WHAT WE SAW: Sellers, South Florence Pull Away To Win 4A Title

Brandon Stockdale December 3, 2022 @ 09:44 PM

COLUMBIA | The first punt in Saturday night's 4A state championship did not come until 6:32 left before the half. The team that made the stop was South Florence as they pulled away from Northwestern to win 57-30 on Saturday night at Benedict College.   The Syracuse commit and star Bruin quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='146356' first='LaNorris' last='Sellers'] was on full display at Benedict College early and often. He connected with [player_tooltip player_id='336150' first='Evin' last='Singletary'] for a 33-yard touchdown pass on 3rd and long to give the Bruins a 7-0 lead with 8:38 to play in the first. Singletary finished with 127 yards and 3 touchdowns.   Northwestern and [player_tooltip player_id='241044' first='Finley' last='Polk'] answered with a touchdown on 3rd-and-13 to Jayden Burris to make it 7-6, South Florence as the extra point was no good with 7:36 to play in the opening quarter.   South Florence responded as Sellers connected with [player_tooltip player_id='464881' first='Jayden' last='Sellers'] for a 31-yard TD on a beautiful play action fake to increase the Bruins lead to 14-6 with 3:36 to play in the first quarter. He has a velocity on his throws that make it so difficult to defend. He finished the night 10-for-14, 261 yards and five touchdowns.    “We grew up doing it (throwing touchdown passes to each other). It's just translating over,” Sellers said.   Northwestern was able to get things going with [player_tooltip player_id='265222' first='Turbo' last='Richard'] in the screen game in the first half as the inside run game wasn't really there. That led to a 1-yard Zilon Arnold touchdown run to cut South Florence's lead to 14-13 with 11:56 to play before the half.   But for every Northwestern score, the Bruins had an answer. They methodically moved the ball down field with LaNorris Sellers in the QB run game. He connected with his brother, Jayden again on a 39-yard TD pass to increase the lead to 21-13 with 8 minutes to play before the half.   HIGHLIGHT PLAY FROM SELLERS   Backed up near their own end zone, Sellers, with Syracuse and South Carolina coaches in attendance, showed us all why he's the No. 1 player in the state and our 2023 rankings. He ripped off a 61-yard run where he could've scored. He finished with 191 yards rushing on the night. That led to a 26-yard TD run by Shikeem Shilow, increasing South Florence's lead to 28-13 with 5:51 to play before the half.   “I'm gonna say it one more time, he's the best football player in the state and it's not even close. He did it all tonight, man. Threw the deep ball really well, ran it when we needed him to run it. Special, special kid. Once in a generation guy,” South Florence coach Drew Marlowe said.    Northwestern would respond with another scoring drive as Polk connected with [player_tooltip player_id='146372' first='Elijah' last='Caldwell'] for a 24-yard TD pass to cut into the Bruin lead at 28-20 with 3:41 before the half.   [player_tooltip player_id='208353' first='Quincy' last='Rhodes'] would make the highlight play for the Bruins in the first half, picking off Polk, which led to a 4-yard Sellers TD run as South Florence led 35-20 at the half.   The fireworks would continue in the third quarter as Caldwell returned the opening second half kickoff for a Trojan touchdown to make it 35-27 South Florence with 11:47 to play in the third.    The biggest play of the third quarter came as the Trojans appeared to make a 4th down stop on after a questionable measurement, only to give two points to South Florence on an intentional grounding penalty to increase the lead to 37-27.   Caleb Rodriguez would knock through a 19-yard field goal to begin the fourth quarter scoring for Northwestern as the Trojans cut the lead to 37-30. But Singletary and Sellers connected two more times for touchdowns to pull away in the end.

COLUMBIA | The first punt in Saturday night's 4A state championship did not come until 6:32 left before the half. The team that made the stop was South Florence as they pulled away from Northwestern to win 57-30 on Saturday night at Benedict College.