What’ll happen to Rock Hill-area playoff teams in Round 2? Writers across SC weigh in
Two high school football teams from Rock Hill and one from Fort Mill are set to play in the second round of the state playoffs on Friday night.
Here’s everything you need to know before then — including some insight on the opponents of South Pointe, Northwestern and Catawba Ridge from beat writers across South Carolina.
5A NORTHWESTERN WELCOMES DORMAN TO ROCK HILL
After enduring a 2-8 season in 2019, Northwestern put together an undefeated 2020 regular season by virtue of a dominant run game (headed by senior Kyle Aldridge) and a talented defense, which includes Army commit and South Carolina Mr. Football finalist, Gregory Johnson III. The team’s starting quarterback, Will Mattison, has been a steadying force for the Trojans so far this year: He’s entering the game completing 91-of-138 passes (66%) for 1137 yards and 13 touchdowns with only three interceptions.
Mattison — and, well, everyone else — will have to have an impressive showing to defeat the Cavaliers on Friday night.
For the scoop on Dorman, The Spartanburg Herald-Journal’s Jed Blackwell answered a few questions from The Herald’s Alex Zietlow via email. Check out the Q&A below.
Zietlow: What has gotten Dorman to this point in the season?
Blackwell: Let’s start with tradition. Under Dave Gutshall, this is what Dorman does. Since he brought the brand-new spread offense to the west side of Spartanburg, the Cavaliers have been a team to be reckoned with. He’s also the most adaptable coach I’ve ever met. About a decade ago, maybe a little more, his teams were struggling on third- and fourth-and-short. They could get 20 yards regularly, but they couldn’t get two. So he CREATED A WHOLE FORMATION that’s designed to get two yards. Seriously, he told me once that if it gets much more than that, somebody on defense has messed up bad. It was the Wildcat before everybody ran the Wildcat, and they still use it today. On top of that, his offense is flexible to fit his talent. He wants to throw it every down. He’s happy to run it every down if it helps him beat you. It’s no surprise that in this season — the strangest season I’ve ever seen — the most adaptable coach I’ve ever met is in a position to do well.
Zietlow: Dorman came into York County last postseason and played in a wild, high-scoring game against Clover. Did the Dorman of last year change much to give us the Dorman of this year?
Blackwell: There was a big change on offense, particularly at QB, with Spartanburg transfer Zay Foster taking the reins. He’s a mobile guy, almost to the point of being run-first, but he can spin it a little bit, too. Kendall Norman is back as a downfield threat, Virginia Tech commit Chance Black is the featured back, and Ty Lindsay does a little bit of everything, including some QB in that short-yardage set. They’re big and talented up front on both sides of the ball, and the LBs and DBs are as good as they’ve been in a while, though a lot of them are new. Omar Khan, who drilled that kick against Clover last season, is back at kicker, and Garrett Williams handles punting, and has done very well.
Zietlow: Dorman and Northwestern have been South Carolina upstate powerhouses for a long time. For someone who wasn’t there to see it, can you describe the relationship between these teams?
Blackwell: It’s 100% respect. Nobody who wasn’t here to see it will ever truly understand how dominant the original Region 2-4A was. I’m not exaggerating when I tell you it was the Southeastern Conference of high school football. The league had a representative in at least one of the 4A title games for something like 25 straight years. Lot of times they’d play each other, several times they made up the entire final four. There were literally years when the coaches in my area (and I’m sure Coach Wallace at Northwestern and Coach Ringer at Rock Hill did it, too) would hold back a little in their regular season matchup, because they’d look at the points and the brackets and know they’d see each other again, and want a wrinkle. It was just different. York County was figuratively much further away back then, before social media and instant-everything shrunk the world, and those were always tough, hard-hitting matchups. It was capital-F Football. Yeah, I’m old and I miss it. Get off my lawn.
Zietlow: Who wins? (For the record, I’m choosing the Trojans of Northwestern. They haven’t proven me wrong yet.)
Blackwell: I’ll take experience and the potential for explosiveness. Give me Dorman.
4A SOUTH POINTE HOSTS AC FLORA
The Stallions of Rock Hill escaped with a double-overtime win last week over Greenwood after a few big plays went right for South Pointe in the second half — including a 64-yard touchdown reception by O’Mega Blake and the game-winning touchdown catch by Phillip Mickles, which was delivered by a scrambling Zay McCrorey.
Lou Bezjak, who covers Midland- and Columbia-area prep sports (among other things) for The State, answered a few questions from Zietlow via email. See the Q&A below.
Zietlow: What and who has gotten AC Flora to this point in the season?
Bezjak: Simply put, a lot of talent on both sides of the ball has gotten Flora to this point in the season. The Falcons offense is averaging more than 50 points a game. Ethan Beamish has been a big plus at quarterback after transferring in from Hillcrest. They have three running backs that could easily be No. 1 backs on other teams that rotate in the game.
They are young at receiver, but senior Eriq Rice is the top target. Both offensive and defensive lines are strong. Their defensive line has three future college players in Georgia State commit Omarion Hammond, Jaylin Brown and Amoree Stephens. App State commit Banks Pope is a big factor at tight end and defensive line.
Zietlow: These two coaches will be in their second seasons at their respective stations. (South Pointe coach DeVonte Holloman won his first playoff game last week.) Briefly, what situation did Dustin Curtis inherit, and how have his first two years at the AC Flora helm gone?
Bezjak: Curtis inherited a pretty good situation when Collin Drafts left to take a job at Nease High in Florida. Flora was 0-10 in Drafts’ first year, and he turned the team into a region champion and delivered a second-round trip in the postseason. Curtis was very familiar with the Flora program and spent seven years as an assistant before his first head coaching job at Westwood, which he had before returning to Flora in a head coaching capacity. While he was at Flora, he was part of four region championships and made state semifinals twice, so he knows the culture and the people and has been a perfect fit.
Zietlow: I’m curious: South Pointe’s reputation precedes itself, considering all the state championships it won in the past decade. Does the South Pointe name still carry that same weight, or has the mantle of 4A football been passed on?
Bezjak: Curtis and the players mentioned this week at practice the tradition and respect they have for the South Pointe program and what it has been able to accomplish over the past decade. But I don’t think they will be in awe or intimidated by it.
Zietlow: Who wins? (I’m taking AC Flora. I wouldn’t be surprised if South Pointe makes this one exciting, though.)
Bezjak: Flora was my pick to win the 4A Upper State before the playoffs, so I’m going with the Falcons.
4A CATAWBA RIDGE TRAVELS TO IRMO
Catawba Ridge hasn’t lost since its first game of the 2020 season against South Pointe. Since then, the Copperheads have seen a three-game shutout streak come and go, and they’ve also seen senior quarterback Kayden Hager competently take up the team’s mantle when its freshman starting quarterback went out with an injury.
Head coach Zac Lendyak told The Herald before the season that the biggest weakness of his program’s inaugural season — the fact that it had no seniors — turned into its biggest strength overnight when it returned its entire team in 2020. And that strength has carried them quite far.
Here’s a Q&A with Bezjak again, previewing Catawba Ridge’s second-round opponent, Irmo.
Zietlow: What and who has gotten Irmo to this point this season?
Bezjak: One of the biggest factors to get Irmo to this point is the running game. Irmo has a three-headed attack with quarterback Dylan Williams and running backs Dedrick Starkes and Jayon Chambers. The trio has combined for more than 300 yards on the ground in Irmo’s past two games, including last week’s win over Westside.
Another factor is the belief in coach Aaron Brand, who is in his second year and was brought in to turn around a once-proud program which had not won a playoff game since 2012 until last week. Brand had success as offensive coordinator under Tom Knotts at Independence in Charlotte and as head coach of Vance High. He definitely has the program going in the right direction.
Zietlow: Per SCHSL playoff seeding — which, I know, is not always indicative of who is better than who — both Irmo and Catawba Ridge “upset” their opponents to get to the second round. Is there any significance there?
Bezjak: Don’t think there is huge significance because of the way the playoffs are this year, with just the top two seeds and a few at-large teams earning playoff berths.
Zietlow: Who wins? (I’m taking Catawba Ridge. And yes, there’s still room on the bandwagon if you want to hop in, Lou.)
Bezjak: I think Irmo’s running game is the factor, and it wins a close one.
This story was originally published November 19, 2020 at 10:18 AM.
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