South Pointe win sets them up for showdown next week with Northwestern

If you put the ball in South Pointe’s J’Zavien Currence’s hands, good things tend to happen.

Midway through the third quarter, Indian Land quarterback Jaxon Scheidt launched a long pass down the field. But Currence was waiting to make the catch.

“I caught the ball and after that I was thinking about running to the opposite side of the field,” Currence said. “I saw all my teammates run to the side of the field I was going to run to, so I stopped, changed directions and went to the goal line and into the end zone.”

Currence’s 49-yard pick six changed the course of the game.

It gave the Stallions the boost they needed to pull away to a 21-8 win over Indian Land on Friday.

“I knew (Scheidt) was going to try to make a play because I watched film on him all week and the stuff he does,” Currence said. “Nothing to take away from that guy but it was just a bad decision to throw it my way.”

The win moves South Pointe to 6-2 and 3-0 in Region 3-4A play. Indian Land, meanwhile, suffered a third straight region loss and moved to 4-4 (0-3 Region 3-4A).

Stallions have early miscues

South Pointe head coach Bobby Collins wanted to avoid mistakes.

Currence had picked off Scheidt on the game’s first drive, and South Pointe was set up at its own two-yard line. Collins burned a timeout to make sure the next play would go well.

But it couldn’t have gone worse.

The next snap flew high over the head of quarterback Dayton Duncan and rolled through the end zone for a safety. Just like that, the Stallions were down 2-0.

In the second quarter, South Pointe drove down the field and made it to the 11-yard line. But another snap went over Duncan’s head and pushed the offense back to the 36.

Combine that with a false start on the next snap and the Stallions faced an eventual 4th and 30 at the 37. They’d ultimately come up empty and had a 7-2 halftime lead.

“We’ve got a senior center, man. And we just had to tell him at halftime to calm down and don’t be worrying about that kind of stuff,” Collins said.

While the offense struggled, the defense stepped up in the second half. South Pointe scored 14 points off turnovers.

Scheidt finished 11-for-23 with a touchdown and three interceptions.

It wasn’t until late in the fourth quarter that Indian Land would get its first touchdown.

“We just couldn’t capitalize on the opportunities that we had,” said Warriors head coach Adam Hastings. “When you have a kid like Jaxon, who’s just a great kid, really good leader and just wants it, sometimes guys like that want it so much that they try to make every play possible.”

Determined to run the ball

On an early third down play, South Pointe running back Mason Picket-Hicks ran up the middle. He picked up a few yards but as he was being tackled the ball came loose and Indian Land recovered.

It was an early mistake by Hicks. But that didn’t dictate his night.

On his next carry, he found a hole, broke a tackle and dashed 53 yards to give the Stallions their first lead of the night.

From that point, the offense slowly found rhythm. Instead of throwing the ball, South Pointe relied on its running game.

Hicks and Aidan Turner combined for 147 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

“Offensively, we’re still a work in progress. But as long as I’m here, we’re going to run the football with guys like Aidan Turner, Mason Hicks, Daylen Duncan and all of the other guys we got,” Collins said. “We’re going to be fine, man. We’re going to put it on the back of our o-line.”

Indian Land faced challenges trying to slow the Stallions down.

“They’re really big up front, they’ve got two really good backs and a plethora of skill guys to rely on. We were very aware that was the game plan for them going in,” Hastings said. “I thought our staff and players did a really great job defensively.”

Next up

South Pointe will travel to Northwestern, while Indian Land heads to play Catawba Ridge on Oct. 20.