After loss, South Pointe bounced back big-time. Guess who led the way?
It’s rough playing South Pointe after the Stallions lost the previous week.
It doesn’t happen that often, but when it does it can get ugly. The Nation Ford Falcons found that out the hard way Friday night at South Pointe, after the Stallions lost last week to Rock Hill 29-22 to end their 28-game winning streak. The Stallions scored on all seven first half possessions to race to a 47-0 lead, and sailed from there to the 60-14 win.
“Tonight we needed to come out and play upset,” said Stallions coach Strait Herron. “I told them to get their mean faces on. I told them before the game we needed to get back to South Pointe football and play with an attitude.”
Quarterback Tahleek Steele had 331 yards of total offense and accounted for six touchdowns in the first half.
“What I liked about tonight is he stepped up and made some big plays with his feet when he needed to,” Herron said of Steele. “And also got the ball where it needed to go. I was very impressed with the way he played tonight.”
The South Pointe defense had six interceptions, two each by Jaylen Mahoney and Omega Blake. Joe Ervin had three scores and Isaac Ross had two. South Pointe had four scoring “drives” that only took one play.
“I told them ‘;it is fun to watch y’all play when you’re running around and getting 11 guys to the ball,’” the coach said. “And I think they feed off that.”
Turning point
Hard to find a turning point in a game like this, especially when a team scores on all seven first-half possessions. Honestly, the turning point was probably last Friday night after the loss to the Bearcats.
Critical
The Stallion defense picked off six passes. If you’re going to have a chance against a team you can’t stop, you have to value the ball and make your offensive possessions count. On offense, South Pointe spread the ball around. Lots of players touching the ball and several different guys that found the end zone.
Star contributors
Marice Whitlock had 119 yards receiving and Isaac Ross had 128 on seven catches. Ross had a touchdown receiving and one on a punt return. Steele had 375 yards passing and five scores and 69 yards rushing and another score.
On deck
Next week South Pointe is off, before facing Greenville in two weeks. Nation Ford hosts undefeated Lancaster next week.
Box score
South Pointe;20;27;13;0 - 60
Nation Ford;0;7;0;7 - 14
Scoring summary
First quarter
SP - Ty Good 36 pass from Tahleek Steele (Wyatt Grantham kick) 10:05
SP - Travis Foster 45 pass from Steele (kick failed) 9:12
SP - Joe Ervin 8 run (Grantham kick) 4:24
Second quarter
SP - Steele 26 run (Grantham kick) 11:48
SP - Marice Whitlock 81 pass from Steele (kick failed) 8:12
SP - Isaac Ross 49 pass from Steele (Grantham kick) 6:55
SP - Ervin 4 pass from Steele (Grantham kick) 5:27
NF - Nathan Mahaffey 3 run (Ayden McCarter kick) 54.2
Third quarter
SP - Ervin 13 run (kick blocked) 6:36
SP - Ross 45 punt return (Grantham kick) 0:00
Fourth quarter
NF - Jason Pugh 69 run (McCarter kick) 11:25
TEAM STATISTICS
SP;NF
First downs;22;18
Rushes-yards;28-235;30-181
Passing;19-22-5-0;16-34-0-6
Passing yards;375;163
Fumbles-lost;1-1;1-0
Penalties-yards;15-160;9-70
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING South Pointe: Joe Ervin 13-86; Tahleek Steele 6-69; Marice Whitlock 3-61; Omega Blake 2-8; Quay Chambers 3-7; Marquarious Kennedy 1-4. Nation Ford: Nathan Mahaffey 19-94; Wayde Prince 5-7; Dewaun McCullum 1-(-4); Carson Carruthers 2-(-15); Jason Pugh 3-99.
PASSING SP: Steele 19-22-5-0, 375 yards. NF: Prince 15-27-0-3, 156 yards; Mahaffey 0-1-0-1; Caruthers 1-6-0-2, 7 yards.
RECEIVING SP: Isaac Ross 6-128; Whitlock 3-119; Ty Good 1-36; Travis Foster 2-49; Ervin 5-32; Chambers 1-11. NF: Kaleb Starnes 5-65; Nathan Lovette 2-13; McCullum 3-27; Mahaffey 1-5; Harrison Cohen 1-7; Quinton Jackson 3-39; Daeviaen Qwiy 1-7.
RECORDS South Pointe 2-1; Nation Ford 1-2.
This story was originally published August 31, 2018 at 10:29 PM.