HS football roundup: York, Indian Land and Northwestern all go down in playoffs
T.L. Hanna 68, Northwestern 7
Northwestern was looking to avoid a second round playoff exit for the second year in a row, but was blasted by T.L. Hanna in a 68-7 rout.
T.L. Hanna’s Jaydon Mckinney kicked off the scoring with a 3-yard touchdown with 7:49 in the first quarter. The next Hanna possession took one play, a 59-yard run from Jackson Pusey to go up 14-0. Zacch Pickens scored on a 4-yard run, extending the lead to 21-0. Mckinney ended the first quarter scoring with a 15-yard run as Hanna lead 28-0.
The Yellow Jackets added three touchdowns in the second quarter to lead 48-0 at halftime. T.L. Hanna’s Isaiah Norris had three interceptions in the first half. Norris continued his strong night, starting the second half with a 90-yard kickoff return touchdown. T.L. Hanna would add two more touchdowns in the half.
The Trojans avoided a shutout as Ghari Page ran for a 15-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter to make it 68-7.
Northwestern finishes the season 4-7. T.L. Hanna remains undefeated and will host Dorman next Friday night.
Greer 63, York 40
Greer High Coach Will Young has believed all season that Matthew Huff would have began the year as a starting quarterback at most schools.
He did become the Yellow Jackets’ starter following an early season injury to Trey Houston, and has spent the past two months proving his worth as a starter.
Huff continued to do that Friday, rushing for three scores and passing for two more to lead Greer to a 63-40 second round playoff win over York.
“Huff is an amazing player,” running back Dre Williams said. “It’s like we are both running backs. He can run, he can pass, and just runs the play action so well.”
Williams made it impossible for York to focus on Huff, rushing for 327 yards on 28 carries and scoring four touchdowns.
“A lot of people think it is talent, but it’s really about hard work when it comes to Dre,” Young said. “He has worked his tail off to get to where he is at. We have had some great running backs, but I don’t know if we have ever had one work as hard as that kid works.”
Leading 28-21 at halftime, Greer pulled away with 35 second half points. York’s 40 points were the most Greer allowed all season.
“I didn’t expect that,” Young said. “I would have expected 15-12, not 63-40. I thought their defense was really good coming in. They hadn’t given up a lot of points. We will get back on track though. We have a very talented defense, and sometimes those things just happen.”
Williams gave Greer the lead on the Yellow Jackets’ first play from scrimmage, breaking free for a 74-yard score.
York tied the contest with just over three minutes remaining in the first quarter on an 18-yard pass from Tanner McKinney to Khalil Ellis.
Greer responded with a 74-yard drive that was capped off by Huff’s five yard run for a 14-7 lead.
The back-and-forth battle continued on York’s next possession. Using a balanced attack, the Cougars marched 70 yards in six plays to tie the game at 14 on an 11-yard pass from McKinney to Ethan Mitchell.
Three minutes later, York took its first lead at 21-14 on a 39-yard run by Stephen Oglesby.
Greer closed the half with two touchdown passes by Huff. The senior found Williams in the end zone for a 22-yard score to pull back even with the Cougars. Following a failed put attempt on York’s next possession, the Yellow Jackets took over at the 32 and needed just two plays to reclaim the lead. Despite drawing a pass interference call against the York defense, Miller DeArmond hauled in a 30-yard pass from Huff for the 28-21 advantage.
Union County 55, Indian Land 14
When defenses line up to face Union County’s potent rushing attack, it can often present a pick-your-poison kind of deal between junior quarterback Kesean Glover and senior tailback T.T. Kershaw.
In Friday night’s second round of the Class 3A playoffs at Union County Stadium, Glover was the most poisonous.
Mastering the read option all night, Glover had 337 yards of total offense and accounted for five touchdowns as the Yellow Jackets defeated Indian Land, 55-14. Union advances to play at Chapman in next Friday’s third round.
“They (Glover and Kershaw) make us look really good as coaches. They’re both just very special players and high-quality kids,” Union coach Brian Thompson said. “... It’s certainly not going to get any easier because we’ve got to face that machine in Inman, but we’re certainly happy to be practicing on Thanksgiving.”
The Yellow Jackets (9-3) got things going early with a pair of 87-yard drives on their first two possessions. Glover ran for a 21-yard touchdown to end the first one and Kershaw ran for a 14-yard score to cap the next.
There was no more scoring until the 2:14 mark of the second quarter when Indian Land’s Jiquese Tinsley scored on a six-yard run as the Warriors (6-6) looked to cut the lead in half before halftime. But Ke’Avis Savage returned the ensuing kickoff 54 yards to the Indian Land 36-yard line. Six plays later, Glover scored from a yard out with 28.7 seconds left.
“That return was absolutely huge,” Thompson said. “We didn’t play very good defense on that drive, which is a credit to them, but that gave us all the momentum back.”
That momentum carried over into the second half. On the first play after halftime, Indian Land quarterback Greyson Barber was sacked and stripped of the ball. Union recovered at the four-yard line and three plays later, Glover had another one-yard touchdown to make the score 28-7.
Glover scored on a 37-yard scamper on Union’s next drive. After Barber threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to help Indian Land cut the lead to 35-14 later in the quarter, Glover answered on the Jackets’ next play with a 54-yard touchdown pass to Ralph Peake.
“I like throwing touchdowns better. Running gets me tired,” Glover said with a smile. “We got a big push up front all night. That got T.T. involved early and allowed me to take advantage of my opportunities.”
Savage and Junior Owens ran for touchdown to close out the scoring for Union, who outgained Indian Land 551-182. Glover finished with 243 yards rushing on 19 carries, while Kershaw ran 23 times for 116 yards. The Jackets finished with 457 yards rushing, while holding the Warriors to minus-11 yards on the ground.