Owen cruises to second straight conference win in Avery County
Five Warhorses find the end zone in 43-15 victory over Vikings
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
September 27, 2025
As a thunderstorm passed over the high country in Newland, delaying the opening kickoff between Owen and Avery County by an hour, the Warhorses were chomping at the bit while awaiting the Western Highlands Conference matchup.
Once the weather cleared, Owen established a lead in the first 90 seconds, on its way to a 43-15 victory over the Vikings and its second straight in the conference.
The Warhorses improved to 4-2, overall, as five players scored touchdowns, but the first 2 points came from a safety when a blocked punt by sophomore offensive and defensive lineman Cam McDonald bounced through the back of the end zone. The offense was off to the proverbial races after that.
Owen capped its first possession when junior quarterback Emmett Minks rolled to his right and found sophomore receiver Slade Gardner, who plucked the ball away from the outstretched hands of a defender, for a touchdown. A subsequent 2-point conversion gave the Warhorses a 10-0 advantage,
The defense opened the second quarter with a drive-ending sack by junior Bear Dasher, before extending their lead with a short Haiden Small touchdown run in the first four minutes. While the Vikings, who fell to 1-5 in the loss, responded with a touchdown on their next drive, Dasher took a sweep to the left side 25 yards for his first touchdown run of the season.
Senior Hayden Burpeau, behind blocking from junior Stephen Anderson, put his team ahead, 29-7, heading into the half.
After closing out his team’s first half with a touchdown, Burpeau opened the offensive attack in the third quarter, racing, untouched, for a 65-yard sprint to the end zone in the first five minutes of the frame. The defense stifled the ensuing Avery County drive, while Minks scored Owen’s final touchdown of the night on a 1-yard quarterback keeper up the middle.
The Vikings added another touchdown late, but the Warhorses played spoiler to their opponent’s homecoming festivities for the second straight week. The Owen ground game of Burpeau, Anderson, Minks and sophomore Donte Middleton outperformed the home team, with 304 yards on 43 carries, while the defense held the Vikings to 74 yards on 29.
Burpeau finished the night with 85 yards rushing on 4 carries, while three more Warhorses — Anderson, Middleton and Small — each added more than 40 yards of their own.
The victory, which came less than an hour before the Swannanoa Valley observed the one-year mark of the arrival of Tropical Storm Helene, was “special,” head coach John Faircloth told his players after the game.
“I’m proud of you guys,” he said, as his team huddled in the end zone. “You faced so much adversity, and on the anniversary of Helene, you came out here and made the Valley proud. You did exactly what we’ve been talking about all week.”
The game represented the strongest 48-minute performance by the Warhorses in a season-and-a-half under Faircloth, according to Burpeau.
“We played as a team, which is something coach has been talking about for both seasons he’s been here,” he said.
The timing of the victory gave the performance an added layer of meaning, he added.
“We started out with a rain delay, and all that’s been on our minds, with the anniversary approaching, is the hurricane,” Burpeau said. “We wanted everybody in the Valley to wake up tomorrow, see the score, and hopefully it will mean a little bit more to everyone than just a win.”
The team’s leading rusher credited his offensive line for creating opportunities for him and the rest of the backfield.
“They did a heck of a job tonight,” he said. “They really had a great night tonight. We did what we needed to do, and we saw how we needed to play.”
A lot of things went right, offensively and defensively, for Owen, according to Faircloth.
“We were executing, and of course I wish we could’ve done a better job on special teams, but Avery County is about as sound on special teams as any team we’ve seen all year,” he said. “But, I felt like we did some really good things out there tonight.”
Setting the tone on the road was a key objective for Owen, which entered the contest a week after a 17-14 victory in the final minutes of a battle in Polk County.
“We started talking on Monday about how an emotional win can kind of take the energy out of you a little bit, and how we needed to give this team the respect they deserve,” he said. “All week, though, we really talked about the Valley, and how important it is to us to honor that sense of pride and make sure the people in Black Mountain and Swannanoa woke up happy on Saturday morning.”
The players were under pressure to perform, in the midst of the program’s best start to the season in more than decade.
“We knew it would be a little emotional, with the one-year anniversary of the storm, which is hard to believe, because in a lot of ways it feels like it was two weeks ago,” said Faircloth, whose first season at Owen was paused for five weeks in the aftermath of Helene. “It was important to all of us to represent our hometown well.”
The coach was impressed with his team’s response.
“This is uncharted waters for the majority of these guys, so I was happy to see them come out here and, for the most part, put together around 44 minutes of great football,” Faircloth said.
Seeing players step up when given the opportunity is a crucial component of Owen’s plan to build long-term success.
“We have to be unselfish,” the coach said. “In every phase, we have to be. If you’re on the sideline, you need to be the best cheerleader. It’s not just team vs. team, it’s our bench cheering louder than theirs, me vs. their head coach, our offensive coordinator vs. their defensive coordinator and there is no role too small. We even want to clean up our locker room better than the other guys.”
As the Warhorses prepare for their next WHC challenge, beginning at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Oct. 3, when they host 3-3 Mitchell, Faircloth reflected on his team’s commitment throughout the first six games of the season.
“Being 2-0 in the conference is a lot better than being 0-2,” he said. “I’m happy for these kids, our coaches, community, administration and students. These guys have worked really hard, and they deserve this success.”
Photos of Owen’s victory in Avery County can be viewed in the gallery at the top of the page.