South Pointe football staves off crazy comeback and ends Rock Hill’s winless season
On 4th and 18 near midfield with 30 seconds left in the game and Rock Hill down three, Matthew Wilson didn’t have much time to react. The freshman quarterback caught a shotgun snap, and within a few seconds, he was swarmed by the South Pointe defensive line that had come alive in the fourth quarter.
The Stallions on the sideline, who saw that they’d clinched a 21-18 win in District Three Stadium in Rock Hill on Friday night, erupted. They deserved to.
After dominating time of possession in the second half and seeing arguably the best performance to date from quarterback Nebanye Moore, South Pointe’s win over its city foe came down to a gutsy fourth-and-long blitz — a sign that the Stallions weren’t going to be on their heels when trying to stave off Rock Hill’s second-half comeback.
“No matter what, each team we play, we know they’re going to give South Pointe their best shot,” senior O’Mega Blake told The Herald after the game. “So we couldn’t come out here with a slow start.”
The players on the Rock Hill sideline, conversely, looked still when the final meaningful play played out. They looked defeated.
After falling behind 21-10 in the fourth quarter but then clawing back by virtue of timely heroics from wide receiver Miles Cross and two perfectly executed onside kicks from Ethan Dutton — one a surprise in the third quarter and one an expected one in the fourth quarter — Rock Hill’s loss was stunning, and it ended a disappointing season.
The Bearcats end the 2020 season winless for the first time in at least 16 years.
Notable: South Pointe offense
Although the points on the scoreboard don’t necessarily reflect it, the South Pointe offense didn’t get going until late in the first quarter. (The beginning of the game was a bit of a mess: South Pointe quarterback fumbled on the team’s fifth play, and it was recovered by Rock Hill’s Maurice Bonneau. The very next play — the first play from scrimmage for Rock Hill — a Rock Hill quarterback Jackson Roberson pass was intercepted by South Pointe’s Jordan Mahoney. And it didn’t get much prettier from there.)
However, with 13.1 seconds remaining in the first quarter, South Pointe’s quarterback Moore found Phillip Mickles for a 17-yard touchdown. 7-0, Stallions.
And then, after a Rock Hill Anthony Arnette 22-yard touchdown run on the ensuing possession to tie the score at seven, South Pointe’s left-handed quarterback found O’Mega Blake on a beautiful corner route for a 20-yard touchdown. 14-7, Stallions.
“Early on in the game, I picked up that the linebackers were just making me outside release,” Blake said, adding, “so I just faked the post and broke back to the corner. I knew I’d had the safety beat. I just looked and gave the coach that call and let them know it was a mismatch.”
And then, on South Pointe’s final score, the team flipped the game’s momentum: After a disciplined defensive stop on 4th and goal with Rock Hill five yards from paydirt, the Stallions put together a 95-yard drive that culminated in a five-yard touchdown run from running back Nygel Moore.
“In my head, I was like, ‘We gotta get back on the board,’” Nygel Moore told The Herald of the play after the game. “I wasn’t about to lose because we lost last week to Dutch Fork. So I wasn’t about to lose. I couldn’t lose another game in my high school career.”
The Stallions’ offense wouldn’t see the ball again.
And despite a Rock Hill passing touchdown connection between Wilson and Cross to pull the game within three points — and even despite the successful onside kick recovery right after that score — South Pointe came out alive.
South Pointe was led by Nebanye Moore, who completed 29-of-38 passes for 295 yards and two touchdowns. The team’s top receivers included O’Mega Blake, who caught 13 passes for 130 yards and a touchdown; Caleb Raynor, who made eight catches for 66 yards; Phillip Mickles, who caught three passes for 57 yards and a touchdown; and Waymond Jenerette, who caught four passes for 33 yards.
The Stallions were also carried by running back Nygel Moore, who notched 22 carries for 146 yards and the game’s final touchdown.
Rock Hill quarterback Matthew Wilson finished 10-21 for 159 yards passing and 26 yards rushing. Athlete Cam Walker added 10 carries for 65 yards, and wide receiver Cross notched 123 yards and a touchdown receiving on six catches.
Quotable: ‘I’m proud of them’
Rock Hill coach Bubba Pittman on what he told his team in the postgame huddle: “I don’t look at wins and losses to determine if they’re a good team. That team right there is resilient. They battled. They never got blown out this year. There were a lot of really close football games. It could’ve gone either way. We were a few plays here, a few plays there, from being really excited about this season, you know? I just told them that I love them and I respect them. … And there are a lot of players in there that I’m going to miss.”
This story was originally published November 7, 2020 at 12:31 AM.
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