South Pointe, Northwestern meet the media Monday at state championship press conferences

High school football state championship week kicked off with Monday’s press conferences at the South Carolina High School League offices in Columbia.

South Pointe (home team) vs. Midland Valley

▪ Midland Valley coach Rick Knight is appearing in his first state championship game as a head coach, with his only other appearance coming as an assistant in 1986 at Silver Bluff. Knight - who has been a football coach for 36 years - made some fans among the media members present Monday with his dry wit. Asked to give a brief synopsis of his offensive and defensive schemes, he responded, “Offensively we’re trying to score. Defensively, we’re trying to stop them.”

▪ Even if it is Midland Valley’s first ever appearance in a state championship football game, eight Mustangs players aren’t strangers to success after winning the 2015 3A basketball state championship. Quarterback Daniel Carr was a star contributor to Midland Valley’s championship run, culminating with a win over A.C. Flora in the final.

“Having the success that they had just makes them want to have more success,” said Knight. “Of course we like to say we had eight football players on the basketball team. But they have provided great leadership for us.”

▪ Knight called South Pointe quarterback Greg Ruff, “a left-handed version of our quarterback,” Carr. Both are smaller-sized quarterbacks that can extend plays with their legs. Carr, who missed several games earlier in the season with a shoulder injury, has rushed for 735 yards and 11 touchdowns, and completed 126-of-223 passes for 1,588 yards and 16 touchdowns. Carr’s cousin, Dre’kwon Carr, is the team’s leading rusher with over 2,000 yards and 17 touchdowns.

Northwestern vs. Lexington (home team)

▪ Northwestern coach Kyle Richardson started the 4A Division II press conference with a clever quip.

“I’d like to start this press conference off with an official sponsor, Head and Shoulders,” said Richardson, grinning as he looked over at Lexington coach Josh Stepp. “Actually, Dollar Shave Club,” he added quickly. Both coaches sport shiny bald heads.

▪ Like Northwestern, Lexington lost its season-opener to a ranked team away from home - Westside in the Wildcats’ case - before ripping off 13 straight win to reach the state championship game.

“We never set out to win 13 in a row,” said Stepp. “We really really preached the mantra of 1-0 every week and our kids buy into that. We’ve been very fortunate to win 13 in a row.”

Northwestern’s nine-point loss on the road at Byrnes back in August never dented the Trojans’ belief that they could be playing in a state championship several months later.

“At Northwestern we put all the focus on winning the region, setting yourself up for a good bracket, and then from there we want to be playing on the last week of the season,” said Richardson. “So the Byrnes game, it was big, but it was bigger in growing the 2015 version of our football team.”

▪ Lexington is a spread offensive team that prefers to run the football, but can certainly throw it when necessary.

“We want to get off as many snaps as we can,” said Stepp, “play with great tempo.”

Like Midland Valley, the Wildcats have a 2,000-yard rusher in Slade Carroll, but he’ll be tested by an impressive Northwestern run defense that held Nation Ford to negative yards rushing last Friday - partly because of sack yardage - the 10th opponent the Trojans have kept below the century mark this season.

Ticket information

▪ Northwestern will sell state championship football game tickets beginning Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the athletic department office. Tickets cost $10 for everyone. Northwestern plays Lexington at 6 p.m. Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia.

▪ South Pointe will sell its state championship football tickets beginning Tuesday in the athletic department, and also at Double B Graphix, located at 924 Heckle Blvd.

This story was originally published December 7, 2015 at 5:35 PM with the headline "South Pointe, Northwestern meet the media Monday at state championship press conferences."