South Point staves off rally, two-point conversion for hard-fought victory

                The South Point Red Raiders advance again. But it sure was not an easy task as they watched a 28-14 lead wither away down the stretch. But were able to hold on for a 28-27 lead after stopping West Rowan on a two-point conversion try. The Red Raiders were also down 14-7 at half-time.

                “I thought our character was tested tonight. Our kids showed their character” said South Point head coach Mickey Lineberger “They have a great football and they are very physical. We are blessed to play four more quarters. It was up to our kids to cover each other’s backs. At times our offense played great. At times our defense played great.”

                Falcons quarterback Casey Otto got things going for the Falcons early. After a kickoff return all the way to the South Point 20-yard line, Otto capped off the drive with a seven-yard touchdown pass to Kortez Weeks. Austin Morrison’s extra point made it 7-0.

                But you knew it would not take South Point long to respond. The Red Raiders capped off a drive of their own with a three-yard run by Nolan Wilson. Thomas Lempereur tied the game with the extra point kick. But before the half expired, the Falcons put another score on the board. This time, it was on a two-yard run by Casey Otto. Morrison nailed the extra point for the 14-7 half-time lead.

                The Red Raiders received the ball in the second half and did not waste an opportunity. Ryland Etherton’s one-yard touchdown run and Lempereur’s extra point tied the game at 14-14. Things got worse before they got better for the Falcons. Diontre Kings 19-yard touchdown run and Nolan Wilson’s 12-yard touchdown run put the Red Raiders up 28-14.

                Then it was the Falcons’ turn to respond. West Rowan cut South Point’s lead with an Otto 29-yard touchdown pass to Juwan Houston. After stopping South Point on the ensuing drive, the Falcons struck again with just second remaining. Otto hit Kreshon Alexander for a three-yard touchdown strike.

                The Falcons opted to go for the win on a two-point conversion try but were unsuccessful.

                “Our kids fought like crazy and gave us a chance to win.” said West Rowan head coach Joe Nixon. Nixon said this about the failed two-point try “We game planned all week that if we were in this situation, we would go for the win. It’s easy to second guess it when it doesn’t work. Each time you play after Thanksgiving you had a great season. I’m proud of our kids.”

                South Point will advance to play Kings Mountain, a 28-13 winner over Hibriten.

                “Kings Mountain has a great football team.” Lineberger said “At this stage of the game, they’re all going to be tough. You have to win tough games to be a state champion.”

                “Our coaches do such a great job in preparing these kids. We have 350 years coaching experience and three former head coaches on staff.”

                                Rylan Etherton led South Point with 150 yards and a touchdown. JT Starr recorded two interceptions for the Red Raider defense.

Etherton, King, Defense Propel South Point To The Third Round

                South Point fullback, Ryland Etherton, and quarterback, Diontre King, had big nights for South Point in their 42-21 dominant win over Statesville. But it was the defense that set the tone early. Deep in their own territory, the Greyhounds went to a lateral play that fell to the turf. The Red Raiders’ Nick Farmer picked up the loose ball and took it 32 yards for the touchdown.

                Statesville could not get anything going on their next drive. South Point, on the other hand, had no trouble moving the ball down field on their first drive. Etherton extended the Red Raiders’ lead to 14-0 with a 12-yard dash into the end zone. The Greyhounds responded early in the second quarter. Nakendrick Clark got the Greyhounds on the board with 13-yard touchdown run. Zach Nicholson’s kick cut South Point’s lead to 14-7.

                But the Red Raiders kept pouring it on. Etherton made it a two-score game again with a five-yard touchdown run. Thomas Lempereur’s kick made it 21-7. South Point looked like they were going to go up by three scores before the half when Tyler Hall intercepted a Travis Ramseur pass and returned it to the one-yard line. But a personal foul penalty brought it back to the 37 yard line. South Point opted to just melt the clock and go into half-time up 21-7.

                The second half would keep getting better for South Point and keep getting worse for Statesville. On their second drive of the second half, the Red Raiders went up by three scores with an eight yard run by King. The Greyhounds cut the lead again with a 13-yard run by Ramseur on a quarterback keeper.

                But each time Statesville showed a spark, the Red Raiders knocked it out by scoring more points. Etherton responded with a one-yard touchdown plunge. The score was 35-14 at that point. The Greyhounds kept fighting. Ramseur’s 33-yard touchdown pass to Tyrek Morrison and Zach Nicholson’s extra point kick cut the lead to 14 points again.

                Statesville attempted an onside kick but it was unsuccessful. The Red Raiders scored on that drive with another Etherton one-yard run.

                Ryland Etherton led South Point with 215 yards rushing and three touchdowns. Diontre King amassed 104 yards and a touchdown. Thomas Lempereur was six-for-six on his extra point kicks.

                The Red Raiders also avenge their playoff loss to Statesville back in 2012. The Greyhounds won 27-21.

                “We came out and we got a bad break to start out the ball game with a little disputable call there on the backwards pass that gave them seven. That gave them momentum and we never quite recovered.” said Statesville head coach Randall Gusler “They (South Point) have a really good football team. They play really hard and you can’t make mistakes. We made a couple mistakes tonight that gave them some touchdowns and that was the difference in the ball game. I’m really proud of the way our guys fought back. We didn’t lay down and quit.”

                “I think this is the best effort. I think we’re peaking at the right time. This is the best football game we’ve played.” said South Point head coach Mickey Lineberger “They have run ten kickoffs and punt returns for touchdowns. We did a great job punting. We did a great job kicking off. We hit all our extra points. Our special teams unit is strong. Defensively, that was a great way to start the game by getting that lateral, picking it up and scoring. Statesville has so many weapons. You are not going to shut people like that out. We are not going to find anybody with more athletes than what they have.”

                “It’s big! Our seniors were freshmen and they remember that night, 27-21, we had five turnovers. We did not play our best football that night.” Lineberger said about avenging the loss to Statesville three years ago “This season has been about taking care of business and settling scores and we’ve been doing pretty good at that. I am proud of our guys and our coaching staff for getting them ready to play.”

                South Point will play West Rowan. The Falcons beat the West Henderson Falcons 41-19. West Rowan is another team the Red Raiders have history with. The Falcons whipped South Point 35-7 in 2008. The Red Raiders played them again in the playoffs two years ago. South Point won that matchup 28-7.

East Gaston Starts Fast, But Falls Against Hibriten

                Early on, it looked like the #5 seed East Gaston Warriors were going to run away with the game. They jumped out to a 14-0 lead with a 27-yard touchdown run by Tyler Spurling and a 15-yard touchdown pass from Nick Ferens to Kyle Truett. But on the first play in the second quarter, the tide started to turn. Hibriten quarterback, Trey Ellis, scored from the one-yard line on a quarterback sneak. Noah Haney’s kick cut the lead to 14-7.

                The Warriors would respond. The Warriors were lined up on the punt formation, but it was a fake as Nick Ferens tossed the ball to Nash Jamison and he took it the distance for a 48-yard touchdown. Ivan Serrano’s kick gave East Gaston a 14-point lead again. But the lead would evaporate.

                Hibriten went on a tear. A ten-yard touchdown run by Jamar Ferguson, a three-yard run by Chris Scott and a five-yard touchdown pass from Ellis to David Patterson put Hibriten up 28-21 at half-time. That pass play came with just seconds left in the half.

In the second half, the Panthers extended their lead. Ellis would score another touchdown with his arm. He would hit Darius Cotton for a 34-yard touchdown pass. Haney’s kick gave the Panthers their largest lead of the night at 35-21.

                But the Warriors were not done. Robert Washington Jr. finally got into the scoring column with a two-yard touchdown run. Serrano’s extra point cut the lead to seven. But that would be as close as East Gaston would get. The Warriors could not get anything going on offense and their defense could not stop the Panthers’ triple-option attack. The Panthers added another score before it was all said and done. Chris Scott’s 16-yard run for a touchdown and Will Killian’s run for the two-point conversion put the nail in the coffin.

                “It’s a big win for us tonight. I am excited at how our kids played and how they handled adversity.” said Hibriten head coach Clay Lewis “A true test of a man’s character is how he handles adversity.”

                “I never thought we didn’t have a chance.” Lewis said after being down 14-0 and 21-7 “We got some breaks here and there. Getting those points helped us out when we scored on that touchdown pass at the end of the first half.”

                “We had opportunities. We just didn’t cash in.” said East Gaston head coach Sean Joyce “We had two costly turnovers. We had a couple of stops, but sputtered.”

                “Our program is heading in the right direction. Two wins in 2012, three wins in 2013, five wins last year and seven wins this year. That’s a credit to the young men that bought into it. What a great group of young men. These guys have matured.”

                Joyce also mentioned that the Warriors lose a lot of seniors, but have plenty of talented players returning for next year.

                Hibriten, a #12 seed in the 3A West, will be home next week to host conference foe, St. Stephens. The Indians, a #13 seed, upset #4 Pisgah 14-13.

Gaston, Lincoln and Cleveland Round 1 Playoff Picks

3AA

#15 Piedmont                              7
#2 Crest                                       48

#14 Ashbrook                              14
#3 A.C. Reynolds                        34

#9 North Henderson                    14
#8 Kings Mountain                      31

3A

#15 Southwest Randolph            7
#2 South Point                            42

#14 Forestview                           21
#3 West Henderson                    14

#12 Hibriten                               28
#5 East Gaston                           42

2AA

#15 Smoky Mountain                14
#2 East Lincoln                          48

2A

#16 West Wilkes                       7
#1 Shelby                                  51

#11 Lexington                           13
#6 Lincolnton                            38

1AA

#14 Bessemer City                    14
#3 East Surry                             41

1A

#10 Winston-Salem Prep           24
#7 Mountain Island Charter       21
#13 Albemarle                           14
#4 Thomas Jefferson Academy 17

Warriors Clinch Second Place In Wild Finish

                Many probably figured it would be an offensive shootout between the two teams. But how many people would have thought that a total of 104 points would be scored? That was the case in East Gaston’s 56-48 come from behind victory over Forestview.

                The Jaguars jumped out to a fast start. Colton Guthrie threw to Jared Carter who then lateraled it to Moe Neal for a 60-yard hook-and-lateral touchdown score. Dylan Disarro’s extra point kick gave Forestview a 7-0 lead. East Gaston responded. Quarterback Alex Adams hit Nick Ferens for a four-yard touchdown strike. Ivan Serrano’s extra point tied it up.

                The Jaguars struck again with an 11-yard run by Moe Neal. Following an East Gaston fumble, the Jaguars extended the lead with a Guthrie 38-yard touchdown pass to Jared Carter. Disarro’s kick for the extra point made it 21-7. The Warriors fought back, though. Tyler Spurling’s 48-yard touchdown run cut the Jaguars’ lead to 21-13. The two-point conversion try would fail however.

                The Jaguars kept pouring it on in the first half. Guthrie threw for another touchdown pass. This time it was a 69-yard deep pass to Josh Green. The defense got in on the scoring fun also. An Adams incomplete pass that was deemed a backwards pass was scooped up by Josh Freeman and returned 25 yards for a touchdown. Disarro was 5-for-5 on extra points in the first half.

                The Warriors put another score on the board before the half was over. Robert Washington Jr.’s two-yard touchdown run and Serrano’s kick cut the lead to 35-20.

                In the second half, Forestview picked up right where they left off. Moe Neal’s three-yard run and Disarro’s extra point made it a three score game at 42-20. But the Warriors went on a tear after that. Washington’s 16-yard touchdown run and three touchdown passes by Adams (two to Ferens and one to Nash Jamison) gave the Warriors a 49-42 lead. Ferens’ touchdown catches were 86 and 22 yards respectively. Jamison’s reception was from 34 yards out.

                The Jaguars did strike back in the fourth quarter with less than six minutes left with a one-yard touchdown run by Neal. The Jaguars elected to go for two, but it failed. The Jaguar defense was unable to stop the Warrior offense. Spurling’s 43-yard touchdown run and Serrano’s extra point put East Gaston up by eight. The Jaguars would need a touchdown and a two-point conversion to tie it up. But it would not be as the Warriors kept them out of the end zone.

                “We definitely rallied at half-time and played as a team.” said Robert Washington, Jr. “We had a bad first half. Coach Joyce told us to keep our heads up in the second half.”

                “Sometimes the offense works off the defense and sometimes the defense works off the offense. We are a hard train to stop once we get rolling.” Washington added.

                “Huge!” Alex Adams said of the win “Team came together in the second half and we played with heart we never had before. I’ve never been part of something like this before. Best season since 2006.”

                “Wow! What a game.” said East Gaston head coach Sean Joyce “What a way to finish this regular season. It’s been a struggle at points. At points we played great. At times we struggled both offensively and defensively. This group has matured so much from what we’ve been through. I’m very proud of these young men.”

                “This is my fifth year as a head coach. This group of freshmen, they were freshmen four years ago, built in to what we’re doing. They have bought in. They’ve worked really hard. They’ve been through a lot of tough times and to be able to take all that and use that for the good to get a win tonight, it just speaks to those guys. They’ve done everything they needed to do to put themselves in a situation to be successful.”

                “Give East Gaston a lot of credit. They kept fighting.” said Forestview head coach Chris Medlin “Being up 42-20, we ought to be able to hang on and we just didn’t. That’s twice it’s happened to us, get a 21-point lead and lose it.”

History Tidbits

This is twice in three weeks the Jaguars held a 20+ point lead during the game, only to lose down the stretch. Prior to this season, that has only happened twice to Forestview. The first time was in 2002 when the Jaguars held a 28-7 lead over East Gaston. The Warriors rallied to beat the Jaguars 35-34. In 2007, Forestview held a 42-20 lead over Hunter Huss. The Jaguars blew the lead and wound up losing 55-52.

There was another time the Jaguars blew a 21 point lead. That was in 2013 in the first round of the playoffs against Jesse Carson. The Jaguars jumped out to 35-14 lead in the first half. Carson rallied to tie it up at half-time and took the lead early in the third quarter. The Jaguars did go on to win that game 63-48.

East Gaston has not beaten Forestview at home since 1998. The Warriors won 14-0. The other times the Warriors beat the Jaguars (’02, ’04, and ’06) were at Forestview.

East Gaston will host a playoff game for the first time since 2006. That was the year they were Big South 3A/2A conference co-champs with Crest. They went on to the third round of the playoffs that year, losing to West Charlotte 35-25.

Gaston, Lincoln and Cleveland Week 12 Picks

Big South 3A/2A

(5-5)(4-2) Forestview                     42
(6-4)(4-2) East Gaston                    35

(5-5)(2-4) Stuart Cramer                7
(8-2)(6-0) South Point                    49

(5-5)(3-3) Ashbrook                        34
(3-7)(2-4) Hunter Huss                   27

(4-6)(2-4) Lake Norman Charter    13
(3-7)(1-5) North Gaston                  20

Southern District 2A

(8-2)(5-1) Lincolnton                       34
(8-2)(5-1) Maiden                            20

(10-0)(6-0) East Lincoln                  49
(4-6)(1-5) West Lincoln                   6

(5-5)(2-4) Newton-Conover           28
(2-8)(2-4) Bandys                             14

(6-4)(3-3) West Caldwell               48
(2-8)(0-6) Bunker Hill                     14

South Mountain 3A/2A

(10-0)(7-0) Crest                               21
(10-0)(7-0) Shelby                            14

(8-2)(5-2) Kings Mountain             28
(6-4)(5-2) East Burke                      14

(5-5)(2-5) R-S Central                     20
(3-7)(1-6) Burns                               14

(2-8)(0-7) Chase                              7
(4-6)(2-5) East Rutherford            27

Southern Piedmont 1A

(3-7)(2-3) Bessemer City                34
(1-9)(1-3) Cherryville                      20

(0-9)(0-5) Highland Tech                               0
(7-2)(3-2) Thomas Jefferson Academy       55

(10-0)(5-0) Pine Lake Prep                                           35
(8-2)(4-1) Community School of Davidson                28

(5-5)(0-0) Trinity Academy (TN)                                 13
(5-5)(1-3) Mountain Island Charter                           27

Other

(7-3)(4-2) Lake Norman                 35
(3-7)(2-4) North Lincoln                 14