SOUTH POINT KEEPS CONFERECE CHAMPIONSHIP HOPES ALIVE WITH WIN OVER CREST
SOUTH POINT TOO MUCH FOR CREST
By: Anthony Perkins
Belmont – The Crest Chargers invaded Lineberger Stadium on Thursday night for an important conference contest with their host, the South Point Red Raiders, where both teams were looking to keep their chances for a conference championship alive. In the end the Red Raiders defense proved to be too much for the Chargers offense and South Point walked off the field with a 35-13 victory.
Crest took the opening kickoff but a three and out forced a punt from the Chargers ten. South Point set up their first possession in Charger territory at the 41 and on the first play from scrimmage fullback Cam Medlock took it to the house on run up the middle for a very quick 7-0 South Point lead.
After the ensuing kickoff the Chargers advanced the ball to the South Point nine before Mica Stowe picked a Ny’tavious Husky pass in the end-zone to end a Crest scoring threat. Stowe tried to return the pick but was taken down at the four pinning the offence down deep on their own side of the field. The Red Raiders were unable to make a first down and gave the ball back to the Chargers at the Crest 38 after a 48-yard punt by Trey Cherry.
The Crest offense went to work once again and by the end of the first quarter had moved to ball to the South Point one-yard line. On the first play of the second quarter the Chargers knotted the score at 7-7 on a one yard run by quarterback Huskey.
The Red Raiders started their next possession at their own 28 and went on a time-consuming drive that took just under eight minutes off the clock before Medlock scored on a four-yard fullback dive play to recapture the lead at 14-7.
South Point’s defense stiffened on the next Charger drive and forced a Charger punt after a three and out. With only 2:45 left in the first half South Point took advantage of the Chargers inability to score by going on a 6 play, 74-yard drive that was capped off with a 43-yard pass from quarterback Patrick Blee to a wide-open Aaron Chaney to give the Red Raiders a 21-7 half-time lead.
South Point lined up to receive the second half kick-off but the Chargers executed an on-side kick to perfection to give their offense the ball at the South Point 47. South Point head coach said, “That on-side kick didn’t surprise us, we were expecting it but we just didn’t execute like we should have.” The Chargers took full advantage and went on a 12-play, four-minute drive that was capped off with a one-yard pass from Huskey to AJ Adams to trim the deficit to 21-13, but that was as close as the Chargers would ever get to the Red Raiders for the evening.
The South Point offense added one more touchdown in the third quarter on a two-yard run by Patrick Blee and an additional touchdown in the fourth quarter by Blee on a 3-yard run. During that same time frame the Red Raider defense held the Chargers to only three first downs and zero points.
After the game coach Hodge said, “We gave up the second half kickoff but things like that are going to happen. Your just have to forget about it and move on and that’s what we did. Anytime you have a big game you have to prepare and you have to execute. Overall, we did that tonight and our kids played good! Our defense really played well tonight. They (Crest) have a really good offense that can score in bunches and from anywhere. Our coaches did a great job of preparing our defense to get them ready and they played really executed tonight.
Quarterback Patrick Blee and fullback Cam Medlock both had over 150 yards for the contest and after the game both of them commented that the reason they were so successful was because the “O line” was able to move the defense off of the ball for them. Blee said, “Sometimes I was able to get four yards before the defense even touched me,” and Medlock said, “If they focused on Blee, I got the ball and made the yards and if they squeezed down on me that freed up Blee but we couldn’t do it without the line moving them off the ball for us.”
Unofficially, Crest finished up with 103 rushing yards on 31 carries. Huskey completed 14 of 29 passes for an addition 177 yards for a total offensive output of 280 yards. The Chargers totaled 17 first downs, they were penalized three time for 15 yards and Huskey tossed two picks, both in the first half.
South Point piled up 339 yards rushing on 43 carries and Blee completed his only pass of the evening for 43 yards to give the “Red Bone offense” a total of 382 yards. The Red Raiders moved the chains 19 times, they were penalized three times for 35 yards and they had zero turnovers.
Next week Crest will be at home to face a winless North Gaston team while South Point will travel to Kings Mountain where two undefeated teams will go head-to-head to likely determine the conference champion.
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