Northwestern football hangs tough but ends season against TL Hanna in SC semifinals
He stretched as far as his 6-4 frame would let him, but when the chains were brought out to measure the length of Kyle Aldridge’s fourth-down carry — the final rush of his career at Northwestern High School — it wasn’t enough.
Officials gave the signal that it was TL Hanna’s ball with about a minute and a half remaining, and after a few more runs and then a quarterback kneel, it was over. 28-24. The visitor side of District Three Stadium on Friday night erupted. A flag waved in front of the side’s makeshift student section.
TL Hanna was on its way to the 2020 5A state championship.
And Northwestern (7-1) — a team that bounced back from a 2-8 season in 2019, and whose seniors had been through one of the more tumultuous periods in the Trojans’ largely triumphant football history — was headed home.
It was the Trojans’ first loss in 2020, one that prevented them from making their 11th state championship game appearance to try for their sixth state title.
“I told (the seniors) to not let one game affect what they accomplished this year,” Northwestern coach Page Wofford told reporters after the game. “And what they accomplished and what they’ve overcome in their four years here. I’m the third head coach for these guys, and it’s not supposed to be like that for their high school careers. It seems odd to say it because it is odd to happen.
“We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them, and it’s something we will look back on in years to come after successful year after successful year, and say that’s what class started this.”
For a moment on Friday night, Northwestern looked like it might find a way to win again, like it had all season. It scored first by virtue of a near-picture-perfect opening drive that ended in an Aldridge three-yard rushing touchdown.
And then, after allowing 14 unanswered points by an unwavering TL Hanna offense that ran the ball 61 times and only attempted three passes all night, Northwestern scored again to tie it at 14 for another Aldridge touchdown run — this one coming on a gutsy fourth down call 30 yards from the endzone.
After TL Hanna’s only completion set up a TL Hanna goal-line score, Northwestern dialed up its last touchdown-scoring drive of the night which ended in a beautiful connection between quarterback Will Mattison and receiver Gerrell Watkins on a nine-yard slant.
But after the break, Northwestern could only muster a field goal, a 32-yarder from Kanoah Vinesett — and TL Hanna, although only scoring once, used eight minutes and some change in the fourth quarter, converting on fourth-and-short situations twice even when in its own territory, to take the game’s final lead with a rushing touchdown. 28-24.
In so many words, Hanna doubled down on its run-first, run-almost-every-play identity — and it worked.
When asked what it was like to watch that final TL Hanna drive unfold, Wofford resolutely said, “It was not a lot of fun.”
“They’ve done it before,” Wofford added, referencing Hanna going for it on fourth down in its own territory. “They knew what they were going to do, and they did it. And we knew what they were going to do, and we weren’t able to stop it. That wasn’t the difference. ...
“A game like this, against two very good football teams, is going to come down to more than one play or one drive, and it did tonight.”
Northwestern was led by senior Aldridge, who rushed for 139 yards and two touchdowns; junior quarterback Mattison, who completed 19-of-33 passes for 154 yards and a touchdown; and Gerrell Watkins, who caught five passes for 59 yards and a touchdown.
TL Hanna featured eight rushes, who ran for 290 yards, including Kabrail Morrison, who had three touchdowns, and DJ Brownlee, who had 10 carries for 81 yards. Quarterback Trey Horne went 1-3 passing — his one completion a 57 yard pass to Kamren Johnson.
TL Hanna will play Dutch Fork on this-coming Friday for the 5A state title at 7:30 p.m.
Northwestern saw its season end on Friday night.
This story was originally published November 27, 2020 at 11:29 PM.
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