Thursday, October 1, 2026
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Bessemer City, NC (WNN) - The Cherryville Ironmen swatted the Bessemer City Yellow Jackets in the regular season finale by a score of 50-33. The two teams first squared off in 1930. The two teams comprise the longest continuous football rivalry in Gaston County. They have played every year since 1979. Coming into this game, Bessemer City had won three straight contests. The two schools are separated by less than 10 miles, creating a natural rivalry between the neighboring teams. The rivalry arguably reached its zenith during the 1970s and 1980s; however, it remains a long-standing rivalry rooted in community pride, tradition, and local bragging rights.
On this Halloween night, the two were able to put aside the rivalry long enough to join forces against another evil, breast cancer. Both schools came together to form a "pink out" for the game, with attendees encouraged to wear pink to show support for breast cancer awareness, as October is recognized as Breast Cancer Awareness Month. T-shirts were sold to students and fans throughout October as a fundraiser and were worn to the game. The rivalry on the field might be intense, but the fight against this deadly disease is important enough to bring the two sides together in the battle against a common opponent.
The Yellow Jackets tried to give Cherryville a trick with a squib kick to open the game; however, the Ironmen were not fooled and recovered the ball at midfield. The drive, which consumed almost half of the opening quarter, was nearly all JJ McElhaney as he took 10 straight snaps from the wildcat formation. Elijah Proctor took 2 snaps, also from the wildcat, before McElhaney would run it in from the 2-yard line. The Cole Kelly point-after-kick was good, and Cherryville drew first blood to lead 7-0. Bessemer City would answer with 1:08 left in the quarter as Keon Smith scored on a 12-yard pass from Gavin Chastain. The snap on the point after attempt was fumbled, thus throwing off the timing of the kick. Cherryville still had the lead at 7-6. The kickoff was again short, and the quarter expired after two runs from JJ McElhaney of 30 and 7 yards.
The second quarter began with JJ McElhaney continuing to be the workhorse. JJ would go on to score his second touchdown of the night from 11 yards out. Cole Kelly's point after attempt was no good, bringing Cherryville's lead to 14-6 with 9:32 left in the half. The kickoff was a squib kick that was returned to around the Cherryville 32 by Kamarion Wilson. Keon Smith scored his second receiving touchdown. The Jackets attempted the two-point conversion, which the Ironmen well defended. The score at this point was 13-12. The Ironmen were forced to punt, and Bessemer City put together a successful drive as Gavin Chastain found Walt McCoy in the end zone. The Jackets went for and made the two-point conversion. They grabbed their first lead of the night, 20-13, with under a minute left in the half. The Ironmen fought back on Jayden Adam's second pass attempt of the game, which was a 25-yard touchdown pass to Talon Dalton. The Yellow Jackets blocked the kick to retain a 20-19 lead going into halftime. This is precisely the type of game expected from longtime rivals.
Bessemer City received the opening kickoff of the second half. Walt McCoy fumbled on the first play, and Cherryville recovered at the BCHS 35-yard line. The Ironmen changed their attack and went to the passing game. It was a good move as it led to a long pass of around 26 yards from Jayden Adams to Elijah Proctor for a touchdown. JJ McElhaney ran in the two-point conversion to put Cherryville up 27-20. The Jackets swarmed down the field as Keon Smith would score again from 6 yards out. They got either a treat or a trick as the kick hit the left upright and bounced in to tie the game at 27-27. The Ironmen made the most of their next drive as Elijah Proctor scored his second touchdown on a run from inside the 10-yard line. After JJ McElhaney ran in for the two-point conversion, Cherryville retook the lead 35-27 with 2:50 remaining in the third quarter. During the Jackets' next drive, JJ McElhaney picked off a Gavin Chastain pass. The quarter would expire as Cherryville drove inside the Jackets' 10.
Just a few plays into the quarter, JJ McElhany scored his third touchdown of the night. He would also add another two-point conversion as the Ironmen began to pull away, leading 43-27 with 11:18 left in the game. Cherryville forced the Yellow Jackets to turn it over on downs. The drive would be capped by Elijah Proctor scoring his third touchdown of the night. Cole Kelly's kick was good, and the Ironmen now led 50-27. Bessemer City kept fighting and scored on a pass from Gavin Chastain to Walt McCoy for 35 yards. The two-point attempt was not successful, with Cherryville leading 50-33, and 6:08 left in the game. The Yellow Jackets recovered a successful onside kick at their own 49-yard line. They had a good drive going before Jayden Adams intercepted a Gavin Chastain pass in the end zone and brought it out to the 10. The Ironmen would keep the ball on the ground to run out the clock and win the game 50-33.
After the conclusion of the game, WNN's Rusty Wise grabbed a few Ironmen comments from Head Coach Bowman, Defensive Coordinator Leford Gibson, and several key players of the night, JJ McElhaney, Elijah Proctor, and Maddox Carrigan. JJ scored 3 touchdowns, ran 2 two-point conversions, and intercepted a pass. Elijah also scored 3 touchdowns. Maddox made several key defensive stops and some big blocks.
Coach Patrick Bowman: When asked how it felt to get the big win and the belt back in his hand, the coach replied, "It feels good, you know. I'm proud of our guys; they really bought in this week, obviously. We talked last week that you don't really have to say much about this rivalry, the oldest in Gaston County; they bought in and had a good plan. Proud of our assistant coaches, they have been working tirelessly all season. Like we said, the real season starts now, so we're excited. I am really excited about being able to play at Rudisill Stadium in the postseason. As far as this win, you know it's huge for us, it's huge for these kids, it's huge for our staff, but it's real big for the City of Cherryville and that's what we are most happy about". He went on to discuss the game being a whole team effort, "that's what we talked about at the half. It's been a lot of times this year that our defense played really well early, and bailed our offense out. You know, tonight, I don't want to say it was completely vice versa, but our offense played really well early. Then, when we did stutter a little bit, the defense bailed us out. It was a full team effort tonight." He concluded by saying he couldn't be more excited about a home playoff game next Friday night and hoped it would be packed out.
#6 J.J. McElhaney: He reflected on what motivated the team to open it up in the second half. "We just wanted it more bad, we came out this far for our seniors, especially, we get a home playoff game, that's what I'm most excited about. I'm just ready to get the playoffs going." JJ had this to say about preparing for whomever their opponent turns out to be, "We're going to prepare like we do any other week. We're going to hit them with everything we got and hopefully we get through it." He expressed that hydration is key to sustaining stamina during a game, and they would continue to be properly hydrated going into the playoffs.
#11 Elijah Proctor: "It feels great, we haven't beaten them in about 4 or 5 years, and we finally got our belt back. It's a big rivalry game, everybody was hyped, you know, it's a great feeling." He was asked about his feelings on having a home playoff game. "Yes, sir, it's been 12 years since we've had one. All we've got to do is be mentally prepared, get better every day, and it comes Thursday and Friday, and put it together, and we can take a big win home." He concluded by saying that it was a team effort, and they all played together tonight as one cohesive unit, which ultimately came together.
#55 Maddox Carrigan: He discussed how he was feeling after taking a brutal hit that set him out of the game. "I feel fine, you know, I just took a sharp hit to the knee, and it bothered me a little bit, but I'm good." Maddox spoke on the win being a team effort, "Yeah, a few stops there and our offense scored, I think on every possession, so that's uh the defense gets a few stops, and we knew we ran away with it at that point." Reflecting on the halftime speech by the coach, "he said don't stress it, we're doing fine, and come out after halftime and just wear them out, and that's what we did." He was asked how he would prepare for the upcoming playoff game. "Same way we prepare every week, just practicing hard and working hard, and then we'll be ready come Friday." Carrigan also emphasized that they were well-hydrated and stayed well-stretched during the game. He mentioned that Bessemer City seemed to be experiencing cramping issues on nearly every play in the second half.
#55 Maddox Carrigan holding the defensive line - Game 10 - Cherryville vs Bessemer City - Dixon Stadium - October 31st, 2025
Mason Beam (WNN)
Ledford Gibson (Defensive Coordinator): He was asked about the overall play of the defense tonight. "We played a better second half. We didn't play well in the first half, but we stepped it up a bit in the second half and played a little better. We finally made a few stops, and that helped us out because the offense was rolling and we needed to make a few stops and give the ball back to them. Then they kind of took control of the game, and that helped a lot."
Additionally, he noted that he secured some key turnovers. "We got a couple of interceptions that were key. We got a little pressure; we were getting good pressure. He was ducking away, and he did a good job of ducking away from us. We just stayed after him and made him throw a couple of errant passes, and that helped us out." Asked about conditioning and preparation for next week, he had this to say, "Yeah, we've stayed after them all year about staying hydrated and running. We've kept them in pretty good shape, and they haven't been too bad about that all year, so they've done a really good job with that. Hopefully, we can go into the playoffs, and that will not be a factor. We've just got to see who we are playing and see what kind of offense and defense we can go against them and see if we can move forward with it and make some noise." Coach Gibson continued to say that they should know their next opponent Sunday night and will get together and discuss a game plan. They will continue to use rotation to keep players fresh, and although injuries have been a minor problem in the latter part of the season, some players are getting healthy, which makes the rotation much easier. Usually, 6-7 players are playing both offense and defense, but tonight they started with 9 on both sides of the ball.
This win evened the Ironmen's record to 5-5, two games above last season's finish. It was a big win in not only defeating a rival but also securing a home playoff game in the first round. The final seeding will be determined on Sunday night after all RPIs (Rating Percentage Index) are calculated. No matter who the opponent is, Cherryville will be ready and excited to have a home playoff game. Congratulations on a great regular season and best wishes in the postseason. Make plans to come out and support your Cherryville Ironmen on Friday night, November 7th.
