WHAT WE SAW: 2022 WRHI Football City USA Kickoff

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Yes, it's only scrimmage action in two twelve minute quarters. And it doesn't count until next week.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>But Friday's WRHI Football City USA Kickoff provided fans an opportunity to see returning players and discover untapped talent who you may know about yet.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Game 1: South Pointe 21, Olympic 10</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Things got off to a rocky start for South Pointe's offense as they turned the ball over five times. And play was suspended with lightning in the area. But after the delay, the Stallions came out fast and finished with 14 unanswered points to win.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Malachi Marshall </strong>was able to get things rolling following a fumble on the exchange on the opening snap in the first half – he hit <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='202769' first='Khyre' last='Rawlinson'] </strong>on a 24-yard reception up the seam for a first down and <strong>Demari Kendrick </strong>made a nice sideline reception on an out pattern. Marshall connected with Rawlinson again up the seam for a 55-yard TD with 6:21 to play in the game. Rawlinson is a guy who missed the 2021 season and will be a vital piece to the offense in 2022.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Trojans' defense jumped on several throws that were tipped in the air. <strong>Chris Providence </strong>stepped right into a throw, which led to their lone touchdown of the night. <strong>Kyrie Cooper </strong>made a diving interception where he timed it right to make the play.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The talent is there for the Stallions on offense, but new South Pointe coach Bobby Collins is well aware they can't do that with the season opener looming next week.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“If we don't turn the football over, (the) defense gets a goose egg. (The) score still could've been similar but we just can't turn the football over. That's a problem we'll fix. We don't do that,” Collins said.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Caleb Sims </strong>was one of the highlights of the night for the Stallions offense as he ran hard inside and scored a touchdown in each 12-minute period.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='91357' first='DJ' last='Barksdale II'] </strong>made a few nice tackles in space early but his night was highlighted by an interception on an Olympic pass where he jumped the route perfectly. <strong>Kyle Robinson </strong>made a tackle for loss. <strong>A.J. Miller and [player_tooltip player_id='139304' first='Chris' last='Dixon']</strong> plugged up the holes against the run.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>South Pointe opens the 2022 season next Saturday night against Gaffney. Read our preview of the Stallions <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2022/08/2022-season-preview-south-pointe-stallions/">here</a>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Game 2: Dutch Fork 21, Northwestern 10</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='44974' first='Aliam' last='Appler']</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='91136' first='Jarvis' last='Green'] </strong>aided in their defeat of the Trojans on Friday night. Dutch Fork went on a long drive to open the contest as Green capped it off with a short TD run to go up 7-0 in the first half.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='241044' first='Finley' last='Polk'] </strong>is the starting quarterback for the Trojans, and there were times that he was in command of what was going on. He connected with <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='146372' first='Elijah' last='Caldwell'] </strong>on a 24-yard catch and run on a screen in the first half and threw a beautiful spiral on a vertical route to <strong>Jalen Logan </strong>for the Trojans' lone score of the night in the second half. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Northwestern coach Page Wofford was pleased with what he saw from Polk.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“On the surface, it looked like he played well. I don't remember any terrible things except the missed exchange there with the running back. We'll have to look at that and get that straightened out,” Wofford said.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Dutch Fork closed the scoring with a <strong>Terrance Wells </strong>scoop and score after getting interior pressure on Polk late in the contest to go up 21-10.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Northwestern opens the 2022 season against Rock Hill at home next Friday night while Dutch Fork will head to Charlotte, N.C. to face Hough. Read our preview of the Trojans <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2022/07/2022-season-preview-northwestern-trojans/">here.</a></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Game 3: Byrnes 27, Rock Hill 0</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Reggie Shaw's Byrnes team made things look easy against the Bearcats in the nightcap in what was a defensive slugfest.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>If there was one highlight play for the Bearcats on offense, it was a 31-yard run from <strong>Brandon Watson</strong> on the first play from scrimmage. Rock Hill coach Bubba Pittman is putting in a new offense and Friday had obvious growing pains. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“I felt like early in the game, we were pressing a little bit trying to do too much, maybe not just taking what they were giving us. As the game went (on), I felt like there were some missed assignments and some simple things that we've got to get cleaned up, just people not being where they're supposed to be and those types of things,” Pittman said.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Byrnes QB <strong>Colby Shaw</strong> showed off his speed on one play in the first half and RB Wilson for the Rebels offense scored two touchdowns, including a long run in the second half to close the scoring. He had two nice runs outside the tackles in the first half where he found his way through the holes and what the defense was giving him</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='272705' first='Armoni' last='Weaver'] </strong>had an electrifying 59-yard punt return for a TD to go up 14-0 with 4:54 to play in the first half. He also had a nice catch to beat the man coverage on a completion in the second half.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Backup QB <strong>Andrew Stevens </strong>closed the scoring for the Rebels with a pass to <strong>Ethan Morris </strong>with 5:27 to play in the contest.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Rock Hill opens the 2022 season against Northwestern while Byrnes will face Brookland-Cayce at home. Read our preview of Rock Hill <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2022/08/2022-season-preview-rock-hill-bearcats/">here</a> and our Byrnes preview <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2022/07/2022-preview-byrnes-rebels/">here</a>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->