South Pointe trounces young York team to win 8th straight region championship
South Pointe could hear the rumbles and cheers from the visitor side before Friday night’s kickoff, each bit of noise aimed at the proverbial target on the program’s back.
That target on South Pointe has grown larger over the years. It’s even grown throughout this season: Coming into Friday, that target carried 43 consecutive region wins and seven-straight region championships. And the York Cougars — the rowdy and scrappy and young team that, like South Pointe, had scraped past everyone else in Region 3-4A — looked primed to dismantle it all.
“I think we were the underdogs,” South Pointe quarterback Zaveion McCrorey told reporters postgame, commenting on how the visitor’s bleachers overflowed with York spirit.
And while the Stallions clearly weren’t the underdogs, maybe they thought they were.
And maybe that’s what made the scene at the end of the game so sweet for the team based in Rock Hill: The Stallions, after taking in all the noise that comes with the program’s territory, made some noise of their own — defeating York handily, 29-0, and raising a Region 3-4A championship trophy above their heads for an eighth straight season.
“Everyone counted us out in the whole state,” McCrorey said, “and we proved them wrong tonight.”
South Pointe has now won 44 region games in a row dating back to 2013 and hasn’t lost to York since 2014 (a year when the two teams weren’t in the same region). And yet somehow, the Stallions were the ones who played like they had nothing to lose on Friday night — as if the title belonged to York and had to be yanked away.
And that edge, head coach DeVonte Holloman said postgame, is a special part of this team.
“I think tonight was really our first night of feeling that (target on their back),” Holloman said. “That was my message: Take the target and throw it on somebody else. We’re going to get everybody’s best shot who comes here, and we expect it. But if we play our game, execute on our end, we’ll see the results.”
How South Pointe beat York
It took a while for South Pointe to get going. But once the team started, it sprinted through the proverbial finish line.
Late in the first quarter, after trading punts, the Stallions put together a time-consuming drive that was punctuated by a jet-sweep touch pass between McCrorey and receiver Waymond Jenerette for a 1-yard score. 7-0, South Pointe.
With just over six minutes left in the second quarter — after a few long drives by the run-first, run-almost-every-play York offense — the Stallions received the ball again and ran it right back. This drive was led and punched in by running back Ja’Quan Thompson from 1 yard out. (The Cougars were called offsides on the initial point-after attempt, so the Stallions decided to use the penalty to go for two. And they converted.) 15-0, South Pointe up.
The second half was more of the same, except after the break each failed York drive seemed to put the game deeper and deeper in South Pointe’s pocket.
After a scoreless third quarter, the Stallions put together a back-breaking drive with 8:10 remaining in the game and finished it off with a 16-yard passing touchdown connection between McCrorey and receiver Demari Kendrick to extend the lead to 22-0.
Then, with 2:41 remaining, McCrorey ended a final South Pointe drive with a 1-yard touchdown run to make it 29-0.
The celebration started shortly thereafter.
“O-Line blocked really well, and the quarterback played really great,” Holloman said. “Zay did a good job getting us out of some tough situations, after we had some success running the football, pulling it and throwing it out to DK and those guys. So proud of the quarterback, proud of the OL, proud of everybody, really.”
York was afforded plenty of chances on Friday night: There was the time in the second quarter, when York couldn’t turn 30 yards of penalties on one play (a late-hit on York quarterback Ayden Davis-turned-skirmish) into points. There was another time in the second half, when a York defender dropped a pass that could’ve led to an interception to give the Cougars a late source of life.
But Cougars head coach Dean Boyd, while disappointed with the loss, said he was proud of his team nonetheless after the game.
“We’re still a young football team,” Boyd said. “The inexperience and the youth showed a bit tonight. We’re still not quite where we need to be culturally, we still have a ways to go there. But they’re a good football team. I don’t want to take anything away from South Pointe. …
“I’m proud of my football team. I’m glad I’m the coach of the team in that visiting locker room right now.”
Stat leaders
South Pointe had a balanced attack on Friday night, and that shines through in the team’s final numbers.
Thompson led the Stallions’ rushing attack with 17 carries for 92 yards and a touchdown. He was complemented by Caleb Sims (12 carries, 64 yards) and Lavaris Copley (7 carries for 28 yards).
McCrorey, like his coach mentioned postgame, played one of his best games as a Stallion to date — and that’s high praise. The senior completed 17 of 25 passes for 176 yards and two touchdowns and also added that aforementioned rushing score. His favorite targets on Friday were Jenerette (10 catches for 105 yards and a touchdown), Demari Kendrick (3 catches for 29 yards and a touchdown) and Jakhari Webb (2 catches for 16 yards).
The South Pointe defense only allowed 102 yards of York total offense. Most of that came from Cougar quarterback Ayden Davis, who took 13 carries for 32 yards and completed 3 of 9 passes for 41 yards. (Most of his passing yards can be attributed to one play, a 33-yard toss to Jevon Long.)
Both teams will host home games on Friday night in the first round of the state playoffs. Kickoffs are set for 7:30 p.m.
But the Stallions will enjoy this one for “24 hours,” Holloman said, and bask in the team’s most important win of the season to date before beginning to work toward its state championship dreams next week.
“We finally put one together, offensively and defensively, from start to finish,” Holloman said. “Proud of the boys for keeping the focus and playing as hard as they did. We finally put one together, and it feels good.”
This story was originally published October 30, 2021 at 12:24 AM.
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