On October 3rd, the Hayesville Yellow Jackets played the Cherokee Braves for homecoming, making it an important game for the team, along with a lot of fans and students in attendance for the game, In an interview before the game with one of the coaches, they mentioned their hopes for the game, and mentioning their confidence in the Yellow Jackets’ run game. The game was also an important game for Cherokee with the team only being 1-1 in conference before the game, they were hoping to out-score Hayesville with their pass heavy offense. 
The game started at 7:30 PM with Cherokee scoring first, only 4 minutes into the game. Hayesville quickly responded twice, scoring once with 5:41 minutes left in the quarter, and again with 2:23 minutes left. Although on the 2nd score, they failed to score any extra points, only gaining 13 points between the two scores. Although Hayesville started with the lead, Cherokee quickly took it back with a total of 14 points in only six minutes within the 2nd quarter. In one play, after getting the ball back, Tre Graves ran nearly from end to end to hopefully tie the game; however, the play was called back, leaving Hayesville down by 8 with only 5 minutes left before halftime. Even in such a position, the Yellow Jackets still persevered, marching down the field to score with only 9 seconds left on the clock and making a 2-point conversion to tie the game 21-21.

The 3rd quarter saw Cherokee score again to take the lead back, 28-21. However, Hayesville, still not to be outdone, scored only 6 seconds into the 4th quarter and scored another 2-point conversion to lead 29-28. For the very end of the game, with 37 seconds left, Hayesville managed to score again and yet another 2-point conversion, to win by 9 points with a final score of 37-28. On the last 2-point conversion, Cherokee ended up drawing various penalties from many of the players, resulting in the kickoff occurring on the 2-yard line. Footage of the 2-yard kickoff ended up being featured on various social media accounts from CBS Sports, and garnered nearly 60,000 likes.

In an interview after the game, Tre Graves, the starting running back for the Yellow Jackets, mentioned how “it was a true team effort to win the game, and the team’s hopes to finish strong with the 2 games left in the season.”