South Pointe on to state title game after throttling Greer
The Stallions are headed back to Williams-Brice.
South Pointe washed over Greer like a cold, cruel wave, throttling the Yellow Jackets 67-21 in Friday night’s 4A Upper State championship game. Strait Herron’s team, with its seemingly unstoppable offense, will play for its fourth straight state title Dec. 2 at 6:30 p.m. against Hartsville, which beat Berkeley in the Lower State championship game.
“I don’t know how many teams get to do it. And as I’ve said before, there was a time in my coaching career when I wondered if I would ever get to coach in a state championship game,” said Herron, “and now, here goes four in a row. It’s just an amazing thing.”
South Pointe (14-0) won its 19th straight playoff game in as dominant fashion as it won its first in the streak back in 2014, a 56-0 blanking of Blue Ridge. The Stallions scored three times in the first eight minutes Friday night to stagger the Yellow Jackets (12-2), then scored twice more in the second quarter to blow the contest open.
Derion Kendrick was involved in all five first half touchdowns, running for four and throwing another in a head-shaking performance. He finished with over 400 yards of offense and seven TDs. South Pointe amassed nearly 700 yards of offense as a team.
“Once we get in a rhythm things just started rolling,” said senior receiver Scott Robinson Jr. “We’ve been playing together since third grade so everybody knows what everybody is doing. It’s just energetic, fun, we love it.”
Turning point
Just like the Eastside game the week prior, South Pointe’s early pressure crushed the hosts. The Stallions took the opening possession 72 yards for a touchdown, Kendrick scoring from 12 yards left side. Then Greer fumbled and Jalen Pickett-Hicks, who blocked a punt and returned an interception for touchdown against Eastside, fell on the ball at the Yellow Jackets’ 46. Kendrick launched a 46-yard bomb to Steven Gilmore Jr. on the very next play and the Greer crowd sagged.
“When we start off fast, you see what we can do,” said Kendrick.
Critical
South Pointe’s offensive line dominated, allowing the defending champs to pile up 455 yards on the ground on just 40 carries. The blockers set the edge and Kendrick, Joe Ervin and Marice Whitlock did the rest.
Greer’s offense had scored at least 40 points in 12 of 13 games but it ran into an immovable wall Friday night.
Greer punted three times, fumbled once and turned the ball over on downs once in a wheel-spinning first half. Part of that was down to air-tight tackling on the perimeter by South Pointe defensive backs. Jaylen Mahoney and Jamari Currence each made several one-on-one stops to stuff Yellow Jacket possessions, including Mahoney’s tackle for a loss on Greer’s fourth down attempt late in the first quarter. South Pointe scored a few minutes later to make it 27-0 early in the second period.
Will Young’s team got going in the third quarter, scoring 21 points but the Yellow Jackets couldn’t stop the visitors and gained no ground.
Star contributors
Kendrick played one of his best games in a South Pointe uniform. He bounced around a little too much against Eastside, but ran with purpose and power against the Yellow Jackets, turning every run -- even the lost causes -- into positive yardage. He finished with 162 rushing yards and five touchdowns and completed 16-of-21 passes for 240 yards and two more scores.
“It’s just fun watching him,” said Herron. “I’m gonna have to video every Clemson game if I can’t watch it just to see him do that some more. It’s gonna be sorely missed.”
Ervin was also awesome, showing off his sprinter’s speed on several long runs. He finished with 186 yards and a touchdown on just nine carries, while Marice Whitlock added 96 yards and a TD and just narrowly missed becoming the third Stallion to top 100 yards on the ground.
And of course, B.T. Potter had his normal night bashing the football all over the stadium, but most importantly into the end zone on kickoffs. Greer, whose fans made a sign that said “Potter hates puppies”, only returned one kickoff.
On deck
South Pointe faces Hartsville in the 4A title game in Columbia, the two schools’ third championship game in the last four years. South Pointe, which has won the last two title games against the Red Foxes, was pegged by most high school football fans as this year’s 4A state champion back in the summer, but it’s not easy fulfilling that promise.
“There is a lot of hard work, blood, sweat and tears that they haven’t seen behind the scenes,” said Kendrick. “Had a lot of stuff going on before the season even started, a lot of stuff in life that just motivates us to keep going and playing this game.”
Box score
South Pointe 67, Greer 21
South Pointe;20;13;27;7 - 67
Greer;0;0;21;0 - 21
SCORING SUMMARY
First quarter
SPHS - Derion Kendrick 12 run (run failed), 9:37
SPHS - Steven Gilmore Jr. 46 pass from Kendrick (B.T. Potter kick), 7:16
SPHS - Kendrick 4 run (Potter kick), 3:54
Second quarter
SPHS - Kendrick 6 run (Potter kick), 9:27
SPHS - Kendrick 22 run (PAT failed), 5:25
Third quarter
GHS - Quavian White 82 run (Edwin Salas kick), 11:39
SPHS - Joe Ervin 63 run (Potter kick), 10:57
GHS - White 20 run (Salas kick), 10:01
SPHS - Scott Robinson Jr. 27 pass from Kendrick (Potter kick), 8:44
GHS - Matthew Huff 5 pass from Trey Houston (Salas kick), 4:08
SPHS - Kendrick 49 run (Potter kick), 2:50
SPHS - Marice Whitlock 1 run (Potter kick failed), 0:35
Fourth quarter
SPHS - Donovan McClinton 6 run (Potter kick), 9:09
TEAM STATISTICS
SPHS;GHS
First downs;30;28
Rushes-yards;40-455;49-301
Passing;16-23-1;21-33-1
Passing yards;240;162
Fumbles-lost;0-0;1-1
Penalties-yards;9-80;8-58
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING South Pointe: Derion Kendrick 14-162; Joe Ervin 9-186; Marice Whitlock 11-96; Donovan McClinton 2-8; Tahleek Steele 1-4; Quay Chambers 2-(-3). Greer: Trey Houston 18-64; Dre Williams 14-61; Qua White 12-147; Matthew Huff 5-29.
PASSING South Pointe: Kendrick 16-21-1, 240 yards; Steele 0-1-0; Gilmore Jr. 0-1-0. Greer: Houston 19-29-0, 147 yards; Huff 2-4-1, 15 yards.
RECEIVING South Pointe: Scott Robinson Jr. 5-75; Steven Gilmore Jr. 4-87; Ty Good 2-11; Ervin 2-37; Isaac Ross 3-17. Greer: White 4-17; Braxton Collins 3-30; Huff 5-39; Nate Jefferson 5-49; Chris Quinn 2-10; Williams 2-17.
RECORDS South Pointe 14-0; Greer 12-2.
This story was originally published November 24, 2017 at 10:35 PM with the headline "South Pointe on to state title game after throttling Greer."