Northwestern Trojans start fast, crush Greenwood

Northwestern certainly believes in fast starts.

The Trojans scored on their first possession of the game for the fourth time in four contests, managing five scores on six first-half tries in a 52-7 victory against Greenwood at Rock Hill’s District 3 Stadium on Friday night.

Northwestern’s stout defense also played its part, forcing five punts and a turnover on downs on Greenwood’s first six possessions, before a Jack Pierce 32-yard field-goal attempt sailed wide left at the halftime buzzer. The Trojans took a 31-0 lead into the locker room.

The host Trojans continued to control the tempo in the second half, limiting the Eagles to just five possessions.

Aside from the late return of an intercepted Northwestern pass and a lost fumble, those possessions all ended in punts.

The Trojans posted 603 yards in total offense, holding the Eagles to just 185 yards.

Turning point

The opening possession: Northwestern took the first drive 57 yards in three plays, culminating in a 58-yard touchdown strike from Gage Moloney to Jordan Starkes. The Trojans never looked back from that possession.

“I feel like coach (James) West, our strength coach, (is the key). We’ve kind of changed out the way we’ve done pregame, and coach West has done a great job in getting our guys ready,” said Northwestern coach Kyle Richardson.

“We feel like when we get off the bus, we’re ready to roll. I feel like what he’s doing with them before we ever get off the bus here at the stadium is really helping us (be) ready to roll.”

Critical

Northwestern saw its string of 111 unanswered points end on a Will Hagood pick-six.

Greenwood’s Jeremiah Black returned the errant pass 85 yards for the Eagles’ lone score, with 6:36 to play.

“Obviously, we liked what we got last week (in a 59-0 win against Irmo), and we loved the effort we got tonight,” said Richardson.” Now we’ve got to go back to work on Sunday, but we’re not taking for granted that the defense has had two shutouts against two really athletic quarterbacks in back-to-back weeks.”

Star contributions

Moloney completed 21-of-22 passes for 449 yards and six touchdowns. Moloney’s first pass was incomplete, but he did not miss again before being pulled for Hagood with the game in hand.

Moloney also rushed nine times for 69 yards and a touchdown.

“Gage just had a great week of practice. He’s getting better every week,” said Richardson. “Tonight we felt like we could throw the ball a little bit if they gave us some looks that we felt like they were going to give us, and they did. He did a good job of taking everything that we had worked on, really mentally, this week in the film room, and he just came out and executed. He was well-prepared and ready.”

Overheard

Northwestern faces South Pointe next week at District 3 South. Richardson acknowledged the challenge awaiting the Trojans.

“I’m not going to lie, (the win) feels good. It’s a top-10 matchup, and our kids were ready for the challenge,” said Richardson before turning his attention to the Stallions. “We’ve just got to keep working.

“We’ve got to keep the effort level high. These kids have responded really well. Our pregame speech today was about not getting too low and not getting too high, and that’s just something we’ve got to continue to preach.”

Box score

Northwestern 52, Greenwood 7

SCORING SUMMARY

First quarter

N – Gage Moloney 58 pass to Jordan Starkes (Thomas Gettys kick) 9:57

N – Gettys 20 field goal 6:16

N – Moloney 31 pass to Grant Kirk (Gettys kick) 1:32

Second quarter

N – Moloney 46 pass to Julian Shockley (Gettys kick) 6:36

N – Moloney 11 pass to Jamario Holley (Gettys kick) 2:08

Third quarter

N – Moloney 47 run (Gettys kick) 11:34

N – Moloney 65 pass to J. Shockley (Karrin Prioleau kick) 6:25

N – Moloney 18 pass to Dequez Harris (Prioleau kick) 1:18

Fourth quarter

G – Jeremiah Black 85 interception return (Pierce kick) 6:36

TEAM STATISTICS

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING Greenwood-CJ Jackson 7-25; Roshun Jackson 10-19; Malik Carter 9-14; Rayshawn Moss 4-8; Michael Johnson 3-minus 2. Northwestern-Gage Moloney 9-69; Jerry Howard 11-32; Dequez Harris 4-16; Brandon Ashley 6-minus 2; Will Hagood 2-minus 10.

PASSING Greenwood-Roshun Jackson 8-18-0-89; CJ Jackson 2-6-0-32. Northwestern-Gage Moloney 21-22-0-449; Will Hagood 4-7-1-49.

RECEIVING Greenwood-Sam Pinckney 8-116; Jamir Watts 1-3; Malik Carter 1-2. Northwestern-Julian Shockley 7-169; Jamario Holley 6-129; Cory McCoy 3-37; Jordan Starkes 2-57; Grant Kirk 2-35; Dequez Harris 2-34; Rodney Brown 1-21; Brandon Ashley 1-10; Logan Rudolph 1-6.

RECORDS Greenwood 1-2; Northwestern 3-1.

On deck

Greenwood is at Spartanburg next Friday; Northwestern is at South Pointe.

This story was originally published September 11, 2015 at 11:12 PM with the headline "Northwestern Trojans start fast, crush Greenwood."