How West Henderson football lost to North Lincoln in Round 2 of the NCHSAA Playoffs

HENDERSONVILLE — North Lincoln football’s Jimani Ellington allowed the ball to bounce before intercepting it on the first kick. A column of Knights blockers helped him break past the West Henderson starter.

The 5-foot-11, 135-pound senior returned the ball to the Falcons’ six before being picked off. Running back Shannon Wingate scored a touchdown on the next play.

The Falcons then faced fourth-and-1 on the ensuing possession. Quarterback Cade Young passed on to Isaiah Cash. The sophomore fumbled short of the end zone and the Knights recovered. Four plays later, Wingate stormed into the end zone to give his team a two-score lead.

From there, No. 10 North Lincoln went to the races on Friday and dominated No. 7 West Henderson 54-21 to advance to the third round of the NCHSAA 3A playoffs. The Knights (11-1) host No. 15 Ashbrook next Friday.

“They were the best football team tonight,” West Henderson coach Paul Whitaker said. “When you go into the second round of the playoffs, you can’t have the mistakes and turnovers we had offensively. And we knew it wouldn’t be easy to stop them defensively.”

In addition to the critical red zone fumble for West Henderson (8-4), Young threw an interception and wide receiver Neal Robinson fumbled while scrambling for extra yards.

The Falcons then had no answer to North Lincoln’s triple option. Wingate finished with two touchdowns, receiver Tim Faulk had three rushing touchdowns and Landen Agee had two more.

“They’re good offensively,” Whitaker said. “They have a good B-defense that gets into the hole. “You have to be disciplined. In defense, you can’t get too centered in the lead.”

Whitaker remains proud of his team despite the disappointing finish. For the third year in a row, West Henderson won at least a share of the Mountain 7 Conference championship and defeated all three of its Henderson County opponents – East Henderson, Hendersonville and North Henderson.

The Falcons will be moving on from Robinson, defensive end/tight end Tyler Nash and running back Da’Zion Murray, but the future is bright.

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They return Young, wide receiver Asa Ostman and running back Zane McCraw, who missed the playoffs with a season-ending injury suffered in the final week of the regular season.

“I feel for the seniors, but we feel like we have a good core coming back,” Whitaker said.

ZAcharie Huber is a high school sports reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times and Hendersonville Times-News. Email him at [email protected] or follow him at X @zacharyahuber.

This article originally appeared in the Hendersonville Times-News: West Henderson football season ends with loss in second round of playoffs.