Pivot: how does NaFo survive QB turmoil, and what’s the next Rock Hill skid to fall?
This week’s local playoff matchups
Of the eight local teams playing in the high school football state playoffs, only Lancaster fell in the first round.
So, seven move on to this week’s second round. Rock Hill, South Pointe and Chester play at home again. The Bearcats (8-2) welcome Gaffney (10-1) to District Three Stadium in an old rivalry renewal in the 5A Upper State playoffs, while South Pointe (10-1) hosts Daniel (9-1) in what could be a great game in the 4A bracket. Chester (11-0) faces Broome (4-6), which pulled off an exciting 3A first round upset of Woodruff thanks to a last-second field goal.
York, Indian Land, Nation Ford and Northwestern all hit the road this week. The Cougars (6-4) face a tough second round matchup in the 4A playoffs at Greer (10-1), while 3A Indian Land (6-5) heads to Union County (8-3). Nation Ford (6-5) and Northwestern (4-6) both have challenging second round games, the Falcons traveling to Dorman (9-1), while the Trojans take on undefeated T.L. Hanna (11-0) down in Anderson.
Here are the 3A, 4A and 5A state playoff brackets.
Nation Ford churning through QBs, still winning
QB has felt like a cursed position in Michael Allen’s program the last two seasons. Last Friday against Blythewood, the Falcons’ 10th different QB since the start of the 2017 season, sophomore Gabe Huitt, helped pilot the team to a first round playoff win.
Huitt was 8-for-17 for 40 yards on a muddy field, and only turned the ball over once. Six-foot-1 and about 175 pounds, Huitt could be Nation Ford’s guy at QB the next two years.
“That’s big for him to step in there as a sophomore. In a freaking 5A playoff game? That’s big,” Allen said Sunday.
The QB struggles are especially weird considering Nation Ford sent three straight to college football. Cole Martin threw for 5,400 yards in 2015 when the Falcons reached the Upper State championship game.
This year’s team has had to lean on its run game and standout running back Nathan Mahaffey, and the Blythewood game was no exception. Allen said that Mahaffey’s 80 and 67-yard touchdown runs were the difference in the game -- they were the only TDs scored -- and showed off Mahaffey’s breakaway speed. The junior is headed to Tennessee-Chattanooga soon for a recruiting visit and interest in him should only pick up after he topped 1,500 rushing yards this season (with at least one more game to play). He had 215 of those last Friday.
During its QB turnover (injuries and benchings primarily) the last two seasons, Allen has tried to make sure his team was better than ever defensively and on special teams, to compensate for any struggles the litany of different QBs might endure when it was their turn to take over. Nation Ford’s defense forced four turnovers against Blythewood, crucial considering the Falcon offense only mustered eight offensive first downs. Kirkley Russell’s defensive unit has 29 takeaways in 11 games this season, an equalizer for its offensive shortcomings.
Stout special teams and defensive play will be imperative Friday at powerhouse Dorman. The hope is the Huitt can play even better in only his second high school start.
“But we’ve got to have Plan B, too,” Allen said, before laughing ironically.
‘The streak is over!’
Regardless of what happens the rest of this season, the Rock Hill Bearcats will enter the offseason in a much lighter place, mentally.
After beating Laurens last Friday night, coach Bubba Pittman told his gathered team, “the streak is over.” It felt like the 10th time he’s said that in 2018, but then Rock Hill entered this season with a bunch of streaks that needed to end, a bunch of negative weight to discard. Losing streaks to South Pointe and Northwestern, a run of years without a city or region championship, or a playoff win (the latest streak Pittman referenced)... all are done.
But just in case the Bearcats are enjoying the motivation that the banished losing streaks provided, here’s another: they haven’t defeated Gaffney since 2005, an eight-game losing streak.
This story was originally published November 11, 2018 at 4:57 PM.