South Pointe breezes into Upper State championship game
It’s a good thing South Pointe keeps picking up piles of penalties because what else would Stallions coach Strait Herron have to dwell on afterward?
“That’s what I was saying,” Herron said Friday night after the Stallions pounded Eastside 48-0 in the third round of the 4A football playoffs. “We’ve just got to work on it, get the guys focused.”
There wasn’t much else to nit-pick.
The Stallions (13-0) underlined their state title credentials again, jumping on the visitors during the very first possession and never relenting on the way to a shutout, an 18th straight playoff win, and an Upper State championship game against Greer.
Friday’s was the last home game for South Pointe’s many seniors, including the seven that have played in all three state championship wins. The motivation was clear because the Stallions floored the visitor from the opening kickoff. They blocked a punt, which led to a touchdown, forced a turnover-on-downs that led to another touchdown and picked off a pass that led to a third rushing touchdown and a 21-0 lead before the end of the first quarter.
“Coach said it, their best five minutes were gonna be at the beginning of the game,” said senior defensive lineman Jalen Pickett-Hicks. “The scoreboard told it all.”
Eastside’s high-powered offense was swamped, its engine flooded.
On a third-and-long pass, South Pointe’s Dorian Manning tipped a lobbed screen pass and Pickett-Hicks intercepted the ball, returning it 15 yards for a touchdown. And to sum up Eastside’s first half perfectly, the Eagles appeared to have stopped South Pointe on a fourth-and-short at the Eastside 8-yard line, only to jump offside on the field goal attempt and give the Stallions a fresh set of downs. Derion Kendrick threw a 3-yard TD pass to Ty Good to make it 35-0 in a breezy first two quarters for the defending champs.
Turning point
Events quickly went wrong for Eastside. The Eagle offense went three-and-out on the game’s opening possession and South Pointe blocked the ensuing punt, setting up a Joe Ervin 1-yard touchdown run 20 seconds later.
The Stallion defense forced another three-and-out on the next possession, but Eastside decided to leave its offense on the field for a fourth down try. Jamari Currence read a slow-developing wide receiver screen and cracked the pass-catcher just as the football arrived for a couple-yard loss. South Pointe again took advantage, Derion Kendrick’s mazy 5-yard run ending in the end zone for a 14-0 Stallion lead with six minutes played.
“I felt like the longer we let them stay in the harder it was gonna get,” said Herron. “Real happy that we got off to a quick start.”
“We tried to make something positive happen,” said Eastside coach Dan Morgan. “We gambled. The gamble didn’t work. It put us in a bind, it took away our confidence, but it doesn’t take away the fact that South Pointe is a fantastic football team.”
Critical
South Pointe unleashed its defense, chasing Eastside QB Jordan Morgan, who had a big brace on his left knee, the entire first half. The constant pressure forced Morgan into some risky decisions and the Stallions feasted, B.J. Davis, Pickett-Hicks and Currence intercepting first half passes as the hosts blew the game open. Deangelo Huskey picked off a fourth Morgan pass in the second half.
Star contributors
With Friday being the last home game for a special class of seniors, it felt important to soak up some of the plays made by South Pointe Stallions that had become routine over the last four years, but were anything but that.
It seemed important to remember how Kendrick moves so effortlessly, like when he turned the corner on a QB run and was even with a couple of tacklers at the 30-yard line, but had left them in the dust five yards later en route to six points.
Or when B.T. Potter, who kicked all eight kickoffs for touchbacks, ran down a snap that flew over this head and into the end zone, but, instead of kicking it out of bounds for a safety, scooped it up and emergency punted it left-footed (not his kicking leg) out near midfield.
Seems important to remember Currence reading Eastside’s offensive plays as if he had them all week.
Or Pickett-Hicks cushioning a deflected Eastside pass and sprinting into the end zone. A photo of the moment caught the joy on his face.
“It’s my senior year, last home game, it felt great,” said Pickett-Hicks, who will enjoy pizza and chicken wings with his defensive teammates next week, thanks to the shutout.
On deck
South Pointe will face Greer, which beat Greenville 47-15, on the road Nov. 24 in the Upper State championship game.
Box score
South Pointe 48, Eastside 0
Eastside;0;0;0;0 - 0
South Pointe;21;14;7;6 - 48
SCORING SUMMARY
First quarter
SPHS - Joe Ervin 1 run (B.T. Potter kick), 10:30
SPHS - Derion Kendrick 5 run (Potter kick), 6:06
SPHS - Marice Whitlock 11 run (Potter kick), 1:36
Second quarter
SPHS - Jalen Pickett-Hicks 15 interception return (Potter kick), 11:52
SPHS - Ty Good 3 pass from Kendrick (Potter kick), 2:36
Third quarter
SPHS - Kendrick 32 run (Potter kick), 7:21
Fourth quarter
SPHS - Isaac Ross 20 pass from Tahleek Steele (kick failed), 9:45
TEAM STATISTICS
EHS;SPHS
First downs;14;23
Rushes-yards;26-23;34-189
Passing;23-43-4;13-19-0
Passing yards;204;126
Fumbles-lost;3-1;1-0
Penalties-yards;4-37;9-66
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING Eastside: Jordan Morgan 9-(-18); Reggie Rodgers 12-18; Armani Elmore 3-7; Chance Pride 2-16. South Pointe: Marice Whitlock 10-52; Joe Ervin 12-63; Derion Kendrick 8-61; Quay Chambers 3-7; Donavan McClinton 1-6.
PASSING Eastside: Morgan 23-42-4, 204 yards; Rodgers 0-1-0. South Pointe: Kendrick 11-17-0, 93 yards; Steele 2-2-0, 33 yards.
RECEIVING Eastside: Pride 6-54; Payton Mangrum 3-7; Rodgers 3-32; Daniel Baldwin 5-71; Haven Berry 4-30; Elmore 1-7. South Pointe: Ty Good 4-14; Steven Gilmore Jr. 1-26; Isaac Ross 3-37; Scott Robinson Jr. 2-24; Ervin 2-17; Whitlock 1-8.
RECORDS South Pointe 13-0; Eastside 11-2.
This story was originally published November 17, 2017 at 9:47 PM with the headline "South Pointe breezes into Upper State championship game."