Strong offense, defense powers Northwestern into the state playoff quarterfinals

Quarterback Finley Polk threw for 251 yards and five touchdowns as the Northwestern Trojans shutout the Greenwood Eagles 50-0 in the second round of the 4A state playoffs Saturday afternoon.

The game was pushed back to avoid the worst of Tropical Storm Nicole, and that extra day seemed to serve Northwestern well. The Trojans went into halftime leading 43-0 for the second consecutive week.

“Offensively, we were able to move the ball,” head coach Page Wofford said. “Run game, pass game really came through for us. We had a pretty good game plan against what we thought they were going to do, and they came out and that’s what they did. So we were feeling pretty good about that.”

The receiving trio of Greer Hopkins, Elijah Caldwell and Jayden Burris combined for 16 receptions for 195 yards and six touchdowns.

“We knew we had our great offensive line against their defensive line and linebackers,” Polk said. “And we knew we had an advantage there because we have one of the best o-lines in the state. But we knew that we had matchups in the secondary that we could just hit, and with their different coverages, we just had to go through our game plan and hit the stuff that we knew was going to be open.”

Turbo Richard rushed for 106 yards and a touchdown as the Trojans scored touchdowns on seven of their nine drives during the game.

For Greenwood, it was a disappointing end to their season.

The offense was shutout for the first time all season and generated only five first downs. Of the 66 total yards of offense the Eagles gained, 39 of them came on their final drive of the contest, which ended in a turnover on downs.

“Northwestern is a really good football team,” head coach Chris Liner said. “We had to play a whole lot better in order for us to have a chance to win, and we didn’t. So it’s a credit to them. I mean, they came to play. We did not.

“We were flat to come out. I don’t know why. But we were. We were coming off an exciting win last week. I thought we’d be all juiced up. We tried our best to get them juiced up. And, you know, that’s just the way it goes sometimes.”

Greenwood played with a rather green team on Saturday, utilizing a lot of freshmen and sophomores. Liner said he hopes this game will equip his team with the knowledge and experience to grow.

“It was a good experience for them,” Liner said. “Maybe not a fun experience, but they can take this, learn on it, and hopefully get us better as we roll into spring.”

Northwestern advances to the quarterfinals where they will play at home against Westside next week.

This story was originally published November 12, 2022 at 6:52 PM.