It’s been a good two years for Macon Middle School football.
After an 8-0 season and a Blue Ridge Athletic Conference title in 2022, the Panthers faced a difficult challenge, losing a whopping 17 starters to eighth-grade graduation. With a 7-0 record and a second-straight BRAC Championship this fall, Nathan Raby’s team capped a remarkable two-year run for the program.
“The last time we lost a game was October 14, 2021, and that’s a date we remind them of,” said Raby, after finishing his third year as MMS head coach. “It’s something to take pride in, and you can believe everybody in the conference knows that date as well. You play every game with a target on your back and a little bit of a chip on your shoulder, because you’re gonna get everybody’s best effort. You [can watch] film on a team and you’re like, ‘Man, they’re not very good, they don’t execute super-well,’ and you show up and they play 10 times better against you.”
As public enemy No. 1 in the BRAC, the Panthers faced a unique gauntlet this year, as opponents pulled out all the stops to try and end their impressive streak. From their first practices this summer however, Raby knew they would be able to contend.
“We knew we’d have a lot of talent coming back, but we didn’t know how good we were gonna be,” he said of preparing for 2023. “Definitely in the summer, after your first couple of weeks you kind of start clicking, but the mindset for us is always that our goal is to go win a conference championship, whether we’ve got 10 kids or 20 kids or 20 returning starters or two returning starters. I think that’s something the kids buy into – if you talk about it and you truly believe it, then they kind of believe it and they work towards it. We had tremendous effort throughout the summer; it was really good for us.”
Despite losing 17 starters from last season, Macon had plenty more waiting in the wings, going from 17 players total in Raby’s first year to more than 40 in each of the past two (when few other BRAC teams had more than 30). After months of offseason work, they needed just one quarter to put the rest of the conference on notice.
“I would say from the very first game of the year, in the first quarter,” said Raby of when he realized his team could be special. “We came out and played Hendersonville, which, I wouldn’t say they were a very good team, but they were a very talented team. Our guys came out and were up 28-0 six minutes into the game, and I knew at that point we had a really, really good chance at taking it the entire distance. And then following that up, when we beat Waynesville the first time at Waynesville 22-0, that was the moment that we knew we were gonna kind of sail our way into [the BRAC playoffs].”
In winning their first two games by a combined score of 62-8, Macon quickly looked like the team to beat in the BRAC, committing few penalties and forcing several turnovers from the Mountaineers and Bearcats. From there, the Panthers largely ran roughshod over the rest of the conference.
“Our defense played phenomenal all year. I think our total score throughout the season was 248-44,” said Raby. “Over half of our offensive possessions started in positive territory on the other team’s side of the 50, so it was a huge, huge benefit to us. … We’ve thrown the ball for over 1,000 yards the last two years as well, and in a middle school scheme that is a ton of yards throwing the football.”
Led by a fearsome foursome of linebackers Garrett Young, Daiveon Hall, Paxton Sutton and Gabe Harrison, Macon’s defense stifled opponents, intercepting eight passes, recovering four fumbles and scoring two touchdowns and a safety on the season. The quartet also spearheaded the Panther offense, where Young churned out 344 rushing yards and eight touchdowns, Harrison posted 15 catches for 281 yards and two touchdowns, and Sutton completed 42 of 57 passes for 721 yards, 10 touchdowns and just two interceptions.
In game after game, Macon rolled over their BRAC rivals, winning every game by at least two touchdowns to cruise to the conference tournament. In a 52-16 drubbing of Apple Valley in the Semifinal, the team earned the right to host Waynesville in a BRAC Championship matchup at the Panther Pit.
“They’re always a really tough, physical team, but it’s more about ‘Don’t take things for granted, don’t overlook them, execute, read your keys, do your job,’” said Raby of preparing his team for the rematch with the Mounties. “That’s kind of the motto we followed this year, if there was one thing that was resounding throughout the season. Even the kids would start saying it to each other – ‘Do your job.’ Don’t worry about what somebody else is supposed to be doing, don’t worry about what the other team is doing. As long as 11 guys on the field are doing what they’re supposed to do, then it’s gonna come out in our favor.”
True to form, the Panthers took Raby’s advice, routing Waynesville 28-0 to claim the title.
Even more than this year, the 2024 Panthers will have big shoes to fill, as a whopping 31 players will graduate from MMS this summer. This comes as welcome news for Franklin’s JV team however, as last year’s eighth-grade class helped lead Josh Brooks’ group to a 7-2 record.
“I talk to him throughout the season, and especially towards the end of the season as far as moving forward into high school,” said Raby of Brooks. “With every step you take up in level, your responsibilities and what’s required of you obviously increases, and you just remind those guys to stay dedicated, continue to work and do what they do. … There’s not been a point in our conference where anybody’s repeated as Champions, and definitely not two undefeated seasons in a row, so you’re already the winningest group to ever come through in football in our conference. Just continue doing what y’all are doing – it’s obviously working.”