Back in 1997 before the split in the 1A & 1AA playoffs in 2001, Rosman was a 9 seed entering the playoffs from a SMC at that time that also included both Polk County and Hendersonville to make a 9 team conference....Rosman(8-3) finished the regular season that year losing on the road at Murphy, Robbinsville and Brevard, while winning all their home games, including a win over the SMC champ Hayesville who finished the regular season 9-1, and was seeded 3rd out of 16 teams in the West...Murphy finished the season 5-5 and was seeded 15th, while Robbinsville finished 8-2, and was seeded 13th, so Rosman was the 2nd highest seed from the SMC that year which was probably determined by a draw if my memory serves me correctly....Murphy lost at #2 seed Mount Airy 20-14, while Robbinsville lost at #4 seed Maiden 29-8 in the first round....That season a team could take another team's higher seed if they beat them on the road which is what Rosman did after beating 8th seeded Albemarle and top seeded Thomasville on the road in the 1st and 2nd round....Swain County(7-2-1) was an 11 seed that season, so the SMC had 5 of the 16 total seeds in the west that year....Hayesville beat East Surry 69-7 in the first round before losing at home to Swain County 7-6 in round 2...Starmount beat Swain 17-10 in round 3 that year before losing at Rosman in the Western Final 19-14....All in all, it looks as though Rosman, Swain and Robbinsville finished tied for 2nd in the SMC with the Tigers winning the draw for the higher playoff seed which was still a road game as it was for all the other SMC teams with the exception of Hayesville who won the SMC Regular season that year....
