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MINT HILL – Perhaps Jay M. Robinson football coach Darius Robinson knew something recently when, in describing his team’s pursuit of greatness, he said, “They don’t put championship rings on smooth hands.”

But did he know that some of the most intense scars were going to come on Opening Night?

The Cream of Cabarrus second-ranked Bulldogs got a sense of just how challenging the road to the top would be, as they allowed mental mistakes to play just as big a role as the physical ones in their 33-15 loss at Mint Hill Independence Friday night.

It was the first season-opening loss the Bulldogs have endured in Robinson’s three seasons as head coach.

And although Jay M. Robinson was a Class 2A school going against a 4A program that some consider the best to ever do it in North Carolina, many still expected the Bulldogs to go into Mint Hill and handle their business, especially since they’ve spent the last two seasons proving they belong among the state’s top contenders.

But the lack of attention to detail, Robinson said, caught up with the Bulldogs Friday night.

“I thought our guys played hard,” Robinson told the Independent Tribune in a telephone interview. “They played all four quarters. There are just so many things that we talked about at the end the game that we’ve got to clean up. It’s on myself, and us as coaches, to really harp on those little things for these young men to see how everything correlates.

“Something as simple as walking past a piece of trash and not picking it up and putting it in the trash can, something like showing up on time for a film session or a weight-lifting session or a practice. That directly correlates to you lining up correctly or you being in the correct position to make a play. Details matter. And that’s what separated us tonight. That was our Achilles’ heel: small, little details.”

The coach said that was especially important in a game like Friday’s, where the Bulldogs only trailed by two, 17-15, in the fourth quarter but saw the margin of defeat balloon to three touchdowns.

But the fact is, he said, that many of the Bulldogs hadn’t been in that position before.

“I think we’ve got a talented football team, but I looked at it today, and we’ve got eight guys on offense that started for the first time on varsity football, and we’ve got five guys on defense starting on varsity football for the first time,” Robinson said. “They didn’t play badly (Friday), especially for the atmosphere that it was. But we have to fine-tune the little things, and the big things will take care of themselves.”

However, Robinson made sure to add that losing to a team two classifications bigger was not a crutch he was willing to allow his players to lean on.

“Our standard is, ‘We want to be the best. We want to play against the best,’” Robinson said. “We walked into that game expecting to win.”

Truth is, despite the errors, for a while, it looked as if they might pull it off.

Trouble showed up early in the game, when the Bulldogs were setting up for a punt and the snap arrived early. That resulted in the Patriots (1-0) getting the ball in good field position and ultimately turning that into a touchdown. Independence later added a field goal to go up 10-0.

The Bulldogs (0-1) finally got on the board midway through the second quarter when quarterback Isaac Lee found big-time college recruit Daevin Hobbs, who then hauled in the pass and outran the defense for a score of more than 60 yards. Hobbs added to his highlight reel when he showed his leaping ability on an isolation play for the two-point conversion, pulling the Bulldogs within 10-8.

Right before halftime, it looked as if the Bulldogs might take the lead, but the drive stalled, and the Patriots instead scored and led, 17-8 at halftime.

Hobbs again went to the next level when he lined up in the backfield and ran wide to get past the Indy defense and help cut the score to 17-15.

The Jay M. Robinson defense had played well most of the night, with Hobbs, Isaiah Herrera and Joshua Porch being standouts. However, the Patriots scored 16 points in the fourth quarter, with Jay M. Robinson ending the game by committing one last turnover: an errant snap deep in their own territory that resulted in a safety.

Though disappointed with the outcome of Game 1, Robinson said he assured his team that that’s all that was lost Friday night: Game 1.

“This game had no bearing on what’s going to transpire with us as a football program this year,” Robinson said. “All of our goals are still right intact, the first one being winning the conference championship and the second one being winning the state championship. We know that all that is still attainable.

“We know we’ve got to fix US first. It’s not about any external factors. I think teams that we play, if we perfect what we do, we’re a pretty good football team.”

The Bulldogs take the field again this Friday when they play host to another bigger school, Class 3A Central Cabarrus.

“We’ll be a much better team Friday night.” Robinson said. “We’re still excited about the trajectory of this football program.”

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