Asheville Citizen-Times – Keith Jarrett – November 19, 2011—
The quarterfinal round of the playoffs has been the stop sign for Asheville High’s football season each of the previous three years, and Friday night it once again brought a halt to dreams of a state title.


The Cougars’ undefeated season came to end at [Asheville High] Memorial Stadium behind the strong, basic block-and-tackle style of Crest, which took a 28-25 decision in 3-AA postseason play.

The Chargers (11-3) controlled the game at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball to advance to next week’s Western Regional final.

Asheville (12-1) lost a playoff game at home for the first time since 2007 [and will not play the Friday after Thanksgiving for the first time since 2000.]

Crest, which lost in the state title game last season, is now 22-7 in two seasons under former Brevard High coach Mark Barnes.

The Chargers had run the ball on 86 percent of their offensive plays in playoff wins against St. Stephens and Kings Mountain, but it was two long pass plays that hurt the Cougars.

Sophomore quarterback Robert Gullatte completed touchdown passes of 52 yards to Shaquan Ussery and 51 yards to Demonte Wilson.

Trailing by 10 points in the fourth quarter, the Cougars drove 80 yards behind reserve quarterback David Howerton.

Tysean Holloway’s 2-yard touchdown run and Mason Moore’s kick cut the deficit to 28-25 with 1:37 remaining.

But Shrine Bowl lineman Jonathan Bullard recovered the onside kick, and Crest ran out of the clock.

“If we get a good bounce (on the onside kick) and got our hands on the ball one more time, this might have been a happier ending,” Asheville coach Danny Wilkins said.

“But we played our hearts out, and the kids left everything on the field. We lost the war in the trenches and struggled with their size, but we played with all we had and had a great season.”

“It’s tough, very tough to accept this is the last game,” Holloway said. “We hurt ourselves with mistakes. We could have won this game, but we didn’t play Asheville High football.”

Both teams had four touchdowns, and the Chargers converted all their extra points.

Asheville missed it first point-after attempt and failed on two-point conversion tries after its next two touchdowns.

“We kept trying to catch up after missing the first kick, and I’m disappointed about that,” Wilkins said.

Asheville quarterback Deveron Roberts completed touchdown passes of 60 and 8 yards to Justin Fritts and also scored on a 23-yard run.

The Cougars were trying to reach the state semifinals for the sixth time in 10 years.

Asheville is now 26-9 in the playoffs over 10 years, including a 21-4 record at home.

This marked the ninth time in 10 seasons the Cougars reached the quarterfinal round of postseason play; the last time Asheville failed to win a playoff game was 2001.

Several updates to the Record Book were made necessary during the season, and will be reported in a future story.

Congratulations to everyone on a great season!