Murphy Bulldogs Face the Mountain Heritage Cougars in the Fourth Round of the State Playoffs

Elite Eight – – Presents Challenge of the Mighty Quinn

 

By Brandon Stephens

 

(Burnsville) – –  You’ll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn!  Those are not just cool words from the 1960’s rock band song that takes too much effort to explain.  So I’ll just keep on jotting down notes on this week’s undefeated Mountain Heritage Cougars (12-and-0, 4-and-0) who are led by Senior Quarterback Brandon Quinn.  Quinn has rushed for 1,631 yards off 151 carries this season.  Quinn’s average rush gains 10 yards per carry.  

The Quinn rush has been difficult to stop.  Mountain Heritage has averaged 45 points on its opponents, which comes from quarterback dives and sweeps.  More than half of the 384 rush plays by the Cougars this season, Quinn accounts for almost half of the carries.  The remainder of the carries go to Senior running back Lane Chandler, Junior wing-back Cason Jones, or Senior wide receiver Caleb Roy.  Roy was prominent in the game against Hayesville as the next leading rusher to Brandon Quinn.  

There is very little to no passing likely with the Cougars.  Quinn, along with the rest of the Cougar backfield has combined to pass the ball 62 times for almost 700 yards.  Passing is a drop in the bucket compared to the near 4,000 yards of rushing offense and 54 touchdowns, half are contributed by Quinn.  

Through the season, Mountain Heritage has probably been challenged or faced with three tough opponents.  Erwin, Robbinsville, and Mitchell are the most challenging in the schedule.  The Erwin Warriors (10-and-2, 5-and-0) presented the greatest threat to the Cougars in a 32-to-27 Mountain Heritage victory.  The following week Robbinsville hosted the Cougars and lost 28-to-13.  Mitchell (7-and-4, 3-and-2) was crushed by Mountain Heritage 54-to-12.  The Mountaineers, unlike most Mountain Heritage opponents, finished the season with a winning record.  

The majority of the Cougar opponents may be beneath the big pine trees at E.L Briggs Stadium feeding pigeons on a limb and getting beat by the Cougars.  It just ain’t the cup of meat for the Murphy Bulldogs. . .

What kind of effort does it take to orchestrate the offense the way Brandon Quinn does with the Cougars.  Murphy Bulldog Junior quarterback Brady Grant gives some insight to his thoughts and impressions on Quinn.  

The scheme and style of offense the Cougars will present to Murphy is not one seen by any opponent the Bulldogs have encountered.  Senior lineman, and one of the Bulldogs’ top five tacklers, Charlie Graves says this game will be tough and will take effort to stop the Cougar rush.  

There is good momentum and work happening by the Bulldogs this week coming off the win over Robbinsville.  The cold weather, good practices, and preparation is being seen by Murphy Head Football Coach Joseph Watson.  

Friday’s game will be the fifth meeting between the Bulldogs and Cougars.  Murphy leads the series 4-to-0 (1998: 33-21; 1989: 40-12; 1990: 46-20; and 2021: 22-10).  The historical wins may not mean as much this season.  Mountain Heritage has maintained an undefeated 11-and-0 record, even after being sidelined for the effects of Hurricane Helene.  The Cougars have averaged 46 points on their opponents.  The Cougar defense has allowed an average of 10 points per game.  More details on this game shortly.  Stay connected with Team FYN Sports for more details on this game. 

 

(Facts and data taken from MaxPreps.com, stats from Murphy High School, and lyrics from Manfred Mann’s the Mighty Quinn (1968))

 

##