Tristan Thompson-Wynn wanted a change in scenery after helping Brevard win a 4A West Regional title in 2025.
The senior wide receiver had interest from private schools after putting the state on notice with 1,450 receiving yards as a junior. He was Brevard’s offensive MVP in the state title game and selected as the All-WNC Offensive Player of the Year.
When he transferred, instead of moving to Charlotte, he went up the road to Roberson to play with teammates he knew well. Now Thompson-Wynn, the All-WNC Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, will team up with his cousin, Chanten Wynn, quarterback Karod Harris and lineman Tariq Sibert, the All-WNC Preseason Defensive Player of the Year.
Suddenly, Roberson isn’t just a favorite to repeat as Mountain
Athletic Conference champions. They’re a state title contender.
“Everybody is watching us, like, we’re the team to beat,” Sibert said. “Everybody knows us. They know we’re coming back. We just have to play harder because we’re coming back stronger, bigger and faster.”
Fresh off its first conference championship in 21 years, Roberson is poised to win the title again. The players who starred in winning the MAC title are back.
There’s no whispering about expectations or tiptoeing around the goal in the locker room. Roberson thinks it can win a state championship. And why wouldn’t it?
Nobody in Western North Carolina returns more top-end talent than Roberson. Four Rams made the Preseason All-WNC first team. Three more were second team selections, including Harris. No other team had more than five picks.
Thompson-Wynn’s addition instantly raises the floor for what Roberson’s is capable of. After the Rams took an early playoff exit last season, losing to Kings Mountain in their first postseason game, Thompson-Wynn adds winning experience. He’s also slotted perfectly into the locker room.
“It was a seamless transition,” Roberson coach JD Dinwiddie said. “It wasn’t anything that was difficult for him, having that personal connection with a lot of people already.”
Sibert was the best defensive player in the conference last season, and now – another season older, another year bigger – he’ll be the player every opposing offense is trying to stop. He’s been practicing against double teams as he expects to face those more and more.
“He’s got more to prove,” Dinwiddie said. “He’s going to out there and he’s going to put it all on the line every time he gets a chance to.”
Even if opponents slow him and the numbers decrease from his 12-sack, 31-tackle-for-loss junior campaign, his impact will be undeniable. His ability to pressure quarterbacks will force bad throws that a strong secondary will take advantage of, and a good linebacker corps can make plays in the holes created to slow Sibert.
“That’s going to win us ballgames,” Sibert said. “Even when the offense is not playing their greatest, the defense is going to come on the field and set the tone.”
Compared to some of the other good teams Dinwiddie has coached at Roberson, he said this team doesn’t play emotionally. It’s part of why a young team, largely made of juniors and sophomores, didn’t fear the history that has held Roberson back.
“They’re not perfect,” Dinwiddie said. “Nobody’s perfect. But they just line up and play and they don’t let those little things bother them.”
Roberson has a target on its back in 2026, one that was only made bigger when adding WNC’s best offensive player alongside its best defensive player.
The Rams are happy to deal with it. As they begin to climb the mountain – a mountain they hope is 15 games tall – they’re only focusing on the process and the step in front of them.
“They’re going to have to start over from square one,” Dinwiddie said. “We’re not entitled to a result just because we worked hard and we want it. We have to go out and earn every result we want.”
Evan Gerike is the high school sports reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times. Email him at egerike@citizentimes.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @EvanGerike.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Why Roberson football, led by preseason POYs, has its eyes on NCHSAA state title
