Lancaster eager to get out from under South Pointe’s shadow

Put your hand under Quay Brown’s and the South Pointe senior’s massive paw casts a shadow, removing the smaller one from sight.

South Pointe has the same kind of effect on 3A football. The Stallions have won 22 straight 3A football games, dating back to 2011, and 31 out of 32 all-time in the classification, including two state titles. With the South Carolina High School League moving to five classifications, 2015 is likely South Pointe’s last run in 3A. Lancaster wants to make sure it doesn’t end unblemished.

The No. 8-ranked Bruins (7-0, 2-0 Region 3-3A) travel to Rock Hill to take on the bullies from up the road Friday night in a matchup of 3A top-10 teams. This rivalry is just getting good, and it will continue in the coming years when both teams join the same region in the new-look 4A classification, along with York. They played a classic last season, used-to-big-games South Pointe (6-1, 2-0) emerging from Lancaster with a 14-7 win, but knowing they’d been in a scrap.

“You can tell by the way Lancaster plays that coach (Bobby) Collins has them playing the right way,” said Strait Herron, South Pointe’s fifth-year coach. “They’re playing hard. I would say that they’re mentally prepared for it. We hope that the experience, our experiences have helped us.”

Bobby Collins’ Lancaster program has quickly turned around in his year and a half at the helm, and at 7-0, the Bruins are off to their best start ever. They have as good a chance as ever to get out from under South Pointe’s shadow.

“I’m proud of my guys,” said Collins, “because they’ve been staying humble, they’ve been staying hungry. I’m just glad we’ve been consistent. Not turning the football over, bending a little on defense but not breaking. I’ve been proud of those guys so far.”

The game matches two teams that have clear offensive identities, that actually live up to their mascots. If left free to stretch their legs, the Stallions trample opponents with big plays in the passing game, whether screens or jump balls. If not confronted at the line of scrimmage, the Bruins single-mindedly crush opponents like they smell a distant picnic. That mindset is embodied by four senior offensive linemen and a senior tight end, and two of the area’s top-five rushers in Ant Foster and Farrika Grier. Lancaster’s clearly-honed aesthetic - think Pittsburgh Steelers - makes Herron wary.

“What I’m most concerned about is playing a physical game,” he said. “We haven’t played a really, really physical team since Vance.”

Lancaster averages 7.1 yards per carry; the Bruins’ strengths confront South Pointe’s perceived weakness: up front on both sides of the ball. But the defending 3A state champs present problems as well, namely big-play ability. Sophomore Derion Kendrick, for example, has caught four touchdown passes, run for a touchdown, thrown for one and last week returned a punt for a score. Kendrick, Brown, Josh Wilkes, Chris Smith and Nick McCloud all have Division I offers, and more than a few.

Asked what weaknesses he saw in South Pointe, Collins turned the question around.

“They’re a state championship football team with a bunch of Division I players, so I think they do a lot well.”

The Bruins’ ball-control offense will be as crucial a form of defense as any against the Stallions’ free-flowing athleticism.

“We’re trying to make sure every drive is at least a four-minute offensive drive,” said Collins. “We’re not in no hurry. We want to keep the defense off the field.”

Last season’s contest gave Lancaster a blueprint for how to beat the Stallions, but Collins’ team didn’t finish the job; it had the ball inside South Pointe’s 30-yard line four times but only scored once. Lancaster will have to show the kind of ruthlessness that’s been a hallmark of South Pointe football since the school began playing about 10 years ago. This year, that might mean involving the kicker, Trevor Latham, a little more.

“When you have as many seniors as we had last year, I didn’t want to go out without giving those guys a chance to put themselves in the end zone,” said Collins. “I have a senior kicker and I’m gonna give him the opportunity to win the football game for us.”

Brown, the senior receiver with the giant mitts and a permanent spot on QB Greg Ruff’s radar, and the rest of the Stallions took note of Lancaster after last year’s game. They know Friday night’s Homecoming game will be a scrap.

“It’s really being mature,” said Brown. “You can’t just let us winning the state championship get to your head. You have to come out every week prepared, and Lancaster isn’t a team that’s gonna let up just because we’ve won a state championship.”

This story was originally published October 15, 2015 at 8:14 PM with the headline "Lancaster eager to get out from under South Pointe’s shadow."