SOUTH POINT VICTORIOUS OVER UP AND COMING STUART CRAMER
Stuart Cramer Still Seeking First Win Against South Point After 42-24 Defeat
By: Anthony Perkins
McAdenville – The Stuart Cramer Storm hosted the South Point Red Raiders on Friday evening and the fans of both teams were treated to an offensive shoot out that saw both teams marching up and down the field. South Point relied solely on their tried and true “Red Bone Offense” to run up 363 total yards. The opposing Stuart Cramer Storm hung their hopes on the ability of a skilled passer and slippery runner, Justin Rocquemore, at the quarterback position. Rocquemore showed his prowess from the pocket by completing 22 of 35 passes without an interception and he accounted for 96 of the Storms 108 rushing yards. Seven of his eleven carries went for 10 yards or more.
South Point took the early lead on the first possession of the game when quarterback Will Rhinehart capped off a six-play drive in less than three minutes with a six-yard run. Carson Smith added his first of six PAT’s to make it 7-0 in favor of the visitors. Stuart Cramer responded on their first possession with a three-play drive covering 78-yards when Roquemore connected with Eja Brice with a 43-yard touchdown toss. Jackson Mammano added the point after to knot the score at 7-7 before four minutes had ticked off the clock.
The Red Raiders notched six more points on their next possession with a one-yard plunge by fullback Hunter Hogue to complete the first quarter scoring.
In the second quarter, Storm kicker, Mammano connected on one-of-two, 33-yard field goal attempts while the Red Raiders found the end-zone again on a 19-yard run down the left side by Hogue to make the score 21-10 at the half.
At the start of the second half the Storm was marching down the field and looked as though they would cut into the South advantage once again until a fullback pass by Eja Brice was picked off by South Point defender Ryan Harris and returned to the Stuart Cramer 32. Two plays later Tyson Riley scored on a 29-yard run down the right side-line.
With a seemingly comfortable 28-10 lead the Red Raider defense was caught off guard on the Storms next play from scrimmage when Roquemore hit Jesse Rhyne, in stride, over the middle, for an 80-yard touchdown toss and run to make the score 28-17 and at the same time breathe new life to the Storm’s effort. A revived defense then held the Red Raiders to a three and out to force a South Point punt. However, the punt was mishandled and South Point’s Josh Crowder fell on the muffed punt to give the visitors another short field at the Stuart Cramer 31. Five plays later the Red Raiders pushed their lead to 35-17 when Hogue scored his third touchdown on a 7-yard run.
Stuart Cramer followed up with their final score when Roquemore once again hooked up with Rhyne for a 53-yard scoring toss late in the third quarter. South Point added one more touchdown in the fourth quarter with a 13-yard run by Rhinehart to make final score 42-24 in favor of South Point.
Despite being outgained by over 100 yards, the Red Raiders defense made plays when they had to and they made Stuart Cramer pay for every mistake they made with South Point touchdowns. South Point head coach, Adam Hodge commented that his charges had shown up and competed, by doing what they had to do when they had to do it. He said, “They (Stuart Cramer) will stretch you out, that quarterback can throw it and he can run too. After watching the Kings Mountain and Crest films I knew they could move the football and score. It’s not always going to be easy and we were tested tonight and it’s good to be tested. The main thing is we showed up and competed. We controlled the line of scrimmage and our fullback ran really hard tonight. I’m proud of them!”
Stuart Cramer coach, Ben McMillan was just as proud of his team for their efforts on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. He said, “We played very well tonight except for a few mistakes. If we can just clean up those few things we will be OK. We were facing a tough schedule from the start and even though we have not won we have played well.”
Next week the Storm will travel to Dallas to face North Gaston and South Point will travel to Ellenboro to line up against East Rutherford.
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