The Tigers withstood one of their biggest challenges ever last week when they had to claw their way past Asheboro for a 7-2 win in the first round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association football playoffs.

Passing sparingly against one of the premier defenses in the North Carolina Piedmont area, Chapel Hill was held without an offensive score.

CHHS got the game-winning points on a 35-yard interception return by Alex Duncan, his second pick of the year, for the game's only touchdown.

The Blue Comets held Chapel Hill to 100 yards of total offense, but CHHS came up just about as strong, holding Asheboro to 206 yards.

Almost half of that came from quarterback Caleb Mason, who completed 10 of 21 passes for 69 yards and scrambled for 30 yards more.

'Each other's back ...'

The CHHS offense produced when it counted.

With the clock winding down under a minute, Asheboro out of time outs and CHHS needing two yards to hold onto the ball, offensive coordinator Ricky Bynum exhorted the Tigers from the sideline, "C'mon ... one more first down and we're going to the second round."

Roscoe Burnette pounded into the line for three yards, keeping the ball -- and the game -- in the Tigers' hands.

"One thing coach Bynum says in practice is that we have each other's back," CHHS head coach Issac Marsh observed. "We don't think of it as 'the defense did this,' or 'the offense did that;' we have each other's back."

Everyone else is out

All other local teams lost in the first round of the NCHSAA playoffs last week.

Carrboro lost its rematch, 36-21, with league rival South Granville, the regular-season champion of the Carolina 2-A Conference.

The game in Creedmoor was a far cry from Chapel Hill's defensive battle in Culton-Peerman Stadium.

South Granville compiled almost 400 yards of total offense, while Carrboro's Alex McVeigh passed for 313 yards and two touchdowns and ran in one more.

South Granville (7-5) advances to host Reidsville (9-3) in the second round, while Carrboro finished its year at 7-4

The Carolina-10's other playoff team, Northwood, finished up 4-7 after losing 29-7 to Franklinton (10-2).

In the Carolina-6, Orange fell to Chapel Hill's next opponent -- Fayetteville Byrd.

The Panthers (6-6) had a chance to grab the lead in the second quarter in Fayetteville, driving near the Eagles' red zone, before Devante MacKall picked up a Panther fumble and returned it 68 yards for a 14-6 Byrd lead.

Patrick Pettiford (11-127 rushing) got Orange back to within 14-12 with his 70-yard run for a TD, but it was all Eagles after that.

They rolled to 295 yards rushing and scored the game's last 27 points.

Tigers move on to Fayetteville

Chapel Hill (10-2), with the most wins in program history, travels to Fayetteville's Bob Paroli Stadium this Friday for an N.C. High School Athletic Association second-round football playoff game with undefeated and Douglas Byrd (12-0).

Ranked No. 6 in the state by the Associated Press, Byrd is seeded No. 1 in the NCHSAA Mideast pod, while Chapel Hill is No. 4.

Byrd has one of the best known programs in the state. It also has one of the best winning percentages in NCHSAA playoff history.

Byrd is 42-23 in 23 post-season play, but has never won a state title. It's 0-6 in 4-A state championship games.

Byrd, 20-3 over the past two years, is now in the 3-A.

It lost in last year's second round to Chapel Hill's Carolina Conference rival Cardinal Gibbons.

Chapel Hill is 2-14 in NCHSAA football playoff games, but the Tigers have something that has eluded the Eagles. Chapel Hill won two state championships -- in 1919-1920 -- before the NCHSAA was formed.

CHHS coach Issac Marsh said last week he didn't care who the Tigers were playing.

He was just glad CHHS advanced in the playoffs, something they hadn't done since rejoining the 3-A reclassification.

"We'll take on the opportunity to play any team. We just want to play," Marsh said. "At this point in time, being one of the teams left playing in the state, we're moving on. ... It could be any team from Cardinal Gibbons to (Wilson) Hunt; we just want to play."

— chn —