Week 3 of the 2026 North Carolina high school football season has come and gone.
No. 9 Enka held off a late surge to defeat No. 8 Pisgah. Several other WNC games went down to the wire.
Here are three takeaways from Week 3.
Cherokee makes gutsy call to defeat Choctaw Central (Miss.) in overtime
Cherokee coach TC Guyer asked his players if they wanted to kick the extra point to tie or go for the win with the 2-point conversion after running back Kingston Welch scored a 3-yard touchdown in overtime.
"They looked at me, and they said, 'Hey coach, we want to go for the win. This is what we're going to run.'"
Quarterback Dillon Beam beat the defenders to the corner of the end zone for the 2-point conversion to secure a 28-27 win.
"They're the ones making the plays," Guyer said. "If they think they can do it, then I'm going
to back them 100%."
Mountain Heritage survives defensive battle vs Robbinsville
Mountain Heritage entered Week 3, allowing 30 points per game. Some growing pains were expected after replacing 10 defensive starters from last season.
"They grew up a little bit tonight," Mountain Heritage coach Jered Pope said. "They started flying around."
The Cougars held the Black Knights to 181 total yards on 37 plays, recovered two fumbles and had an interception to seal the victory.
Defense helps Hendersonville defeat North Henderson
Hendersonville gutted out a 21-12 win over rival North Henderson despite an off night from its offense.
The defense held the Knights to 12 points and forced two turnovers.
Bearcats coach Kirron Ward felt it was a solid performance all around on defense.
"We covered pretty well," Ward said. "We tackled; we're getting better in that aspect. We just played hard tonight. I didn't feel like we had letdowns."
Zachary Huber is a high school sports reporter for the Hendersonville Times-News. Email him at zhuber@gannett.com or follow him on X @zacharyahuber.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: 3 takeaways from Week 3 of WNC football, including gutsy decision from Cherokee
