Round 3! What Friday means to Northwestern, South Pointe, Chester HS football seasons
And then there were three.
Northwestern, South Pointe and Chester — the only three teams in York, Chester and Lancaster counties with their football state championship dreams still intact — play their biggest games to date on Friday night.
Northwestern and Gaffney will make for a “state championship-level” atmosphere in Rock Hill. South Pointe will travel to play a “familiar” foe in Greenwood. And Chester will hit the road to play 3A undefeated power Powdersville, after summoning an unlikely but clutch comeback to beat Chapman last week.
And what are each of these teams playing for? A spot in their respective classifications’ Upper State championship game.
Here’s your high school football preview for the third round of the playoffs — which includes game-by-game story lines, sports editor Alex Zietlow predictions and a statewide Friday night football schedule.
Northwestern and Gaffney make for a ‘state championship-level’ contest
Northwestern record: 11-1, 4-0 Region 4-5A
Gaffney record: 12-0, 4-0 Region 3-5A
What to know: Northwestern head coach Page Wofford contends that “every week is a season.” Each week in the throes of autumn, in other words, is packed with enough drama and conflict and failure — and, on the good weeks, triumph — to fill an entire high school football season. That feels true this week.
The Northwestern-Gaffney game taking place in Rock Hill’s District Three Stadium will be the biggest game in South Carolina on Friday night. It’s a battle of Goliath vs. Goliath — of two prolific offenses and two established defenses playing like they have something to prove.
The Trojans are coming off a dominant 42-3 win over Byrnes, doing so thanks to the play of a defense that has only given up 15.3 points a game and an offense that has impressed all year long. Quarterback Will Mattison, who’s now thrown for 2,917 yards and 40 touchdowns on the season, was himself in that contest. Running back Turbo Richard, who’s now run for 914 yards and eight touchdowns, was himself, too. So were receivers Gerrell Watkins (15 touchdowns) and Elijah Caldwell (14 touchdowns) and the team’s disciplined offensive line.
The Indians, meanwhile, are coming off a 34-26 win over TL Hanna — the team that ousted Northwestern in the Upper State championship game last year. Gaffney runs more than Northwestern does: A look at the numbers from running backs Tyler Smith (166 carries, 1,350 yards, 24 touchdowns) and Ken Littlejohn (152 carries, 1,218 yards, 13 touchdowns) tells you that. Quarterback Grayson Loftis is competent, too. He’s thrown for 1,773 yards and 18 touchdowns and led his team to a 38 points per game average.
This is a game between two teams whose weaknesses — if they have any — have yet to be exposed.
“Every team that we’ve played up until now has had a weakness we feel like we could exploit. And, well, this team doesn’t have anything to take advantage of,” Wofford told The Herald in a phone conversation earlier this week. “They’re just a very good all-around football team. Defensively, they have guys who can make plays and can really run. Offensively, they have running backs who can go, and they have a good offensive system. They can throw the ball. Special teams-wise, they’ve been returning kicks for touchdowns and blocking kicks.
“So that’s not what you want to see if you’re watching film. But that’s the reality. They’re just really good.”
Read into the regular season results at your own peril. There’s no use making something out of Gaffney’s anomolous unproductive offensive outing (a 21-3 win) against Clover, a team Northwestern beat soundly in September. There’s no use searching for the subtext after Gaffney shut out Rock Hill while Northwestern let the Bearcats score in the team’s final game of the regular season.
There’s no use putting stock in the last time these two teams played, either — which, for what it’s worth, was a 21-10 Gaffney win in the second round of the 2017 playoffs.
This game, rather, is exactly what makes high school football special this time of year: It’s a season of its own.
Quotable: “This is a state championship-level game,” Wofford said. “This is a final four, state championship-level matchup. It’s just in the third round instead of the fourth.”
Zietlow prediction: Northwestern wins.
How to listen: FM 100.1/AM 1340/Comporium Channel 103
South Pointe hopes to replicate last year’s win over Greenwood
South Pointe record: 10-1, 4-0 Region 3-4A
Greenwood record: 10-1, 3-0 Region 2-4A
What to know: South Pointe head coach DeVonte Holloman doesn’t think there’s much to be gleaned from the last time these two teams met — when the Stallions high-stepped off their home field after defeating Greenwood in overtime in last year’s playoffs.
Greenwood’s quarterback from 2020, Jaylin Tolbert, is graduated and off at Georgia State. Greenwood has had to replace a lot on defense, too, particularly filling the big gap left behind by 2021 Greenwood graduate and current University of South Carolina linebacker KJ Scott.
But that hasn’t put Holloman at ease much.
“Like a lot of talented schools in a lot of talented areas, they kind of just reload,” he told The Herald in a phone conversation earlier this week. “And I think they’ve done that.”
One thing that hasn’t changed? The Eagles’ game plan. They run a flexbone offense, an iteration of the triple option that relies on equal parts sound decision-making and gladiator toughness. The team has rushed for 3,606 yards this season — thanks to a cohesive offensive line and a few different running backs, all of whom are explosive. (One of the team’s running backs, junior Ve Morton, ran for three touchdowns and 335 yards on 39 carries against Greer in October.)
South Pointe, though — as it has proven through two games in the playoffs — is still South Pointe. Still of the same ilk that won four consecutive state championships in this decade.
Last week, the Stallions defeated Laurens 47-20 and notched 559 yards of total offense while doing it. They put up those numbers despite coughing up five — yes, five — turnovers. The key to their dominance? Senior quarterback Zay McCrorey is playing well. So is wide receiver Waymond Jenerette, who has now notched the records at South Pointe for most receiving yards (1,129) and receiving touchdowns (13) in a single season. And so is the talented defensive secondary and the defensive/offensive lines who “took their lumps” in 2020 but have improved mightily in 2021. (It’s worth mentioning that Jenerette played some quarterback last Friday night, and it worked.)
A South Pointe win would send the team to its first Upper State title game since 2017 — which was also the last season South Pointe won it all.
Quotable: “They’re not going to make many mistakes,” Holloman said. “The quarterback (Daylan Rappley) does a good job reading that triple option and making good decisions with the football. And those backs run hard over and over. As soon as one comes out, the next one is running hard as well. It’s going to be a tough game, like it was last year.”
Holloman added: “They’re probably one of the most disciplined teams that we’ve seen all season. So we definitely gotta come to play. Gotta play our best, kind of like we have been.”
Zietlow prediction: South Pointe wins.
How to listen: FM 107.1
Chester hopes to continue fateful run against Powdersville
Chester record: 8-3, 3-1 Region 4-3A
Powdersville record: 12-0, Region 2-3A
What to know: Let’s rehash last week’s Chester win because we can. Because we should. With just under five minutes to play in the game, with Chapman up by 11 points and only five yards away from another score, the Cyclones somehow found a way to win and keep their season alive.
It started with a Sherard Feaster forced fumble that Andre Evans recovered. Then came an 80-yard touchdown drive. Then came a kickoff — not an onside kick, a conventional kickoff — that was executed perfectly and pinned Chapman deep in its own territory. And then the first play from scrimmage on that drive saw a Maurice Feaster interception that later sparked a Zan Dunham go-ahead rushing touchdown with 15 seconds left in the contest.
Chester head coach Victor Floyd succinctly recounted the win over the phone earlier this week: “That was a pretty wild four minutes, ya know?”
So are the Cyclones living on borrowed time? Or was last week merely a milestone in its 2021 run of destiny?
Powdersville will provide an answer.
The team from Greenville, which averages 41.8 points a game, has managed to stay undefeated thanks to timely turnovers and a slew of talent in “the right places,” per Floyd. Thomas Williams is a dangerous running back. Juniors Jalen Rambert (an All-American linebacker and receiver in 2020) and Drake Sloan are also key offensive pieces.
It’s worth mentioning that the Patriots haven’t lost yet, but they, like Chester, have had to cash in some emotional capital in their first two contests — a 45-44 win over Broome in the first round and a 21-17 win over Wren in the second. (Perhaps they’re on a trajectory of fate of their own.)
As far as who’ll lead the Chester offense? You’ve heard of them already: Four-year starting quarterback Zan Dunham led his team to over 538 yards of total offense last week — accounting for 30 carries and 201 rushing yards and 27 throws for 171 passing yards. Shydem McCullough and a senior-laden offensive line (which is a blessing considering the youth around them) was huge last week, too.
Quotable: “We’re young and naive,” Floyd said, when asked how his team was able to refocus after last week’s wildness. “That’s the good part.”
Zietlow prediction: Chester wins.
How to listen: WRBK FM 90.3
Matchups across South Carolina Friday
All kickoffs are slated for Friday night at 7:30 p.m unless otherwise noted.
5A: Gaffney at Northwestern; Ridge View at Spartanburg; Fort Dorchester at Lexington; Dutch Fork at Sumter
4A: South Pointe at Greenwood; Irmo at Greenville; West Florence at Hartsville; Myrtle Beach at Beaufort
3A: Chester at Powdersville; Clinton at Daniel; Camden at Brookland-Cayce; Oceanside Collegiate at Dillon
2A: Abbeville at Gray Collegiate; Newberry at Christ Church; Silver Bluff at Cheraw; Barnwell at Phillip Simmons
1A: Southside Christian at Calhoun County; Ridge Spring-Monetta at Lamar; Whale Branch at CE Murray; Bamberg-Ehrhardt at Baptist Hill
This story was originally published November 18, 2021 at 7:00 AM.
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