Big second quarter propels Northwestern past Greenwood into third round

Northwestern scored 38 points off six Greenwood turnovers as the Trojans ran away from the Eagles, 55-7, on Friday night.

Northwestern struggled through a slow start, and led just 7-0 after the first quarter with Greenwood trying to slow the game down with its methodical rushing attack.

But in the second, mistakes started to pile up for Greenwood, and Northwestern took advantage.

Greenwood lost three fumbles (one was returned for a touchdown by senior defensive back Mason Davis), threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown by senior linebacker Jayden Woods, and fumbled a snap on a punt on their own 15 that resulted in a loss of two yards — all in the second quarter.

Three touchdown passes from quarterback Finley Polk and a 38-yard field goal by Matthew Fish later, Northwestern had posted a 38-point second quarter and a 45-0 halftime lead.

“We hit some plays, hit some open receivers, missed some open receivers,” Northwestern coach Page Wofford said. “Made some runs, had some penalties. Just uncharacteristic stuff that for a guy like me, it’s almost like, ‘Okay, good, we got more to work on there on Monday.’ We talked to the kids after the game, celebrate the 24 hours, but on Sunday, we’re going to look at the mistakes and on Monday, we’re going to fix it.”

Greenwood was unable to find any momentum Friday.

The Eagles had nine fumbles in the game — seven on bad snaps — and lost five of them.

Even when the snap was clean enough, Northwestern got into the backfield, recording 12 total tackles for loss in the game. Junior defensive linemen Danijay McMullen had four tackles for loss, while sophomore linebacker Tamarion Watkins had three.

“They come in on Sunday and get the work done, and then they implement the plan on Friday,” Wofford said. “We got a pretty good-looking defense, and the kids are believing. And without the kids, none of this works out. You got to handle those guys: defensive line, linebackers, hybrids, defensive backs are all playing well. And when we needed it tonight, early on especially. We didn’t score every possession, and we’re not used to that sometimes. The guys didn’t hang their heads, just ‘so what, now what’ and kept playing.”

Northwestern improved its record to 11-1 on the season and will move on to the third round of the 4A state playoffs when they face Greenville for the second-straight season. The game is scheduled for Nov. 17 at 7:30 p.m. at District Three Stadium.

This story was originally published November 10, 2023 at 11:25 PM.