Northwestern opens 2022 high school football playoffs with 64-7 win over Wade Hampton

Finley Polk and Greer Hopkins scored four touchdowns each as Northwestern beat Wade Hampton, 64-7, in the opening round of the South Carolina 4A state playoffs.

It was all Northwestern (10-1, 5-0), with the Trojans scoring the first 57 points of the game and taking a shutout late into the second half.

Head coach Page Wofford said the work the team put in during the week helped them achieve this dominant performance.

“We’re not result-oriented; we’re process-oriented,” Wofford said. “Our process is to try to get better every day. In our process, the score doesn’t matter. The scoreboard doesn’t matter. We firmly believe that the only team that can beat us in the state playoff right now is Northwestern. So if we can eliminate the things that makes us lose, we have a pretty good chance to win. And that’s what we try to do every day.”

The Trojans were able to get production from all around the field. Hopkins had two passing touchdowns, a rushing touchdown and a receiving touchdown. Polk had four passing touchdowns (one to Hopkins), and Turbo Richard chipped in two touchdowns on the ground.

Hopkins said his performance was indicative of how the team loves to play for each other.

“This team means everything to me,” the junior said. “I feel like I can contribute to this team really well, but without the o-line, my receivers and everybody else, my talent doesn’t do anything. I feel like the o-line played great tonight. The receivers played great tonight. And that helped out with my performance.”

The Trojans defense picked a big moment to have one of its best performances of the year, holding Wade Hampton to just seven points and fewer than 200 yards of total offense.

Wofford attributes that to the process, saying that his defense was well-prepared to counter Wade Hampton’s offense.

“They (Wade Hampton) were coming in averaging 32 points a game,” the fourth-year head coach said. “Defense knew that since Sunday. We had a defensive meeting, and we talked to them about that, and we talked to them about raising the level of their game and trying to become an elite defense. And tonight, they did a very good job. We’re very proud of that group.”

Wade Hampton (4-7, 2-3) head coach Travis Miller said his team was lacking in two main components, and that set the tone for the rest of the contest.

“As far as their team speed and physicality, we knew we had to match that,” Miller said. “And we didn’t from the get-go. You know, things happen that way, and things get snowballed on you, and that’s kind of the way it went tonight.”

The Generals’ lone score came on a 11-yard touchdown pass from Coop Tankersley to Thomas Combs. Tankersley threw for a 154 yards and a touchdown on the night.

While some fans might wince at the scoreboard, others will appreciate how far Wade Hampton has come in the past few seasons. After winning only five games the last five seasons (including a 25-game losing streak that the Generals snapped earlier this season), the Generals won four games this season and made the playoffs for the first time since 2013.

It’s a testament to where this team wants to go moving forward.

“This bunch of kids started as freshmen,” Miller said. “They’re going out as seniors, and they’ve been very successful. They committed to each other. They sacrifice for each other and did everything that we asked them to do in the offseason. That’s where you win, and we’re going to comeback stronger and faster and hopefully get another shot at it.”

With the win, Northwestern advanced to the second round of the 4A state playoffs where they will face Greenwood (5-6, 3-2) at home next Friday.

This story was originally published November 4, 2022 at 10:32 PM.