Rock Hill has big fourth quarter in Thursday night football victory

Rock Hill took advantage of two late Nation Ford turnovers to pull away for a 42-21 win Thursday night.

The teams traded touchdowns for most of the night, with a 1-yard sneak by Nation Ford quarterback Kaden Barnette tying the game at 21 with 9:24 left in the ballgame.

However, after Rock Hill scored a touchdown on its following possession, the Bearcats took advantage of two interceptions -- a pick-six by freshman Kaiden Watkins with 6:11 left in the game and a toe-tap interception on the sideline by senior Zy’kevius English with 5:30 left in the ball game-- to pull away from the Falcons.

A 43-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Matthew Wilson to junior wide receiver Malik Clark put the game away with 2:55 left.

Rock Hill head coach Bubba Pittman said his team fought throughout the game.

“I was really proud of them,” Pittman said. “The resiliency was huge tonight. It’s a tough football game. (Nation Ford head) Coach (Michael) Allen, man, his crew over there -- those kids are tough.

“They fight to the very end. We had to fight and battle and had to have some things go our way. The interceptions at the end gave us a bit of breathing room, so just proud of the kids’ resiliency. They didn’t hang their head at any point. They just kept playing ... I think we grew up a little bit.”

Allen said the mistakes Nation Ford made wiped out a solid effort.

The team had four turnovers, and blown coverages opened some big plays for Rock Hill. But Allen said those mishaps are fixable.

“Our kids are going to fight no matter what, and I’ve never questioned that about them,” he said. “But we’re not good enough to make that many mistakes and win a football game. It’s just that simple.

“Our guys are realists; they understand what we need to do to win. And we have to play at a very high level, especially in 5A football, to win football games like this against great teams like Rock Hill and the teams that we play.”

For Rock Hill, Wilson had 157 yards and two touchdowns through the air while picking up 68 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Senior running back Daylen Boulware ran for 169 yards on 29 attempts and two touchdowns.

For Nation Ford, junior running back Kaleb White picked up 225 rushing yards on 27 carries with a touchdown, while Barnette picked up a touchdown through the air and the ground.

Looking ahead

This win puts Rock Hill in position to win the region title.

Pittman said a region title is always the goal, but the Bearcats won’t overlook next week’s game at Blythewood. He said every game is going to be a challenge regardless of what has or has not been accomplished.

“We’re glad to be in this situation,” Pittman said. “We want to give our kids chances to play for championships. That’s one of the goals for our coaching staff is to play for a championship, whatever that looks like. Hopefully, we’re going to have that chance.”

Rock Hill (5-3, 3-0) will travel to Columbia to play Blythewood next Friday, while Nation Ford (3-5, 1-2) will face a home contest against Spring Valley.

Both games kickoff at 7:30 p.m.

This story was originally published October 13, 2023 at 9:01 AM.