What We Saw: South Pointe Balance, Defense Overwhelm Greenville

South Pointe used a heavy dose of the run game and a strong effort defensively to defeat Greenville, 24-14 to advance to the 4A state championship next Thursday night against Beaufort at 7 p.m. at Benedict College in Columbia. Let’s get into notes and standouts from Friday’s contest: South Pointe <ul> <li>Senior QB [player_tooltip player_id="200727" first="Zay" last="McCrorey"] – McCrorey had zero turnovers and managed the game well. He made the routine throws look easy. He connected with Jakhari Webb on a bubble screen to open the scoring with 5:13 to play in the first before hitting Waymond Jenerette on a slant for an 11-yard score with 1:36 to play, also in the first quarter. </li> <li>Junior RBs Caleb Sims and Ja’Quan Thompson – The duo of these two are fun to watch in the inside run game. They not only got South Pointe’s offense rolling after a slow start, but they also will not go down easily and power right through tackles. Sims and Thompson have great leg drive. Thompson has the power while Sims has more of the speed. </li> <li>Junior DLs Tenarrious Rhinehart and AJ Miller – The plan for Greenville’s offense was to create plays in the passing game by rolling out and moving the pocket. It did not work well against these two guys. They were relentless in their pursuit of Prometheus Franklin and forced him to throw it away several times. Rhinehart recorded a sack of Franklin in the third quarter.</li> </ul> Where the game changed Greenville put together their best drive of the first half together aided by two Prometheus Franklin scrambles. He completed a backwards pass that was dropped and returned by Ty Chambers for an 85-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown to put the Stallions up 21-0 with 2:14 to play before the half. <blockquote>“The ref didn’t blow the whistle so I was just screaming, pick up the ball and run and that’s a tough one. It’s almost a back breaker but that’s the way it happens sometimes,” South Pointe head coach DeVonte Holloman said.</blockquote> More turnovers for the Stallions South Pointe notched three other interceptions in the second half. The first came from [player_tooltip player_id="146375" first="Jonathan" last="Williams"] that thwarted a long Red Raider drive in the third quarter as he stepped right in the passing lane to pick it off. And then the second one came from Chris McCullough. The final one came from Syracuse commit [player_tooltip player_id="59487" first="Quan" last="Peterson"] in the fourth quarter to close the game out. All the turnovers came in situations where Greenville was in prime position to score. <blockquote>“(The defense) has been stingy all season and tonight was another example of that. You may move the ball on us but once our back is against the wall, more times than not, we find a way to come up with a stop,” Holloman said.</blockquote> Greenville <ul> <li>Senior QB Prometheus Franklin – Franklin is slippery and can make plays with his feet. He can roll out and has the ability to elude tacklers. He connected with [player_tooltip player_id="91149" first="Tyler" last="Brown"] on a 4-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter.</li> <li>Senior DB [player_tooltip player_id="59492" first="Ashton" last="Whitner"] – The Georgia Southern commit made a nice pass breakup against a talented receiver in Waymond Jenerette in man coverage. He also recorded a punt block in the first quarter.</li> <li>Junior WR [player_tooltip player_id="91149" first="Tyler" last="Brown"] – Brown made an unbelievable grab down the left sideline to set up first and goal against two defenders. Josh Sapp capped off the drive with a catch in the right corner to get Greenville back in the game at 21-7 with 36 seconds to play in the first half.</li> <li>Senior WR Josh Sapp – Sapp made an incredible grab in the first half, but also showed smooth hands on a nice first down catch in the fourth quarter. He also made a great catch in the middle of the field in the fourth quarter.</li> </ul>