South Point Ruins Stuart Cramer’s Home Opener

                The Red Raiders came into this game a little short-handed with two starters out including SE/DB Ray Grier. Grier will miss the next two games as well. The Red Raiders were hoping to rebound from their 30-21 loss to Clover last week. After stopping the Storm on their opening drive, the Red Raiders got a drive of their own going. On fourth-and-three at the five-yard line, Naseem Jones would get South Point on the board with the five-yard touchdown run. Cade Ratliff’s kick made it 7-0.

                It was a defensive bout for most of the first half after that drive. The Red Raiders were backed up on third-and-22 midway through the second quarter. That’s when Keaton Hale connected with Devon King for a 59-yard touchdown pass. Ratliff’s kick made it 14-0. But the Storm would storm back with a drive of their own. Kaiser Kayton got Cramer on the board with a four-yard touchdown run. Devin Baldwin’s kick cut the lead to 14-7 and that’s what it would be at half-time.

                But the Red Raiders would take the game completely over in the second half. Naseem Jones’s 34-yard touchdown run would extend the Red Raiders’ lead back to 13. The extra point kick was blocked however. Jones would score again later in the third quarter with a touchdown run from 25 yards out. The two-point conversion failed however. Jones would cap the night off with a one-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter. Ratliff’s kick made the final 33-7.

                Naseem Jones led South Point’s offense with 254 yards rushing and four touchdowns.

                “It’s a good win. It’s a good bounce back from Clover. It was a hard-fought game down there. They have a good ball club.” Said South Point head coach Adam Hodge “It’s good to come back and put our nose down and battle a little bit. It’s a good game. We got going in the second half and I told them that I’m proud of the way we played. We played like South Point tonight.”

                “We got to be able to respond to some adversity.” Hodge said about the first half “First half, tight ball game. It’s a good game. We got going in the second half and I told them that I’m proud of the way we played. We played like South Point tonight.”

                “We got to be able to respond to some adversity.” Hodge said about the first half “First half, tight ball game (14-7). I told the guys we got to learn to play four full quarters. We have to play 48 minutes. We got to win the bye week. We don’t have a game next week but we have an opponent. You’re either getting better or you’re getting worse. Ashbrook’s got a great football team I’m sure and we got to get ready for conference after that.”

                “We felt like we had chances in the first half.” Said Stuart Cramer head coach Ben McMillan “We didn’t execute well offensively. They got their offense going and were hard to stop. We just couldn’t get our offense going. Hopefully, we learn from that and get better from it. Kings Mountain is a really good football team so we have to get ready to face a tough opponent next week.”

                The Storm travels to play Kings Mountain next week. South Point will have their bye before facing Ashbrook the following week.