High school football roundup: South Pointe squeaks past Union County on late field goal

B.T. Potter’s first two initials stand for Ben Thomas, but Thursday night they may as well have been “Big Time.”

The South Pointe sophomore kicker hit 1-of-2 field goals in the final seconds of the Stallions’ clash with Union County, with the second winning the game 17-14. Potter missed a 43-yard kick in lashing wind and rain as time expired, but he and the Stallions were handed a life-line when Union County was assessed the rare penalty of roughing the center, in this case Potter’s older brother Paul-Michael.

“That’s one of those rules you forget about,” said South Pointe coach Strait Herron. “But hey, it helped us so I’m all for it.”

Union County was flagged again after the play for junk-talking the referee. The second kick - see Thomas Norby's video of the kick here - was essentially a point-after try.

“It felt good because I knew I would get another chance,” said Potter on Friday. “I felt like I could make it for sure.”

And he did. Potter even successfully avoided his on-rushing teammates intent on tackling him in celebration after the 3-pointer sailed through.

Potter’s late kick rescued a win on a less than ideal Thursday for the Stallions (5-1). They didn’t play well, had short notice that the game was moved, arrived at Union County (1-5) to find no locker rooms or shelter for visiting teams, and then tried to get fired up in crummy weather. No. 2 South Pointe trailed 6-0 at the half and 14-0 in the third quarter, before rallying to tie the game through Greg Ruff’s touchdown run and his scoring pass to Quay Brown.

It wasn’t a thing of beauty. All that matters for the defending state champions, though, is a 1-0 record in Region 3-3A.

“The whole day, everything from 12:30 on was out of whack,” said Herron. “We never got up the whole game. We’re lucky we were able to hang on.”

Late Thursday

Great Falls 16, C.A. Johnson 12

Great Falls broke through in the win column, beating Region 3-A opponent C.A. Johnson 16-12 on Thursday night,

Central 20, Indian Land 0

Indian Land dropped its second game in a row, losing 20-0 to the Eagles in Pageland. Indian Land steps out of region play next week, traveling to Mid-Carolina.

This story was originally published October 2, 2015 at 4:37 PM with the headline "High school football roundup: South Pointe squeaks past Union County on late field goal."