March 18, 2024

SOUTH POINT WINS OPENER AGAINST LINCOLNTON

SOUTH POINT OVERCOMES EARLY MISTAKE TO DEFEAT LINCOLNTON

Lincolnton – The Lincolnton Wolves hosted the South Point Red Raiders on Friday night when both teams kicked off the 2022 football season.  The visiting Red Raiders outscored the host Wolves by a score of 28-13 in a hard fought, entertaining opening game.

Lincolnton took the opening kickoff but were forced to punt the ball away after failing to move the chains.  South Point set up for their first possession at their own 35.   Quarterback Elijah Phifer got off to a shaky start when his first pass attempt wound up the hands of Lincolnton defender Andrew Phelps.  Phelps picked the pass at the Red Raiders 40 and returned the ball inside the South Point 20 to set the Wolves up with a very short field.  Six plays later Andre Bost scored on quarterback keeper from one yard out and Deandre Smith’s point after gave the home team a quick 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter.

South Point relied on the bread and butter “Red Bone” offense on their second possession and after nine rushing plays fullback Cam Medlock broke free down the left side for a 17-yard touchdown run.  Charles Birtwistle added his first of four extra points to knot the score at 7-7 with less than three minutes left in the first quarter.

The Wolves were able to move the ball downfield on their next possession that spilled over into the second quarter.  On the first play of the second quarter Bost went for it all on a 36-yard pass attempt but he overshot his receiver and South Point defender Jaquis Rumph snagged his first interception for the season at the one and returned it out to the Lincolnton 27 but a penalty pushed the Red Raiders back to their own 12.  Undeterred by the poor field position, South Point went on a slow and steady, 88-yard drive that took over nine minutes off the clock.  Cam Medlock scored his second of three touchdowns to cap off the drive on a one-yard full back dive play.

South Point took the kickoff to open the second half and promptly went to work using a mixture of passes and runs on a touchdown drive that took over five minutes off the clock.  Medlock capped the drive with his third touchdown on a two-yard run to give the Red Raiders a comfortable 21-7 lead.

South Point added a fourth touchdown in the fourth quarter when Harrison McKinney scored on a dazzling 24 yard run to push the visitors out to a commanding 28-7 lead with just over eight minutes left in the contest.

Lincolnton added their final score with just over four minutes remaining when Khamoni Heath got to the edge and raced 22 yards down the left side-line for the final points of the game. 

South Point’s offense totaled 322 yards with 279 yards rushing and 43 yards passing.  Phifer went 3-5-1 in the passing department with Aaron Chaney snagging two passes for 22 yards and Jackson Blee had one catch for 21 yards.  Fullback Cam Medlock was the work horse for the South Point ground attack with 117 yards on 18 carries.  Phifer had 27 yards on 9 carries, Dawson Tobin had 28 yards on five carries, McKinney had 65 yards on 8 carries and Patrick Blee came off the bench to gain 42 yards on 8 attempts.  The Red Raiders moved the chains 17 times, they were penalized 6 times for 65 yards, and they had one turnover on the first half interception.

The Lincolnton Wolves could only muster 84 yards with their rushing attack but their aerial attack netted 106 yards.  Quarterback Andre Bost completed 10 of 15 passes and had one interception (the only Lincolnton turnover). Andrew Phelps was his favorite target with five catches for 52 yards and Anthony Odum had two catches for 26 yards.  Khamoni Heath posted the most rushing yards for the Wolves with 49 yards on 7 carries and QB Bost was second with 22 yards on 7 carries.  Lincolnton moved the chains 15 times and they were penalized eight times for 45 yards.

Lincolnton will be at home again next week when they host North Lincoln and South Point will be at home to face their next-door rival East Gaston.

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