Prep football roundup: Northwestern, Rock Hill each win; headed for showdown next Friday
Northwestern and Rock Hill each rolled to big high school football victories Friday night and will meet next week in a first-place showdown.
It will be the first time in more than 20 years that the Trojans and Bearcats met in a first-place battle with each team unbeaten in region play.
Each team will take a 4-0 Region 3 5A record into the game.
Northwestern, 8-0 overall, kept rolling with a 65-6 thrashing of Fort Mill. Rock Hill (5-3 overall) outscored Nation Ford 52-29.
Northwestern 65, Fort Mill 6: Quarterback Finley Polk passed for two touchdowns and ran for two more in lifting the Trojans. Polk connected on scoring tosses to 17 yards to Kameron Vance and 45 yards to Tadarrian Knox. He also had a pair of 2-yard touchdown runs.
Zymier Gordon-Miles scored on runs of 1, 2 and 5 yards, and Nigel Smith and Quay Mobley also had scoring runs.
Northwestern didn’t score until late in the first quarter but raced to a 50-0 halftime lead.
Fort Mill (1-6, 0-4) got on the scoreboard early in the fourth quarter on a 25-yard pass from Quinn Kelly to Jeremiah McNeil.
Rock Hill 52, Nation Ford 29: Kason Canupp threw four long-distance touchdown passes and ran for another score, as the Bearcats outscored the Falcons 24-8 in the second half and pulled away. Malik Clark caught touchdown passes of 41 and 57 yards from Canupp in the first quarter, and the other scoring tosses covered 80 yards to E.J. Ratley and 51 yards to Kaiden Watkins.
Lucas Barz and Josh Ameo caught first-half touchdown passes for Nation Ford (1-6, 0-3), but the Falcons couldn’t keep pace with Rock Hill after halftime.
Catawba Ridge 14, Indian Land 7: The visiting Copperheads (5-2, 2-1 Region 3 5A) jumped to a 14-0 first-quarter lead, then relied on their defense to hang on. Brayden Wasik scored on a run, and A.J. Couch fired an 18-yard touchdown pass to Braylin Burgis as Catawba Ridge built its early lead.
Then the Indian Land defense tightened and kept the Copperheads off the scoreboard in the final three quarters. The Warriors (4-3, 1-2) narrowed the gap to 14-7 with 3:10 left, when quarterback Sequel Patterson scored on a 1-yard run.
On their next series, the Copperheads were able to kill off valuable time when Burgis caught a 13-yard pass for a key first down. Catawba Ridge eventually punted the ball away with 30 seconds left, but Indian Land was unable to move the ball.
Mike Foster had an outstanding game defensively for Indian Land, with two sacks, three tackles for loss, and five quarterback pressures.
South Pointe 42, York 0: Cameron McMillon threw three touchdown passes as the Stallions (5-2, 3-0) rolled to a Region 3 4A victory. McMillon’s scoring tosses included passes of 64 and 12 yards to Mason Pickett-Hicks.
Pickett-Hicks also scored on a run in the third quarter, as did J’zavien Currence and Tacarean Douglas. The Douglas touchdown covered 85 yards.
York is now 2-5, 1-2.
Lancaster 42, Dreher 33: The host Bruins (3-4, 1-2 Region 3 4A) rallied in the second half against Dreher (3-4, 1-3). The Blue Devils had taken a 26-20 lead midway in the third quarter on a 2-yard run by Will Smith, but Lancaster regained the lead on a 5-yard run by R.J. Brown and a conversion kick.
Lancaster made it 35-26 on Brown’s 37-yard run with six minutes left, and after Dreher closed the gap to 35-33, the Bruins scored again on Ti’Mar Mobley’s 17-yard run with 1:45 remaining.
Brown had four touchdown runs on the night, and Mobley scored twice.
The Bruins face first-place South Pointe next Friday.
Fairfield Central 22, Chester 6: Tydarion Grier scored two of his three touchdowns in the final four minutes, enabling the host Griffins (6-1, 1-0 Region 3 2A) to beat Chester (2-5, 1-1).
Leading 9-6, Grier broke a 64-yard scoring run with four minutes left, then added a 28-yard touchdown run in the final minute. Lancaster scored on a run by Zeke Evans late in the first quarter.
Andrew Jackson 32, Chesterfield 14: The Volunteers scored their first victory of the season, as Logan Neal had a part in three touchdowns. Neal threw scoring tosses of 5 and 14 yards in the first half to Jy’kevius Johnson, and then he, Johnson and Damias Seegars were part of a 40-yard hook-and-ladder play in the fourth quarter. Seegars scored on that play.
Seegars also had touchdown runs of 40 and 17 yards in the third quarter.
The Volunteers improved to 1-6, 1-1. Chesterfield (5-2, 0-2) lost for the second straight game after opening with five victories.
Lewisville 34, Lee Central 14: The Lions routed Lee Central, as Zach Rogers and Jacorreun Hoze each had a pair of touchdown runs. Howze scored from 16 yards for the first touchdown, and Rogers tallied in the second quarter on a 14-yard quarterback keeper.
Howze, Jordan Strong and Rogers added touchdown runs in the second half, as Lewisville improved to 6-1 overall and 2-0 in Region 3 1A. Lee Central dropped to 4-3, 1-1.
Lamar 47, Great Falls 0: Lamar (5-2, 2-0 Region 3 1A) raced to a 40-0 lead and coasted. Great Falls is now 2-5, 0-2.
A look ahead at Saturday’s Rock Hill-area high school football game:
SATURDAY
Georgia Force (7-0, 3-0 Pioneer Football League) at S.C. Spartans (1-6, 0-3), 4 p.m. — The visiting Blue Knights are probably the toughest team on the Spartans’ schedule this season. Junior QB Randall Fanning has thrown for 1,549 yards, and WR Wade Combee has 28 receptions for nearly 600 yards.
Scoreboard
THURSDAY
Region 3 1A
McBee 33, C.A. Johnson 22
FRIDAY
Region 3 5A
Catawba Ridge 14, Indian Land 7
Northwestern 65, Fort Mill 6
Rock Hill 52, Nation Ford 29
Region 3 4A
A.C. Flora 44, Richland Northeast 7
Lancaster 42, Dreher 33
South Pointe 42, York 0
Region 3 2A
Fairfield Central 22, Chester 6
Mid-Carolina 24, Columbia 14
Region 4 2A
Cheraw 30, Pageland Central 13
Andrew Jackson 32, Chesterfield 14
Region 3 1A
Lamar 40, Great Falls 0
Lewisville 34, Lee Central 14
STATEWIDE
Abbeville 56, Calhoun Falls Charter 0
Ashley Ridge 72, Stall 0
Beaufort Academy 48, Faith Christian 6
Bethesda Academy 35, Dillon Christian 6
Blackville-Hilda 50, Wagener-Salley 6
Branchville 37, Baptist Hill 20
Carolina Forest 62, St. James 14
Cathedral Academy 52, Cross 8
Clinton 46, Chesnee 21
Colleton Prep 30, Patrick Henry Academy 19
Denmark-Olar 44, Hardeeville 9
Daniel 54, Travelers Rest 0
Dillon 49, Aynor 7
East Clarendon 42, Kingstree 36
Florence Christian 48, Camden Military 19
Francis Hugh Wardlaw 32, Newberry Academy 24
Gaffney 15, Byrnes 9 (OT)
Gilbert 35, Midland Valley 28
Gray Collegiate 50, Airport 0
Greenwood Christian 48, Thomas Sumter Academy 19
Greer 49, Blue Ridge 21
Hammond Academy 51, Augusta Christian 16
Hampton County 39, Lake Marion 7
Hannah-Pamplico 42, Green Sea-Floyds 7
Hartsville 41, Crestwood 7
Holly Hill 66, Holy Trinity 0
Holly Hill Academy 66, King’s Academy 0
Hunter-Kinard-Tyler 28, Calhoun County 0
Irmo 35, River Bluff 14
Jefferson Davis Academy 21, Conway Christian 0
John Paul II Catholic 40, Hilton Head Prep 0
Keenan 44, Silver Bluff 15
Lake City 30, Atlantic Collegiate 10
Lake View 28, Carvers Bay 6
Landrum 28, Blacksburg 6
Latta 46, Hemingway 0
Lawrence Manning Academy 33, Cardinal Newman 26
Lexington 33, Chapin 22
Loris 40, Waccamaw 14
Lower Richland 23, Wilson 20
Manning 33, Mullins 6
Marlboro County 64, Georgetown 15
Mauldin 36, Easley 28
May River 35, Bishop England 8
Mountain View Prep 27, Chapman 9
Myrtle Beach 35, Conway 6
Newberry 47, Fox Creek 0
Oceanside Collegiate 41, North Charleston 6
Palmetto 21, Southside Christian 10
Phillip Simmons 50, Burke 8
Porter-Gaud 28, Northwood Academy 12
Powdersville 33, Christ Church Episcopal 14
Richard Winn Academy 48, King Academy 28
Ridge View 50, Lugoff-Elgin 0
Ridgeland 12, Allendale-Fairfax 0
Riverside 33, Eastside 8
Seneca 42, Berea 0
South Florence 42, Lakewood 12
St. John’s 48, Bethune-Bowman 20
St. John’s Academy 55, Christian Academy of Myrtle Beach 26
Stratford 42, Lucy Beckham 38
Strom Thurmond 53, American Leadership 0
Summerville 26, James Island 0
Thomas Heyward Academy 48, Andrew Jackson Academy 6
Timberland 47, Academic Magnet 14
Union County 28, Broome 22
Walhalla 20, Pendleton 7
Wando 28, Cane Bay 21
Ware Shoals 47, McCormick 0
West Florence 19, Blythewood 14
Westside 41, Emerald 17
Westwood 26, Spring Valley 0
Whale Branch 20, Edisto 18
Whitmire 38, Dixie 18
Williston-Elko 20, Ridge Spring-Monetta 14
Wilson Hall 34, Trinity Collegiate 7
Woodland 19, Andrews 6
Wren 49, Fountain Inn 12
SATURDAY
Pioneer Football League
Georgia Force (7-0, 3-0) at S.C. Spartans (1-5, 0-3), 4