Leave no doubt! South Pointe dominates Beaufort in 4A state championship game
Five yards from the end zone with three seconds left in the first half, Waymond Jenerette made a play that might be remembered around Rock Hill for a while.
The senior wide receiver who was lined up in the wildcat at quarterback took a shotgun snap, rolled out to his right as if he was planning to run, looked across his body, wound up and let it go. The ball then hung in the air for what felt like two minutes before finding the arms of wide receiver Armendiz Huskey — who was later found in the end zone clinging onto the ball as the halftime buzzer went off.
That touchdown gave South Pointe a 28-0 lead heading into halftime. And the Stallions never looked back.
One half and a handful of scores later, and that was it: South Pointe 41, Beaufort 7.
The Stallions are state champions again.
“Bringing a championship home, bringing one to Rock Hill, was important to me,” head coach and South Pointe alum DeVonte Holloman told a crowd of reporters postgame. He added, “I can tell you everything about every person if I have to. This is for my coaches, our football players, we stuck together through it all.”
The team from Rock Hill emerged from Benedict College’s Charlie W. Johnson stadium in Columbia on Thursday night with its seventh state championship in program history.
It is the school’s first state title since 2017 and the first one for Holloman — who was doused in water in celebration and hugged by nearly everyone on the South Pointe sideline before the game’s last play.
“Man, it feels great,” Holloman said. “I’m proud of this group of coaches, group of seniors. From the moment I walked in, this was the dream. We got ourselves back here, and now we’re back.”
The Stallions (12-1) started fast. After forcing a Beaufort first-possession punt and moving the ball with one huge chunk play — a connection between quarterback Zay McCrorey and wide receiver Demari Kendrick — Stallion junior Caleb Sims plunged into the end zone from 4 yards out to punctuate the team’s first drive and send a message that would reverberate throughout the rest of Thursday’s contest. A successful extra point by senior Chip DiStasio made the score 7-0, South Pointe up.
The scores didn’t stop after that. The next came via a Ja’Quan Thompson 4-yard rush (14-0). Then arrived a McCrorey touchdown run from 1 yard out (21-0). And then came that toss to Huskey (28-0), another Thompson touchdown run from 8 yards out (35-0) and then another McCrorey rushing touchdown from 3 yards out (41-0 because of a missed PAT).
“It felt like I wasn’t even on the field, for real,” McCrorey said, his eyeblack smeared, a tradesmark smile on his face. “Because this is our first championship. It really means everything to us because we fought through adversity the whole year. Especially coach Holloman. You know, people doubted him, thinking he wasn’t going to get his first championship here: We told him at the beginning of the season we were going to get him one. And we finally did it.”
Others on the Stallion sideline felt like McCrorey.
“I’m just happy, man,” offensive lineman Jordan McVay told The Herald postgame, his eyes welling with tears. The senior was part of a strength for the Stallions all year long — including in his final high school game. “This team has been through a lot, man. And it just feels good to see it all pay off.”
Amid all the offensive triumph, the Stallion defense proved tough, too. Nearly invulnerable, in fact, besides a 35-yard touchdown run by Beaufort’s Caleb Ulmer with 1:32 remaining in the game to make it 41-7.
That was shown in the team’s many turnovers — which included a DJ Barksdale first-half interception, a Quan Peterson second-half interception at the 1-yard line that stuffed the last of any real Beaufort comeback hopes, a Johnathan Williams fumble recovery with just over 8 minutes left and another Barksdale interception with under 5 minutes left.
It also was shown in the final team box score: South Pointe finished with 566 yards of total offense and only allowed 165 yards.
“We work together,” running back Thompson told The Herald postgame. “Our offense builds off our defense, and our defense builds off our offense. And when both of us are doing great? ... That’s what happens.”
The Stallions, through and through, left no doubt on Friday night.
“This is a feeling like no other — we’ve been dreaming about this since we were 5 years old, man,” senior defensive back Chris McCullough said postgame, with his defensive-backfield brothers by his side.
The DBs at South Pointe call themselves the “seat belt gang,” a nickname that is easily explainable: You can’t go anywhere with a seat belt on.
Syracuse commit and senior cornerback Peterson chimed in: “To be right here, it’s unreal, man.”
Both McCullough and Peterson won state championships in basketball last season for South Pointe. They said that the football state title felt a bit different, though: The basketball one was a pleasant surprise, perhaps. But this one? In football? This one, by South Pointe’s standards, felt overdue, they said.
Was there any pressure in knowing that football success is an expectation at South Pointe?
Peterson offered a championship shrug: “I just don’t like to worry about pressure. Because you can’t really get pressured if you’re already built for it.”
Who led the Stallions, Eagles
South Pointe’s dominance wasn’t restricted to one unit or one phase of the ball: Everyone had part in the fun.
▪ McCrorey played his self-described “best game” of the season on Thursday night. He finished going 17 of 30 for 344 yards passing. He also added nine carries for 64 yards and two touchdowns — his long a 30-yard rush.
▪ McCrorey spread the wealth: Kendrick took six catches for 169 yards, Jenerette finished with four catches for 107 yards, Huskey finished with three catches for 32 yards and Jakhari Webb finished with three catches for 28 yards.
▪ As great as South Pointe’s senior passer played, he was reinforced by a fantastic rushing attack. Sims took 15 carries for 64 yards and a touchdown and Thompson took 14 carries for 58 yards and two touchdowns.
▪ Anquerrious Davis finished with nine tackles and one tackle for loss. Isiah Steele (seven tackles), Johnathan Williams (six tackles, one TFL) and Jaylen Stratford also led the team on defense.
How South Pointe got here
South Pointe’s run to Thursday’s state championship game did not only validate the team’s high preseason expectations, but also it was fun to watch.
The Stallions were the No. 3 team in the preseason media poll. They had no five-star recruits. No Derion Kendricks or Jadeveon Clowneys or Stephon Gilmores from South Pointe teams of old. And because of that, they played every game like they had something to prove to themselves, their city of Rock Hill and the entire state of South Carolina.
South Pointe won its season opener over Northwestern, one of the best teams in S.C. 5A football, before trouncing Shelby and then coming from behind to beat South Florence in triple overtime. The team did so with a defense that improved as the year went on and an offense that was explosive and balanced. The team was led by a senior-laden offensive line, a pair of upperclassmen running backs (Ja’Quan Thompson and Caleb Sims), a record-breaking receiver (Waymond Jenerette) and a quarterback who was an emotional leader as much as he was an imposing physical being. (McCrorey began his football career at South Pointe as a defensive end; he’s getting recruited as a quarterback and a tight end in college.)
In late September, the team’s mettle was tested when it scored a season-low seven points in a 14-7 loss to Spring Valley, another 5A school. But instead of being pulled apart, the Stallions appeared to bring themselves closer together. They went on to rip off eight straight wins — delivering the program its eighth straight region championship and its eighth overall Upper State championship in the process.
And on Thursday, the Stallions finished the job.
South Pointe and Beaufort postseason history
South Pointe postseason history: Upper State titles (2008, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2021); State championships (2008, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2021). The school opened in 2005.
Beaufort postseason history: Lower State titles (1935, 1945, 2007, 2021); State championships (1935, 1945)
This story was originally published December 2, 2021 at 10:06 PM.
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