What We Saw: South Pointe 16, Spartanburg 14
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SPARTANBURG | For a good majority of South Pointe’s 16-14 win over Spartanburg on Friday night, it was a good old fashioned defensive battle with field goals and not a lot of offense. Jacob Brookover knocked through his third field…
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Continue ReadingSPARTANBURG | For a good majority of South Pointe’s 16-14 win over Spartanburg on Friday night, it was a good old fashioned defensive battle with field goals and not a lot of offense.
Jacob Brookover knocked through his third field goal of the night with 7:07 to play in the contest to extend the Stallions lead to 16-7. Game over, right?
Nope. Spartanburg’s Christian Roberts blocked a punt and took it back for a touchdown with 4:05 left to give the Vikings life at 16-13. But that’s as far as they would get.
South Pointe head coach Bobby Collins was complimentary of his defensive line after the game but knows there’s work to do offensively.
“They’re the best in the state. Anybody that doesn’t know that and they play us, they’ll figure that out. We’ve gotta score points, okay? I think we only scored one touchdown and four field goals so we’ve gotta score points. Our defensive effort is where it’s at. Two interceptions, plenty of sacks, doing everything that they can do as a defense. We can’t get a punt blocked and we’ve got to score points,” Collins said.
South Pointe DB Fred Reese Fred Reese 5'10" | 160 lbs | DB South Pointe | 2025 State SC picked off Spartanburg QB TJ Johnson in the early stages of the second quarter on a perfect break on a comeback route. The Stallions immediately answered as QB Malachi Marshall Malachi Marshall 6'2" | 190 lbs | QB South Pointe | 2024 State SC connected with WR Mikey Mann for an 11-yard TD to take the lead at 7-0 with 10:22 to play before the half.
South Pointe picked off Johnson on the second comeback route the Vikings tried to run to end the first half.
“That’s what we expect, man. I’m hard on the DBs at practice. We’ve got three of them in the NFL right now so I tell these guys all the time, we produce some great ones. I’m excited for them, man. We expect that from Fred. We expect that from Zantawn (Nelson), all those guys back there.”
The Stallions looked primed to distance themselves coming out of the halftime locker room with a big catch and run from Marshall to WR Jordan Collins Jordan Collins 6'2" | 215 lbs | WR South Pointe | 2025 State SC but a false start penalty on 4th and 1 forced them to kick a field goal.
Johnson displayed his athleticism on several plays on the run and kept a lot of plays alive throughout the night. Spartanburg freshman running back Trenton Lynch Trenton Lynch 5'9" | 185 lbs | RB Spartanburg | 2027 State SC came up with a huge run before Johnson connected with Justin Rice in the left corner to make it a ball game at 13-7 with 6:17 to play in the third quarter.
A penalty negated a Spartanburg touchdown that would’ve given them the lead in the third quarter on a screen towards the end of the third. Despite the mistakes, Spartanburg head coach Mark Hodge was proud of his team’s fight.
“I’m really excited about the fight that we showed tonight because I’ll be honest, when we stopped them right there and got the ball back, we needed a field goal, I thought, alright we’re about to make this happen. One more block, one more read, whatever. You’ve got to give them a lot of credit. Bobby and those guys did a good job and those kids played hard, too so they had a lot of fight in them as well,” Hodge said.
SOUTH POINTE STANDOUTS
Jeremiah Minor Jeremiah Minor 5'10" | 270 lbs | DL South Pointe | 2024 State SC , DE – Minor plugged up running lanes throughout the night, not allowing the Vikings to get much running room in the first half.
Chris Dixon Chris Dixon 6'2" | 260 lbs | DL South Pointe | 2024 State SC , DL – Dixon (pictured above) made an impressive knock down of a throw where he was able to get his hands up and prevent a completion. He was also involved in plenty of tackles for loss along with Minor.
Aidan Turner Aidan Turner 5'8" | 175 lbs | RB South Pointe | 2025 NC , RB – Turner was a bright spot offensively as he ran hard throughout the night and should be a reliable weapon for the Stallions going forward.
SPARTANBURG STANDOUTS
Joshua Mattison, DE – Mattison came up with a sack on the Stallions opening drive.
Cam’rich Smith, LB – Smith was aggressive in coverage and came up with a sack of Marshall. There were several times where South Pointe receivers came across the middle and he was right there to make the play.
Justin Rice, WR – Rice should be a nice downfield threat for the young quarterback going forward. He had the defense beat a few times for some scores but the timing was just a little off.