Catawba Ridge football makes program history in Friday night victory over Nation Ford

Catawba Ridge opened the season 3-0 for the first time in program history Friday with a 31-7 win over Nation Ford, 31-7, the Copperheads’ second consecutive victory in the rivalry series.

Catawba Ridge quarterback Nate Thomas threw three touchdown passes, and the Copperheads’ defense held Nation Ford’s offense to fewer than 130 yards of total offense

“Obviously, the goal is to come out and win as many as you can,” Catawba Ridge head coach Zac Lendyak said. “Three-for-three is a pretty good feeling, so I’m really proud of the guys and the effort they put in tonight.”

Catawba Ridge did not have the cleanest game, turning the ball over twice and missing a field goal late in the first quarter. However, the Copperhead defense stood strong, holding Nation Ford to just 3-for-21 passing and preventing them from building any momentum in the game.

“It helps us a lot,” Thomas said. “We can take a shot and know that the defense is going to bail us out. It’s third down and we can take a shot down the field because we know our defense isn’t going to let them score.”

This is Thomas’ first start of the season. Regular starting quarterback Tyler Fikis went down with a leg injury in the team’s last game, and Thomas was called on to lead the charge. This isn’t his first time having to step up when his name is called.

“He had two wins under his belt from last season in the backup role,” Lendyak said. “Tyler got hurt last week and Nate was out, and now Nate stepped up and won. We feel like we just have so much depth at all positions, including at quarterback. I’m really proud of his effort tonight.”

Another key part of the Copperheads’ victory was the rushing attack. The team rumbled for 274 yards on the ground, with Tyler Jones registering 146 yards rushing on 27 carries.

A 51-yard touchdown rush by Evan Hamilton gave Catawba Ridge a 24-7 lead late in the third quarter.

“The running game was wide open,” Thomas said. “We knew that if we could suck them in with the run, eventually we were going to hit them deep. And it panned out for us.”

Nation Ford’s lone score came on a touchdown pass from quarterback Carson Black to wide receiver Daheem Knowles with 7:37 left in the third quarter. The defense fell on a fumbled snap by the Catawba Ridge offense and the Falcons took advantage of the short field.

The game didn’t go as Nation Ford would have hoped, but there were still things that head coach Michael Allen could pull out from his team’s performance.

“I thought, defensively, we had pretty good effort,” Allen said. “We had three turnovers and several stops. We had a goal line stand as well, and those are things we need to do on that side of the ball to win. Offensively, we’ve just not been able to move the ball a whole lot, so we got to get more consistent on the offensive side of the ball and continue to improve on the defensive side.”

Next week, Catawba Ridge will face some competition from across the border as the West Cabarrus Wolverines come into town. Nation Ford falls to 0-3 and will look to bounce back against Northwestern at home. Both games kick off Friday night at 7:30 p.m.