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After all, many of the league’s mountain communities were devastated by damage from Hurricane Helene, and playing football was far from the top focus.

But the WHC’s schools and squads rallied and finally returned to the field this weekend, with one game played as normal on Friday night before a pair of contests were held on Saturday afternoon as schools in Avery County, Buncombe County, Mitchell County and Yancey County are faced with nighttime travel restrictions.

Madison won the first game back on the schedule, 9-0 at Rosman on Friday night, before Mountain Heritage earned a 44-7 home win over Avery County on Saturday, shortly before Draughn fell to Mitchell 33-14 at home in Valdese in the Wildcats’ homecoming game.

With the Wildcats (3-3, 1-1 WHC), Patriots, Vikings and idle Owen already sporting one league loss and the Tigers sitting with a pair of WHC defeats, the conference championship chase already seems to be boiling down to the Mountaineers and Cougars, who have finished in the top three in the league standings in each of the previous three seasons in the current NCHSAA alignment, winning the conference once apiece.

Mountain Heritage took its turn atop the WHC by toppling Mitchell 28-14 and Draughn 52-15, both in Burnsville, a season ago.

The Mountaineers last won the conference in the fall of 2021 after beating the Wildcats 62-14 at home and the Cougars 33-0 on the road in consecutive games.

DHS won the league in 2022 after scoring home wins over Mitchell 56-21 and Mountain Heritage 49-21.

Barring any unexpected losses for either team, the Cougars and Mountaineers are scheduled to play for first place in the WHC at 1 p.m. on Nov. 2 in Bakersville. The Wildcats will have their crack at Mountain Heritage at 2 p.m. on Nov. 9 in Valdese, a game that could give them a chance to force a tie atop the league standings.

On Saturday, Draughn battled Mitchell to a scoreless tie through one quarter before trailing 14-0 at halftime and 27-0 following three quarters of play before Sterling Radabaugh’s 31-yard touchdown run on fourth down made it 27-7. After the Mountaineers made it 33-7, DHS tacked on another late TD on Radabaugh’s 7-yard pass to tight end Jacob Mull.

Quarterback Caleb Cook and utility man Owen Riddle scored two short rushing touchdowns apiece for Mitchell and running back Cole Young had a 29-yard score.

Marshall Brinkley (10-66) and Radabaugh (10-44-1) led the Draughn rushing attack. Radabaugh completed 9 of 21 passes for 90 yards, a TD and two interceptions, connecting with Brinkley (4-39), Kayden Lytle (2-26) and Mull (3-25-1).

Jamal Calloway tallied an interception for the Wildcats’ defense.