WHAT WE SAW: Nation Ford Pulls Away From Richland Northeast

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>FORT MILL | Nation Ford came into Friday's contest at 0-4, desperately needing a win before region play begins next week.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>After a scoreless first quarter, the second quarter provided the jolt that helped Nation Ford win their first game of the 2022 season over Richland Northeast, 33-20. What worked? Nation Ford coach Mike Allen and the Falcons simply went back to work.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“We've stacked many practices together, just day after day and they just earned it. At Nation Ford, we expect to win. We've been 0-4, that's a different place that we haven't been and just proud of the effort and the tenacity that we played with tonight being in the situation so, we got better,” Allen said.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The main target for Richland Northeast quarterback <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='272698' first='Will' last='Wilson'] </strong>was <strong>Zackery Watkins, </strong>who caught everything thrown his way early, including one near the sideline that set up a 5-yard touchdown pass to make it 6-0 Cavaliers with 9:04 to play in the 2nd quarter.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='91150' first='Carson' last='Black'] </strong>and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1575429' first='Josh' last='Ameo'] </strong>were fun to watch throughout the evening. Ameo found holes in the zone coverage from Richland Northeast. Black, who is committed to the University of Memphis, went to him in the second quarter for the Falcons' first score of the night on the slant to make it 7-6 Nation Ford with 7:56 to play in the first half.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“They were fabolous. Ameo is a sophomore and he's doing a really good job. We were down two receivers tonight. Had two starters out tonight for (unspecified) reasons. I'm just really proud of the way Carson leads the team and directs traffic. I thought our offensive line played really well tonight. I can't say enough (good things) about them.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Both teams traded turnovers in the second quarter as RNE's <strong>Avonte Grant </strong>picked off Black in the second quarter on a deep route – they were unable to get any points. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='154863' first='Jeremiah' last='Hailstock'] </strong>muffed a punt which led to Wilson's second TD pass of the night, this one on a well designed wheel route to <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1142696' first='James' last='Willingham'] </strong>from 10 yards out to increase the Cavaliers lead to 12-7 as the two point try was no good with 1:25 to play before the half.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hailstock would make up for the muffed punt right before the half, displaying his lightning speed on a kickoff return and a catch and run right in the middle of the zone coverage for Nation Ford. Black would wrap up the drive connecting with <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1142874' first='Ben' last='Wakefield'] </strong>for a 10-yard TD reception as Nation Ford took a 14-12 lead to the locker room.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Falcons put their speed at the skill positions on display in the second half with more Hailstock as well as <strong>AJ McCollum, </strong>who ran hard and was tough to bring down in the inside run game. He had a 1-yard TD run to increase Nation Ford's lead to 21-12 with 9:58 to play in the third.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>RNE would score their only points of the second half, which was aided by a beautiful throw from Wilson to <strong>Zahir Khalid </strong>on the vertical route down the right sideline. The drive was capped by a 28-yard TD pass on a swing pass to <strong>Avonte Grant </strong>with 1:41 to play in the third quarter to bring the Cavaliers within 1 at 21-20.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='202771' first='Clayton' last='Rygol'] </strong>and <strong>Braydon Flores </strong>were two names that we heard all throughout the evening. They overpowered the offensive line on run plays and Flores recorded at least 3 sacks.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>McCollum and Hailstock scored one touchdown each in the fourth quarter as the Falcons were able to pull away from the visitors from Columbia. <strong>Ja'Derrick Foster </strong>closed out the contest with an interception.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->