South Pointe, Northwestern, Rock Hill victorious in final scrimmages before regular season

South Pointe, Northwestern and Rock Hill high schools all played their final tuneup scrimmages at the seventh annual WRHI Football City USA Kick-Off on Friday night.

South Pointe opened the action with a 17-0 victory over Palisades of Charlotte.

Behind new starting quarterback J’Zavien Currence, the Stallions scored touchdowns on their two opening possessions, though South Pointe mustered just three points over its next four offensive possessions the rest of the way.

Currence showed promise in his final scrimmage of the summer, completing 11 of 20 attempts for 90 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

“We’ve got to continue to score,” South Pointe head coach Bobby Collins said. “We can’t turn the football over. We had the interception on a pass deflection...we can’t turn the football over. And we have to be able to score on every drive.”

Added Collins: “(Currence) will get better. The first series, running the football, keeping things simple for him, but he’ll get better.”

The second game featured Northwestern and defending 5A state champion Dutch Fork.

The Trojans came away with a 15-14 victory thanks to two touchdown passes from quarterback Finley Polk.

Both teams scored two touchdowns in the game; however, a two-point conversion on a run from Polk in the water bucket formation after Northwestern’s first touchdown gave it the one-point advantage.

Head coach Page Wofford said the scrimmage was a great opportunity for the team to get footage of what the Trojans look like in live reps.

Northwestern’s defense held Dutch Fork scoreless on its final three offensive possessions, two of which started within Northwestern’s own 35-yard line.

However, Northwestern did have its rough moments:Three drives ended in punts, another in a turnover on downs.

Polk hit senior wide receiver CJ Broughton on a slant for the game-tying 13-yard touchdown pass with fewer than two minutes remaining. Kicker Matthew Fish knocked in the extra point.

“It’s a nice way to finish up the preseason, but we have to go back and look at the film,” Wofford said. “We said it after the first two scrimmages, we’re putting stuff on tape we need to fix. Well, it reared its ugly head again here tonight, so we need to start fixing stuff we put on tape, but I’m proud of the guys to keep fighting. I can’t say enough about them.”

The final scrimmage of the night featured Rock Hill and Hunter Huss of Gastonia, North Carolina.

The Bearcats came away with a 26-6 victory thanks to two touchdown passes from senior quarterback Ian Grissom and a touchdown run from sophomore running back Zykel Reid.

The biggest question for Rock Hill this offseason was who was going to be the starting quarterback come Week 1 of the regular season. The Bearcats rotated Grissom and junior Kason Canupp, and both showed what they bring to the table as a signal caller.

Grissom finished the game completing 10 of his 20 passes for 145 yards with two touchdowns; Canupp completed three of his five passes for 59 yards and led a touchdown drive of his own. Head coach Randy Birch said the team would not make a decision on a Week 1 starter until the coaching staff meets Sunday.

Rock Hill’s defense also played a big role in the win, recovering three fumbles and forcing an additional turnover-on-downs.

“We seen a lot of good things, some things we have to clean up,” head coach Randy Birch said. “I was excited to get our running game going there in the second half. We’ve really been putting a big focus on that over the last week. Our kicking game was exceptional tonight. Ian had a big game, Kason finished up strong with some runs and played well in the first half as well. Our offensive line is starting to gel a little bit. Defensively, I was excited that we found a way to get the football back several times.”

“One of the things we have to clean up is false start penalties,” Birch said. “We had five of those tonight.”

All three schools begin their regular seasons on August 23.

Northwestern opens the regular season against Hough at Charlotte Memorial Stadium as Game 1 of the Charlotte Kickoff Night doubleheader. Kickoff for that game is scheduled for 5:15 p.m.

South Pointe opens its regular season at home against Spartanburg, while Rock Hill heads on the road to face River Bluff. Both of those games are scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

This story was originally published August 17, 2024 at 5:00 AM.