South Pointe Stallions hold off Richland Northeast Cavaliers

If Friday night’s Richland Northeast-South Pointe second-round playoff contest were to have taken place a year in the future, it would be a Region 3-4A contest, thanks to realignment.

A hard-fought battle between the two future region foes went the Stallions’ way Friday night, though, as they knocked off the visiting Cavaliers 34-24 at District 3 South Stadium.

“That was a hard-fought game. Richland Northeast, I can’t say enough about them. I’ve got to give them a lot of credit,” a visibly relieved South Pointe coach Strait Herron said.

“Coach Frye’s a great guy and he does a great job. That was a good win for us. I told our guys that was going to be a tough one.”

South Pointe (11-1) led 17-0 approaching the half, and seemed set to extend the lead. However, two Stallion fumbles led to Cavalier scores, giving South Pointe a much slimmer 17-12 advantage at the break.

Richland Northeast (6-6) quickly marched down the field to start the third quarter, taking the lead. The Cavaliers scored just once more, though, as the Stallions responded. Four of the Cavaliers’ six second-half possessions ended either in punts or turnovers on downs.

The Stallions advance to the third round of the playoffs next week and play at Seneca, who defeated Chapman 55-14 earlier Friday night.

Turning point

South Pointe committed its third turnover of the game on their first possession of the third quarter, as a wide receiver screen hit the turf. Richland Northeast recovered on the Stallion 24, and appeared ready to extend its one-point advantage. South Pointe came up with a huge stop on fourth-and-five to gain a turnover on downs. The Stallions then marched 77 yards in 2:29, with a Voshon St. Hill 3-yard plunge punctuating the drive.

“We had several big stops, but I think that was the one that gave us the momentum to get the offense back out there to get us going again,” said Herron. Definitely, that was a huge stop.”

Critical

After a Barry Moorer 32-yard touchdown run for Richland Northeast, South Pointe’s next offensive possession saw the Stallions with a 4th-and-six at the Cavalier 19. A five-yard Cavalier penalty brought the field goal unit off the field, and the Stallions converted the 4th-and-one to extend the drive.

Greg Ruff hit Nick McCloud in the corner of the end zone to give the Stallions a 31-24 lead as the fourth quarter began.

Star contributions

Ruff completed 19-of-31 passes for 248 yards and three scores. The senior quarterback also carried 12 times for 63 yards. Voshon St. Hill carried 17 times for 146 yards for the Stallions, with Josh Wilkes catching six passes for 80 yards.

Richland Northeast’s Moorer ran 19 times for 124 yards, bouncing off defenders for a nifty touchdown run. Tyquandre Davis ran 11 times for 58 yards, and had a 47-yard score on a pop pass. Quarterback Aloysius Jackson ran 16 times for 76 yards out of the ride read.

Overheard

“That’s the main thing, is to keep our focus and understand that they want us,” said Herron of Seneca, the Stallions’ next opponent. “We’ve got to get our minds right to do some things better than we did tonight.”

This story was originally published November 20, 2015 at 10:57 PM with the headline "South Pointe Stallions hold off Richland Northeast Cavaliers."