Northwestern finishes undefeated regular season with victory over Spring Valley

Northwestern football’s quick ascent to the top of Region 4-5A can be traced to many factors. The most significant factor, though, may be traced back to a conversation between the program’s leader and the leader of another program at the top of its game.

“I spoke to Coach (Dabo) Swinney at Clemson, and I told him midseason last year, ‘We’re having these problems,’ ” said Northwestern coach Page Wofford after Friday night’s game.

Wofford then asked Swinney for advice.

“He said, ‘Rules without relationships equals rebellion.’ We dealt with a little bit last year on the team where they didn’t know me, they didn’t know me, and they didn’t know my staff, and they didn’t know what we were trying to do,” Wofford said. “All they knew was that we had these new rule changes. We didn’t have the relationship with them.”

If rules without relationships equal rebellion, Wofford must clearly hope now that relationships bring championships.

The Trojans head now to what Wofford calls the “championship phase” of the 2020 season, finishing an impressive regular season with a 26-7 victory over Spring Valley at District Three Stadium on Friday night.

Northwestern (5-0, 4-0 Region 4-5A) needed just five plays to make the most of its opening drive, as Will Mattison connected with a wide-open Elijah Caldwell down the left sideline for a 57-yard score to give the Trojans a 7-0 advantage. The score marked Caldwell’s first varsity touchdown.

Kortez Heath then recovered a Spring Valley fumble on the ensuing drive, which led to a 22-yard Kanoah Vinesett field goal that put Northwestern up 10-0.

Spring Valley (1-4, 1-3) scored on its first second-quarter drive. Just one play after a controversial 24-yard hookup between DeQuandre Smith and Ty’Sean Osby that appeared as if it may have been stripped by a Northwestern defender at the 1, a 1-yard Smith plunge cut the margin to 10-7.

Vinesett powered home a 31-yarder from the right hash on the next-to-last play of the first half, giving the Trojans a 13-7 halftime advantage.

Neither team was able to score in the third quarter, as both defenses clamped down and forced each possession to end in a punt. Spring Valley’s defense recovered a Northwestern fumble with 6:54 to play, taking over just 65 yards from a potential go-ahead touchdown. The Trojan defense again delivered the stop it needed, though, forcing a Viking punt at the 4:40 mark.

“Fortunately for us, our defense is pretty good, and they weren’t able to capitalize on our mistakes,” Wofford said. “In the second half, we were gonna put it on the defense. The defense came up big, and big, and big, and they did it every game. They’ve done it this year, and we hope that continues.”

The Trojans then put away the game on their final two possessions. Will Mattison needed just one play to find Calique Cunningham for a 62-yard scoring strike with 4:28 to play. Another Mattison-to-Cunningham connection provided the final margin with 2:32 remaining.

“Calique’s two touchdowns there at the end — that was great. He’s a fighter,” Wofford said. “To have the touchdown there to really put us up, and then to really have a great play where he got himself in the end zone was nice.”

Cunningham caught three passes from Mattison for 70 yards and the two scores. Mattison finished 19 for 24 for 206 yards and three scores. Caldwell added seven receptions for 81 yards.

Evan Javis paced Spring Valley on the ground, tallying 132 yards on 11 carries. Smith rushed for 33 yards on 16 carries, including the lone Viking score.

The Trojans wrapped up the regular season undefeated in region play for the first time since 2016. Northwestern will have a bye week next week to begin preparing to play at home for as long as it remain in the playoffs, with the runners-up from Region 1-5A visiting for the first round. That game will be contested Friday, Nov. 13.