Saturday, October 17, 2026
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Cherryville, NC (WNN) - Cherryville fell to the Burns Bulldogs at home 49-20 on October 16, 2026. The Bulldogs effectively shut down the Ironmen's much-improved, explosive offense. Cherryville came into this game averaging 39.9 points per game, having won four games by 26 or more points, and Jayden Adams set a single-game passing record last week, going 16-25 for 438 yards and 5 touchdowns. The previous record was set by Cameron Lovelace in 2007 when he passed for 327 yards. Tonight the Burns defense held Adams to 75 yards passing, but he did pick up 60 yards on the ground; 31 of those came on the first drive of the game as Jayden scored on a quarterback keeper. Jackson Heavner added 145 yards on the ground as well. The Bulldogs had an amazing night from backup quarterback Chris Dawkins; he passed for 218 yards and rushed for 148. Ka'marion Mckenzie was a standout for Burns as well with 102 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns to go along with 55 receiving yards and a touchdown.
The Little Ironmen football program was honored, as were the 2001 State Champion Baseball and Softball teams. The coaches from those teams, Henry Jones and Lynn Hicks, were honored as well. Coach Lynn Hicks coached 21 seasons at Cherryville and amassed a record of 253-204. The 2001 1A Championship team went 24-7. Coach Henry Jones coached for over 30 years, from 1974 to 2005, and also served as Athletic Director. His championship team of 2001 finished 25-5. During his tenure, he won 542 games, a Gaston County record. Six state titles in 1980, 1982, 1992, 1993, 1998, and 2001. In 2020, he was inducted into the NCHSAA Hall of Fame.
Burns won the coin flip but elected to kick. Enijahe Whitworth had a nice return that gave Cherryville the ball at the 42-yard line. Jayden Adams scored on a 31-yard quarterback keeper after the Cole Kelly kick missed to the left; Cherryville led 6-0. The Bulldogs and Ironmen both punted on their next possessions. Burns began their second drive on their own 6; a huge pass from Chris Dawkins to Cam Howell placed Burns at the Cherryville 37. Dawkins then scored on a 32-yard quarterback keeper. The Ryan Sisk point-after gave Burns a 7-6 lead. The first play of the second quarter was a 64-yard pass from Chris Dawkins to Kenyon Surratt for a touchdown and a 14-6 lead after the point-after was made. The Ironmen began on their own 12-yard line. Jackson Heavner found a crease and hit paydirt after sprinting 80 yards downfield. He rolled his ankle on the play but would return to the game. J.J. McElhaney added the 2-point conversion to tie the game at 14-14. Cherryville attempted a field goal from 45 yards out a few possessions later, but it came up just short. The Bulldogs took over at the 20, and Max Davis ripped off a run of 33 yards. A few plays later Ka'marion McKenzie scored on a 19-yard run. Before the half, Ka'marion McKenzie scored on a 55-yard pass and a 28-14 halftime lead.
The Ironmen tried to catch the Bulldogs by surprise as they kicked an onside kick to open the third quarter. Burns recovered the ball at their own 45. They drove the field but were stopped by a tough Cherryville defense at the 2. Cherryville failed to move the ball and had to punt back to Burns. Max Davis increased the Bulldogs' lead to 35-14 with a run of 37 yards. Ka'marion McKenzie scored again, this time on a 47-yard run, to give the Bulldogs a 42-14 lead. Early in the fourth quarter, Enijahe Whitworth intercepted a pass at the 44 of Burns. They would turn the ball back over on downs. Chris Dawkins kept the ball and ran 70 yards to make the score 49-14. Near the end of the quarter, Jackson Mayhew recovered a fumble, and with time expiring, J.J. McElhaney scored from the 5 in the wildcat formation to reach the final score of 49-20.
After the game, WNN's Rusty Wise interviewed Coach Patrick Bowman, Enijahe Whitworth, and Jackson Heavner. He asked each one for their thoughts on how the night went, defensive play, how to prepare for the next game against Stuart W. Cramer, and their opinion on the Ironmen's much-improved offense.
Coach Patrick Bowman: His overall thoughts on the game: "First off, that's a very good football team over there, like I said last week they're well coached, they're a tough nosed team lot of good players. But you know I thought, especially in the first half, we were a good football team and we missed some opportunities, which obviously you can't do against a very good football team. Kind of came out in the second half and didn't feel like we could really get going. You know, it's my job to make sure we can and we're going to address it and get back to work. Coaches will be working this weekend and get back to work next week and prepare for a good Stuart Cramer team." His thought on how the defense played; "They had a good week of practice, thought obviously our coaches had a great game plan and for what we were going against. Like I said, they're a bunch of good players and you can't miss a tackle, cause chances are they're going to get gone when they have good players like Davis and #10 for them. Thought our guys played hard, especially in the first half and like I said, it's my job to make sure we put it all together and we'll try to get better at it next week." Rusty asked him about the excitement of the opening drive. "It was exciting, you know, a lot of play makers for us. Like I said, in the first half I felt like we were just as good a football team, we just got to keep it all together for games like this."
What areas does he feel need improvement? "Right now, we got to get healthy, you know some of them are banged up, obviously can't afford not to have all our guys at full speed. Like I said, next week against a good Stuart Cramer team. Other than that, l like I said, it's my job to make sure we're ready to go in both halves and obviously that didn't happen tonight." This season Cherryville is more competitive with the bigger schools and Coach Bowman addressed that fact. "I tell my guys all the time, I always choose them. I think our guys are just as good as anybody in the state, and I say they put it on display all the time in most games and like I said, play makers all over the field for us. We just got to do a better job of keeping it all together."
Enijahe Whitworth: His thoughts on getting the interception: "It felt good because during one of the plays I was burned during the play, misread coverage." His thoughts on how the defense played overall: "We were pretty good at first, but I feel like during the second half we could have played a lot better at being more aggressive and just doing our job better. I feel like it was more of an aggressive problem. We weren't doing our jobs; we weren't reading right." He said in preparation for Cramer, "we're going to keep working on our coverages and learn our reads better, make sure we execute." Lastly, he was asked how he felt about the team being able to score more this season; "I'm very glad we've been able to score instead of just leaving a zero on the board, because last year at Shelby we didn't put up 1 point. I think the same at Burns too; it's definitely much more of an improvement from last year."
Jackson Heavner: He offered his thoughts on the game: "offensively and defensively we were cooking, I felt like we were dominating the game. We worked all week in practice on that. I felt we were dominating and then we just in second half kind of slipped. I don't know if it was because of depth or because they went up a score, but other than that I thought it was pretty good." He talked about the 80-yard touchdown run. "You know, when he handed me the ball and my o-line they did absolutely amazing on that play, cause I'm not getting nowhere, but I broke it off. I saw one man, got by him and J.J. made a great block for me, allowing it to happen., body control kept me in bounds, and you know a little sore after, but I got in there." When asked about the upcoming game with Cramer, he responded, "yes sir, they are a great program prepare for this week, next week in practice for sure. We've got to take practice seriously, probably more seriously than this previous week because this is our next really big game and last really big game of the season until playoffs. Practice is where it starts and Friday, we've got to come out here and execute, especially defensively. We can't have a defensive lay out again like we did tonight." His opinion on the improved scoring: "That comes from our coaches. Coaches completely changed the program around our sophomore and freshman year, we got older and we learned our game and being with the same team so long that chemistry helped us and we play against teams like this, we don't fold under pressure as much, so that also really helped play a factor in scoring."
The Ironmen have two regular season games left; on October 23, they will travel to Stuart W. Cramer and then return home to host Bessmer City in the regular season finale on October 30. The NCHSAA playoffs will follow in November.
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