Apr. 22—Pisgah football's critical, fleet-footed offensive lineman is headed to the next level.

Senior Jayse Creason signed to play football for Brevard College on Thursday. And that's no surprise to his coaches. Going into this season, Creason was the Bears' lone returning starter on the offensive line. As a team that leaned heavily on the run, Pisgah knew they'd need Creason's steady force on the line.

"We knew he was special because you just don't have big kids like that that have that kind of athleticism and those kind of feet," Pisgah Coach Ricky Brindley said. "We knew he was going to be the anchor and the rock of that offensive line. He was a guy that we counted on and relied on to kind of be the leader of that group. He did a really good job."

The big man wasn't always on the offensive, however. He recalled Brindley coming up to him during practice during his junior season and asking what he thought about moving from the defensive line to the offensive line.

Then, in the offseason, the coaching staff told Creason to beef up some. He did just that, becoming a force on the offensive line and earning conference offensive lineman-of-the-year honors.

"I accomplished one of the things that meant the most to me, and that was becoming all-conference," Creason said.

This year concluded with the Bears losing in the quarterfinals of the state playoffs.

"I wish we had gone further and won state," Creason said. "That would have been the cherry on the top. But ... we knew that we had done everything that we could to be the best team and show that we were not who people thought we were at the beginning of the season."

That run was thanks to a strong senior group — one that Creason anchored.

"It has been as good a senior class as I've ever been able to be around, not only with their ability, but their commitment, their leadership, their character," Brindley said. "They've been kids that I truly enjoyed coaching ... You could have mature, adult conversations with these kids at 17, 18 years old, and that doesn't happen very often."

Things got a bit hectic for Creason during recruitment season.

"It was crazy with a lot of other colleges just texting and trying to figure out where you're gonna go, what you're gonna do and all that, and just trying to figure out what's best for you and how far you want to go," he said.

But Brevard stood out to him for a couple of reasons.

"I was very impressed with how small the classroom size was," Creason said. "Because I didn't want to sit in a classroom with 300 people."

Creason also said that staying close to home so that family can watch him play was a big part of his decision, and that the last four years at Pisgah have meant the world to him.

"They have actually shaped me into the person that I am, and shown me how to become a better person as a whole, and shown me what it means to be part of the community," Creason said.

Creason plans to major in business with a minor in coaching at Brevard College.