Thursday, October 1, 2026
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Lawndale, NC (WNN) - The Cherryville Ironmen fell to the Burns Bulldogs in football action on October 17th in Lawndale, NC. A few costly mistakes and turnovers killed several drives throughout the night. Both teams turned the ball over several times and committed more penalties than they would have liked. Overall, the Ironmen played tough and had some good plays, but not enough strung together to keep pace with Burns' high-potential offense. Cherryville played most of the night without JJ McElhaney and Jackson Heavner, but got some good play from Talon Dalton and Elijah Proctor.
Burns took the opening kickoff and marched 67 yards in 8 plays to strike first on a 22-yard touchdown pass from Drew Dixon to Jorian Ussery. The next drive featured a heavy dose of Romelo Wells for Burns. He gained 32 yards receiving on the drive. A couple of offside penalties and a personal foul committed by the Ironmen aided the Bulldogs on their way to a 2-yard touchdown run from Kolton Pryor. Burns was up 14-0. Later in the quarter, Cherryville would catch a break on a punt that bounced off the hand of a Bulldog player and was recovered by the Ironmen on the Burns' 36. It appeared Cherryville had a good drive going before Armani Littlejohn intercepted a Jayden Adams' pass.
The same drive for Burns continued into the second quarter. The Bulldogs got sloppy with several penalties and a bad snap. They would eventually be forced to punt after the drive stalled. Unfortunately, Cherryville failed to take advantage and punted back to the Bulldogs. The turnover bug once again bit the Bulldogs' offense as the Ironmen recovered the fumble on their own 36. Yet again, a drive started with promise. The Ironmen went run-heavy with Elijah Proctor, who became the featured back after Jackson Heavner went out of the game early. Proctor stepped up and had some success as he filled in for the injured JJ McElhaney and Jackson Heavner. Cherryville drove deep into Bulldog territory but turned the ball over on downs as Proctor came up just short. A few long runs moved Burns down the field; however, the Ironmen defense rose to the occasion and held the Bulldogs to a field goal. Half-time score: Burns 17-0 over Cherryville.
The Ironmen received the second-half kickoff but were unable to sustain a drive. Jackson Heavner had been ruled out for the rest of the game as he entered the concussion protocol. Elijah Proctor would become the workhorse of the Cherryville offense going forward. Burns would score on their first play of the half as Drew Dixon passed 54 yards to Jorian Ussery for his second touchdown of the night. The score increased to 24-0. The Ironmen showed some flashes on the next drive, just not enough to sustain a drive. Jayden Adams ran 14 yards on a quarterback keeper. Unfortunately, on the next play, Elijah Proctor was banged up and replaced by Landry Pruitt at tailback. Cherryville would have to punt, which would lead a few plays later to a Burns touchdown on a 5-yard run from Chris Dawkins, who had replaced the injured Kolton Pryor. The Bulldogs had run out to a 31-0 lead. Cherryville had Proctor return to the game on the next drive. Enijahe Whitworth had some big plays on this drive, the first being a 12-yard reception. The quarter ended with Cherryville still driving.
Elijah Proctor picked up a first down on a fourth-and-four play as the final quarter began. Unfortunately, he had to leave the game again after taking a hard hit and came up limping. The Ironmen would use some razzle-dazzle, going old-school trickery to score. The play, a double pass, consisted of Jayden Adams taking the snap, he threw a backward pass to Talon Dalton, who in turn threw a forward pass for 42 yards to Enijahe Whitworth. The two-point conversion attempt failed, and the score remained 31-6 in favor of Burns. The Bulldogs would score again on the next drive as Romelo Wells scored another rushing touchdown for 48 yards. This would prove to be the final score of 38-6.
WNN's Rusty Wise conducted a post-game interview with Coach Patrick Bowman. Asked about his takeaways from the game, Coach Bowman said, "Yeah, you know, thought we didn't execute as well as we would have liked some, but we got some banged up, but also had a chance to see some other kids step up. Proud of the group of them. Obviously, that's a good football team, and we've got to take the next step and get to that level if we want to keep getting better, and that's my job to make sure we do that. Overall, you know, thought our guys played hard, like I said got a few banged up, a few key players banged up that's hurt, so hopefully we can get them back going into finish out the season." Asked about the trick play, "yeah that was a double pass we practice it every week, try keep it in the back pocket. Thought it was the right time to flip some momentum and get us back going; they executed it well. Hats off, you know, Talon Dalton threw it and Enijahe caught it, so hats off to them, but overall, offensively, you know, man, we have got to get a little better, figure out who we are going to have and who we are not, so we'll be back to work to do that."
Jacob Truett #75, nose guard, defensive end, and defensive tackle, was the first player to speak. His thoughts on playing Burns, "They're strong, but we could have done better. We need to play more as a family, but you know it is what it is. At the end of the day, we're still going to treat each other as family. We need to learn to work together more and not be scared of people, but I'm included in that, not just me. Still, I know I messed up a lot tonight too, yeah, that's about it." He offered his ideas on what they can improve on, "staying lower for sure with me and as a team making tackles and making and doing the right plays."
Enijahe Whitworth #10, wide receiver, defensive back, reflected on the trick play that resulted in him scoring the team's only touchdown of the night. "I thought it was good, that's the first one I've scored in a while." His thoughts on the overall performance, "I think we didn't play well, we didn't do our assignments or anything like that, but I think we could have played a lot better." He expressed other areas that could be improved upon, "blocking, making tackles, and playing my coverages better."
Talon Dalton #35, wide receiver, defensive back, concluded the interviews, speaking on his outstanding performance of the night, "Yeah, I had a good game, I made a lot of tackles and threw a touchdown pass on the trick play, but we've got to come back to practice next week and get better." When asked if they had other trick plays up their sleeve, he shyly responded, "I'll wait and save that for next week, but we might have a couple of trick plays." He gave his thoughts on playing a team such as Burns, "We just want to come out and compete, I mean, they put their pads on the same way we do, and we're not going to lay down to them at all. We're going to go out there and play as hard as we can, and whatever the outcome is, that's the outcome that comes, so we lost tonight, and we're going to be back next week, ready to work."
The Cherryville Ironmen's next game is October 24th at home, when they host Stuart W. Cramer. The Ironmen are currently 4-4 overall and 2-4 in conference play. Hopefully, some of the injuries will have healed, and they can come out full force. Come out and support your Ironmen.
Note: Check out the Cherryville vs Burns photo gallery slideshow at the top of this article!
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