WHAT WE SAW: Gaffney 28, Northwestern 7

Brandon Stockdale September 17, 2022 @ 02:00 AM

ROCK HILL | The game plan that Gaffney coach Dan Jones and his staff came up with worked to near perfection against the No. 2 team in 4A, Northwestern in a 28-7 win on Friday night.   [player_tooltip player_id='89340' first='Grayson' last='Loftis'] and the Indians came out and leaned on the quick passing game as [player_tooltip player_id='448239' first='Emazon' last='Littlejohn'] and Drew Medley connected time and time again on quick out routes throughout the night. On the first few possessions, the Indians hurt themselves with penalties and drops inside Northwestern territory. Neither team scored in the first quarter.   Northwestern's offense had been averaging 61 points per game, but struggled as they were unable to get the run game going with [player_tooltip player_id='265222' first='Turbo' last='Richard'] as the Indian defensive line plugged up the run lanes, holding the Trojans to 11 yards rushing. And the passing game was held to 201 yards.    Northwestern coach Page Wofford took full responsibility for the loss.   “It all falls on me. I take full responsibility for it. I've got to do a better job with the offense and put them in better positions to be successful and I've got to do a better job with the defense. Working on tackling and coverages and the things we need to work on to get better. The fish stinks from the head down so I take full responsibility for this loss. This is all on me and I'm going to get better and try to move forward from this and I know the kids will get better and move forward from this,” Wofford siad.   Tackling for Northwestern's defense was poor throughout the night, like we saw on a 15-yard completion to Gaffney's Tim McGill, which led to the first score of the night from Loftis to Medley for a 34-yard TD to go up 7-0 with 6:32 to play before the half. That drive that lasted 7 minutes and 22 seconds, which was a microcosm of what was a dominant night in terms of time of possession. Gaffney had the ball for 30:08 compared to Northwestern's 17:52.   “We had guys in positions to make plays and for whatever reason, it didn't happen for us so luckily we get a chance to do it again.”    We can also point to Littlejohn's 25-yard gain later in the quarter, where he dragged multiple Northwestern defenders. He would score a few plays later on 4th and goal on a quick 2-yard out to make it 14-0 with 1:15 to play before the half. [player_tooltip player_id='473029' first='Jaiden' last='McDowell'] was a guy that stood out to us as ran hard inside once he found the hole – hand tackles won't work against this guy.   Northwestern's only score would come seconds before the game as [player_tooltip player_id='241044' first='Finley' last='Polk'] connected with Ben Gregory on a 16-yard touchdown reception to get back in the game at 14-7.   The second half was much of the same as [player_tooltip player_id='268582' first='Brayshawn' last='Littlejohn'] recorded a sack and an interception. Loftis and [player_tooltip player_id='272868' first='Quashon' last='Tate'] added rushing touchdowns to close the scoring in the fourth quarter.

ROCK HILL | The game plan that Gaffney coach Dan Jones and his staff came up with worked to near perfection against the No. 2 team in 4A, Northwestern in a 28-7 win on Friday night.