hold to a high standard. A lot of times during the week, they'll hear sideline, they know what that means, but in a way, I said when you feel like you're taking plays off and you ain't giving any effort in during the game, we're going to get effort somewhere and unfortunately tonight we had to run after the game." Tonight, the Ironmen were missing their leading rusher, Jackson Heavner, due to injury. Coach Bowman commented on his expected return for next week. "Well, you know, that's still up in the air. We'll find out more as the weekend progresses, come Monday. But you know, obviously, he's a big spark for us, and not having him hurts us, but it's always next man up. Hopefully, he'll be better and back next week and ready to roll, but we'll see." He had this to add about using more rotation tonight. "Yeah, we're still trying to find our groove, especially up front, trying some kids out. Like I said, I had some kids come out late that we're excited about. Trying to get them in tonight, still a long way to go for us to be a good football team, but hopefully we're buying in, we're getting there." Next week, Cherryville travels to Shelby to take on the Golden Lions. Coach Bowman said, "Shelby next week, yeah, you know they're obviously a great team, been a great team for a long time, but like I said at the beginning of the year, it's our job to go compete. We love our team, and we'll see what happens."
Senior running back Justin Harris had a bigger share of the load to carry in the running game tonight, especially later in the game. "Yeah, you just gotta, you can't stop til the clock gets to zero in the fourth quarter, so you just gotta keep driving." He was responding to being difficult to tackle. His opinion of the team's performance echoed his coach, "I think we could have played better, I don't think it was four quarters worth of intensity, but we've got to work on going hard all game, every quarter, every down. Whistle to whistle." When asked about the sprints, "Yeah, we ran four of them, four quarters' worth of work. We'll be at practice on Monday and get back to work on Monday." When asked how they would prepare for Shelby, he replied, "Intensive! Every practice hard. Every down at practice going hard. Sprints, hard. You just gotta full throttle all the time to beat a good team like Shelby. You have to go full blast every play." The victory over Highland Tech improves Cherryville's record to 3-1 overall and 1-1 in the conference. The three wins matches their total wins from last season. Next Friday, September 19, they will face Shelby in a critical conference matchup.
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