What are thinking this year for the SMC? A lot of roster turnover and some coaching turnover. Seems to be a lot hype and excitement around Cherokee and Swain with the new coaching hires.
Football SMC 2026
- Thread starter SwainCountysFinest
- Start date
1 murphy is favorites
2 Swain my dark horse pick
3 r ville always contender
4 Cherokee
5 hayesville
6 rosman
7 Andrews
2 Swain my dark horse pick
3 r ville always contender
4 Cherokee
5 hayesville
6 rosman
7 Andrews
They were pretty decent last year minus the end of the year with all the injuries that plus the new hire would be my guess.
Good point. I think they’ll really miss Cody this year but I expect them to be in the mix.
Swain been really good last couple seasons on jv. You guys have excellent coach now.
Not a clue we play them week three though then we play Swain the following week.
Heritage is in a similar situation we return quite a bit on offense but replace nearly everyone on defense, Robbinsville could finish third in the SMC and still win it all in 1a cause let's be honest there's not much competition in their way with the exception of Wilson Prep.
I'm going
1. Murphy
2. Swain
3.Robbinsville
4. Cherokee
5. Hayesville
6. Rosman
7. Andrews
1. Murphy
2. Swain
3.Robbinsville
4. Cherokee
5. Hayesville
6. Rosman
7. Andrews
Last edited:
I’ll be interested to see if Swain can pull it off against Rville. They haven’t beat Rville since 2017 and it always seem like they’ve got a mental block against them.
Heritage had like a 35 year losing streak to Hendo end in 2010 ever since it's been pretty back a forth, really until the last 18 years Heritage was a door mat but they turned it around, Swains a blue blood of nc football they'll end that streak at some point.
I’ll also be curious as to how the new coach at Cherokee will do. They usually have a lot of talent but it’s a hard place to coach. The Asheville Citizen has them picked to finish 2nd this year.
If the line comes together and QB play is decent we we'll be a good team only time will tell
Mitchell and Heritage will be big time games for Robbinsville if you win both those games I say you win the 1a championship and the SMC.
A lot of good measuring stick games early for Swain and Robbinsville. Both play heritage and Franklin and they’ll both be at the same scrimmages back to back weeks (not playing each other of course).
Yeah those will be tuff games our schedule flips around this year six games on the road four games at home
Always enjoy following the SMC...
I'll go with,
Murphy
Robbinsville
Swain
Cherokee
Hayesville
Rosman
Andrews
I'll go with,
Murphy
Robbinsville
Swain
Cherokee
Hayesville
Rosman
Andrews
Swain played really well at times today vs North and Princeton, but there lack of kids showed later in the scrimmage. Didn’t watch Rville as much but heard they were up and down.
I thought Swain had a good day and have some things to build off, as well as areas to improve on. Staying healthy will be the biggest thing.
I didn't get a great look at Rville. Their numbers are slightly better than Swain's, but they are thin too. Getting kids to turn out in general is a huge challenge, that I think extends beyond the SMC.
I didn't get a great look at Rville. Their numbers are slightly better than Swain's, but they are thin too. Getting kids to turn out in general is a huge challenge, that I think extends beyond the SMC.
Swain will be very young, from what i've heard they have about 22 kids with only 5 seniors. Fortunately the line should be the strength of Swain, they had several freshman/underclassmen getting a lot of quality playing time last season so look for them to keep growing. The skill positions seem to be just ok atm with many of the players still locked in position battles, especially at QB. With both #6 & #17 graduated Swain will have to find a way to replace their production, perhaps (hopefully) the better quality of coaching will rear it's head and allow some kids to rise to the occasion. Overall I expect Swain to be in an obvious transitionary mode, stout up front as usual with the offensive power TBD. Defense will likely be their bread and butter till the new system takes shape. Maybe if they are successful early they could be a pretty tough out as they gain steam down the road. I personally could see them finishing as low as 4th, but if some kids take a step up and the team really takes to the new system the sky is the limit.
SMC was a fun, successful conference last year— they ranked no.3 in my pound-for-pound 2A rankings. Here are some conference analytics from last year.
Murphy, Swain, and Robbinsville in action this evening. Their games are in that order at Asheville High.
TC vs Murphy 35-8 TC
AC VS Swain 24-0 AC
Erwin vs Rville 10-10
Pisgah vs Asheville 21-13 Ash
AC VS Swain 24-0 AC
Erwin vs Rville 10-10
Pisgah vs Asheville 21-13 Ash
Some takeaways from the scrimmages:
TC is really good. Thompson-Wynn is crazy good. Murphy was without Clem but I don’t think it would have mattered.
Swain had several turnovers and struggled offensively. They threw a pick six early and it went downhill from there.
Robbinsville looked okay. Qb was up and down tonight threw a bad interception early but the offense moved the ball had long time consuming drives.
TC is really good. Thompson-Wynn is crazy good. Murphy was without Clem but I don’t think it would have mattered.
Swain had several turnovers and struggled offensively. They threw a pick six early and it went downhill from there.
Robbinsville looked okay. Qb was up and down tonight threw a bad interception early but the offense moved the ball had long time consuming drives.
I think that’s a pretty solid recap.
TCR is the real deal. They’ll win conference quite easily. Asheville has some fun weapons but their line play is so average. Especially defensively.
Swain, like many, just doesn’t have a ton of depth and fatigue hits some of them hard. I imagine that improves as the season continues.
I like the speed and weapons RVL has but I’m not sure the level of line play is what it has been over the past handful of years. I don’t think Erwin is particularly good up front at all.
Cherokee was impressive from what I have been told. They could legit be the sleeper to be #2 in the conference.
TCR is the real deal. They’ll win conference quite easily. Asheville has some fun weapons but their line play is so average. Especially defensively.
Swain, like many, just doesn’t have a ton of depth and fatigue hits some of them hard. I imagine that improves as the season continues.
I like the speed and weapons RVL has but I’m not sure the level of line play is what it has been over the past handful of years. I don’t think Erwin is particularly good up front at all.
Cherokee was impressive from what I have been told. They could legit be the sleeper to be #2 in the conference.
Pretty good recap. TCR...specifically T-W did whatever he wanted. Murphy got a late score, I think it was Davis.
Swain struggled offensively. The early pick 6 was followed by a fumble inside their 20. So they were down 14-0 early. Once they flipped the field a little it calmed down, but just couldn't get established. Defense did ok, ACR got behind them with a couple of great catches. I don't think that's unexpected when you line up against ACR. Add a field goal, and there's your 24 points.
Robbinsville's strength looks like their skilled positions. They seemed to be looking to sustain drives in the scrimmage, but opened up a few passes too. Not really sure what I was expecting out of Erwin.
Not a great night, but there were positives. Two way players against 6A definitely factors in. I would also say that everyone was holding back some plays and sets, not showing their full hand with that many conference teams there and week 1 coming next week.
Swain struggled offensively. The early pick 6 was followed by a fumble inside their 20. So they were down 14-0 early. Once they flipped the field a little it calmed down, but just couldn't get established. Defense did ok, ACR got behind them with a couple of great catches. I don't think that's unexpected when you line up against ACR. Add a field goal, and there's your 24 points.
Robbinsville's strength looks like their skilled positions. They seemed to be looking to sustain drives in the scrimmage, but opened up a few passes too. Not really sure what I was expecting out of Erwin.
Not a great night, but there were positives. Two way players against 6A definitely factors in. I would also say that everyone was holding back some plays and sets, not showing their full hand with that many conference teams there and week 1 coming next week.
Totally agree with you. Scrimmages are just that. It’s so hard to put any stock into them tbh. Except Pisgah. They treated that scrimmage vs Asheville like a Super Bowl lol
and Asheville wasn’t even playing their best weapon. Asheville’s defensive line is not good and Pisgah did a good job of exposing that. But man, you could tell they were doing everything possible to try and pull that out.
and Asheville wasn’t even playing their best weapon. Asheville’s defensive line is not good and Pisgah did a good job of exposing that. But man, you could tell they were doing everything possible to try and pull that out.
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