Murphy High School will head into Saturday’s NCHSAA 1-A State Championship Game without its leading rusher:Top runner ejected last Friday night for kicking another player and Will Not play on Saturday

from David Thompson at the Asheville Citizen-Times and CLICK HERE and you can see in the photo, the player/players appear to be twisting the leg of the player laying on the ground….Coach David Gentry has a very good argument here….

Murphy will be without its leading rusher for Saturday’s 1A state championship game.

Coach David Gentry said Monday night that the the state had upheld its decision to suspend senior running back Slade McTaggart, who was ejected last Friday after kicking a Robbinsville player during the Bulldogs’ regional final win.

Gentry appealed to the NCHSAA over the weekend after McTaggart was ejected during the second quarter of the Bulldogs’ 28-6 regional final win.

“I think they (the state) got it wrong,” Gentry said. “But sometimes they don’t get it right.”

Gentry said earlier Monday that he felt McTaggart’s actions should have been flagged but not “cost him the rest of his season and the rest of his high school career.”

“I watched the video and what I saw was a kid twisting his (McTaggart’s) leg and Slade trying to kick him off,” Gentry said.

Murphy will face Pamlico County Saturday in the 1A state title game at 3 p.m. at Wallace Wade Stadium at Duke University.