Mount Airy will compete in its first away playoff game since the 2020-21 season when it travels to top-seeded Eastern Randolph on Nov. 25.
The matchup of the Granite Bears and Wildcats were the top two seeds in the 2021 1A State Playoffs, and are once again top teams in the division. Eastern Randolph holds the No. 1 spot, and Mount Airy now No. 4. The winner will advance to the 1A West Regional Championship to face the winner of No. 2 Andrews (13-0) and No. 6 Draughn (12-1).
Mount Airy’s last regional championship appearance came in 2017. The Bears defeated Murphy 49-35, then advanced to the subdivided 1AA Championship Game before falling to Tarboro.
Eastern Randolph looks to make its first regional championship appearance since winning the subdivided 3AA East Regional Championship in 2006. The Wildcats defeated Williams 34-20 and went on to win the 3AA State Championship.
Mount Airy Granite Bears
Record: 12-1 overall, 6-0 Northwest 1A Conference (Champion)
Current streak: 11 wins
Playoff seed: No. 4
Key regular season victories: 51-29 at Ashe County, 62-7 vs. East Wilkes, 44-7 vs. Starmount
Losses: 14-12 vs. East Surry
Opponents’ winning percentage: .401 (59-88)
Wins against teams that finished over .500: 4
Playoff scores: 72-0 vs. No. 29 North Stokes, 57-7 vs. No. 13 North Rowan, 49-0 vs. No. 12 Hayesville
Points per game: 52.9
PPG allowed: 6.8
Shutout victories: 6
Eastern Randolph Wildcats
Record: 11-1 overall, 5-0 Piedmont Athletic 1A/2A Conference (Champion)
Current streak: 11 wins
Playoff seed: No. 1
Key regular season victories: 35-21 at Walkertown, 28-21 vs. Williams, 28-7 at Providence Grove, 28-13 vs. Randleman
Losses: 42-27 @ Eastern Alamance
Opponents’ winning percentage: .530 (71-63)
Wins against teams that finished over .500: 7
Playoff scores: BYE, 28-12 vs. No. 17 Mountain Heritage, 29-26 vs. No. 8 Robbinsville
Points per game: 37.6
PPG allowed: 14.5
Shutout victories: 2
General Info
These playoff previews normally include breakdowns of individual statistics in all three phases while also highlighting certain players for each team. However, this specific preview will be slightly different as Eastern Randolph has not posted stats on MaxPreps the past two seasons.
The information for the Wildcats included in this preview was gathered from a combination of game film, team info shared on MaxPreps and other news reports.
Mount Airy and Eastern Randolph had vastly different schedules this season.
Mount Airy opened the season with three nonconference games against 2A opponents and one 3A opponent before playing its next nine games against 1A competition. The Bears are the highest scoring team in the 1A division with 688 total points. Mount Airy has also outscored 1A teams 621-21 in 2022.
Eastern Randolph, meanwhile, didn’t play a single 1A team during the regular season. Three of the Wildcats’ first four games came against 3A teams, and the rest were against 2A squads. ER is the only 1A team in the Piedmont Athletic 1A/2A Conference.
The Bears and Cats are similar in that both suffered their only defeat early in the season and at the hands of a team in a higher division. Mount Airy fell 14-12 to East Surry (12-1), who reached the third round of the 2A State Playoffs, and Eastern Randolph lost its only game to Eastern Alamance (10-3) by a score of 42-27. Eastern Alamance reached the third round of the 3A State Playoffs.
Eastern Randolph’s only games against 1A teams came in the second and third rounds of the State Playoffs. The Wildcats had a first-round bye, then won 28-12 vs. No. 17 Mountain Heritage (5-7) and 29-26 vs. No. 8 Robbinsville (9-4).
Mount Airy defense vs. Eastern Randolph offense
Mount Airy’s defense, which has only allowed 21 points in the past two months, has grown into an elite unit similar to the 2021 defense. In nine games against 1A opponents, the Bears’ defense has held: two teams to negative total yards, four teams to negative rushing yards, six to fewer than 70 total yards, and eight to fewer than 130 total yards.
Only Starmount, East Wilkes and North Rowan recorded at least 100 total yards against Mount Airy. All three made the 1A State Playoffs with winning records, and East Wilkes and North Rowan each won their first-round games.
Starmount is the only 1A team to record more than 55 yards rushing against Mount Airy. The Rams rushed 162 yards in a 44-7 loss to the Bears, but only passed for 2 yards. Most of Starmount’s yards came from 2021 Northwest 1A Conference Offensive Player of the Year Zack Dezern, who finished the season with 176 carries for 1,637 yards and 23 rushing touchdowns in 11 games.
This complicates things for Eastern Randolph as a primarily rushing team. Wildcat running back Ervodd Cassady rushed for 141 yards and three touchdowns in the team’s 29-26 playoff win over Robbinsville. Cassady had 205 yards rushing and two rushing touchdowns against Mountain Heritage, while also posting games of three rushing touchdowns vs. Wheatmore and Walkertown.
Cassady also had a four-touchdown game against Asheboro.
Eastern Randolph’s Davonte Brooks has missed time for the team at different points in the season due to injury, but has been a weapon when he’s played. Brooks had two rushing touchdowns in games against Williams, West Stanly, Trinity and Randleman, as well as three rushing touchdowns in games against Southwestern Randolph and Providence Grove.
Quarterback Stratton Barwick is protected by a veteran offensive line and can use his feet when needed. The QB threw for a season-high four touchdowns against Wheatmore, had multiple touchdown passes against Asheboro and Trinity, and also threw for TDs against Williams, West Stanly, and Randleman.
Mount Airy offense vs. Eastern Randolph defense
Mount Airy’s offense has continued to develop and has shined when needed. With their defense and special teams setting the Bears up with short fields in most 1A games, the offense hasn’t always needed to put up video game-like numbers in order to win. That hasn’t stopped them from recording at least 400 total yards in eight games.
Running back Tyler Mason recently set a new school record for single-season rushing touchdowns with 38 and has 41 total touchdowns on the year. Mason has rushed for nearly 1,700 yards this season.
While Mason gets a lot of the attention on Mount Airy’s offense, the unit as a whole has shown it can hurt opponents in a variety of ways. The team rushes for more than 300 yards per game behind an ever-improving offensive line, and junior quarterback Ian Gallimore is closing in on 1,000 yards passing for the season.
Junior Caleb Reid and freshman Taeshon Martin have shouldered the load of the ground game as well. Reid most recently had 111 yards and two touchdowns against Hayesville and has nearly 600 yards and 14 touchdowns in just 10 games this season. Martin also missed time with an injury earlier in the year, but has more than 500 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns.
Mason, Reid, Martin, Ian Gallimore and Landon Gallimore have each had games rushing at least 100 yards, and seven different Bears have scored multiple rushing touchdowns.
Walker Stroup and Mario Revels each have double-digit receptions on the year with multiple receiving touchdowns. Stroup is the team’s leading receiver with more than 460 yards receiving and five touchdowns, and Revels has close to 300 yards receiving and three touchdowns.
Stroup averages around 30 yards per reception, and seven of his teammates also average 10 yards or more per reception: Revels, Martin, Mason, Blake Hawks, Logan Fonville, Avery Poindexter and Cash Hemric.
While there isn’t much published on Eastern Randolph’s defense, the Wildcats have only allowed 14.5 points per game. This includes 19 points per game in two playoff matchups.
Defensively, the Wildcats have held eight opponents to 13 or fewer points, with two games being shutout victories. The Bears have held 10 opponents to 7 or fewer points and have six shutouts on the year.
Robbinsville used its ground game to turn a 22-14 halftime deficit into a 26-22 lead at the end of the third quarter. Eastern Randolph trailed for more time against Robbinsville than Mount Airy has trailed against 1A opponents all season.
The Wildcats gave up 323 yards rushing against the Black Knights according to Robbinsville’s MaxPreps page. Junior running back Cuttler Adams led Robbinsville back into the game with 34 carries for 206 yards and a touchdown.
Eastern Randolph did manage to score with just over six minutes left in the fourth quarter, then the Wildcats made two big stops in the red zone to hold on to the win.
Special teams
Very little could be found about Eastern Randolph’s special teams play. D.J. Thomas returned a kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown against Robbinsville, and the Wildcats made all three PATs against the Black Knights while adding one 2-point conversion.
Mason, Revels and Stroup are the primary return men for Mount Airy. Mason has returned two punts for touchdowns and one kickoff for a touchdown, while Revels has one punt return for a touchdown.
Stroup had 66 made PATs and four field goals coming into the Hayesville game.
