Northwestern rallies past Catawba Ridge in second half for 28-23 win, earns region crown

Down by 17 late in the second quarter, Northwestern scored 28 consecutive points to overwhelm — and overcome — Catawba Ridge, 28-23, in a battle for the Region 3-4A championship.

Junior tailback Turbo Richard had more than 200 yards on the ground, while sophomore quarterback Finley Polk had three total touchdowns on the day.

For the second straight game, Northwestern found itself down by double digits in the first half. And for the second straight game, the Trojans came back and won the game. Their first four drives ended in a punt, a turnover on downs and two interceptions, forcing Northwestern’s defense into some tough spots.

“The defense kept us in it the whole time,” Trojans head coach Page Wofford said. “The offense kept absolutely putting them in terrible spots, and they would come out with a stop or a field goal or something as simple as that.”

After allowing 17 points across Catawba Ridge’s four first-half offensive possessions, the Trojans’ defense held the Copperheads to just six points on four second-half possessions.

Catawba Ridge committed to preventing Northwestern senior wide receiver Elijah Caldwell from making any big plays, often putting two defenders on him. That opened the field for Richard to rush for 237 yards on 34 carries, including some long runs in the second half.

“We came out kind of slow,” Richard said. “And we just had to shake right. In the locker room, we were talking about mistakes we had to fix. I got to thank my O-line too, and all the team that was blocking especially. I couldn’t do it without them.”

The loss ends Catawba Ridge’s bid for an unbeaten season and a region crown in one fell swoop. Quarterback Tyler Fikis threw for 174 yards and two touchdowns, while running back Tyler Jones had 55 yards and a touchdown on the ground, but it wasn’t enough to grant the Copperheads their first region championship in program history.

However, head coach Zac Lendyak ws happy with the effort his team put forth this season.

“I told the guys I couldn’t be more proud of them,” Lendyak said. “They played phenomenal. They played fantastic. They did everything we asked them to do. Sitting here at 9-1, we’re not going to let this deter what we’ve done. We’ve had a great season and expect big things in the playoffs.”

The second half wasn’t a great showing for Catawba Ridge. The only drive on which Northwestern didn’t score a touchdown ended in a missed field goal, and the offense couldn’t keep up the momentum it had in the first half.

“We wanted to run the ball, keep them off the field, and try to keep them behind,” Lendyak said. We knew they were explosive offensively, and they did a great job with great second-half adjustments there ... We wanted to keep the ball on them, and they came out and scored. Then we, a couple times, went three-and-out early in the second half. That was tough. It was tough to put our defense out there as much as we did in the second half.”

Northwestern will enter the 4A state playoffs as the No. 2 seed, while Catawba Ridge goes in as the No. 5 seed. Both teams will host their opening-round playoff matchups.

Wofford isn’t satisfied with just winning the region.

“We don’t have region championship trophies at Northwestern High School because the standard is the state championship,” Wofford said. “And that’s what we are trying for. That’s what we talk about. That’s what we want to get. The region championships are nice, and the No. 1 seed will be nice, but we know we got five games to go, and we’ve got a heck of a road to get to that position. There are some good teams in 4A.”

Lendyak’s main focus Catawba Ridge is making sure that the loss on Friday night remains simply as a loss on Friday night.

“We just told them right now that this game doesn’t define our team or our season,” Lendyak said. “How we show up on Monday will. Everybody’s 0-0 right now in the state, and we got a chance to go do something. We feel like we’re one of the better teams out here, and we just need to go prove that starting again next Friday at home. It’s good to have a home playoff game, so, you know, this one is going to hurt for a little bit, but we’ll put it behind us and get ready for whoever we have next week.

Northwestern finished the regular season as Region 3-4A champs at 9-1 (5-0), while Catawba Ridge will finish second in the region for the second time in three years at 9-1 (4-1).

This story was originally published October 28, 2022 at 11:40 PM.