What We Saw: York 30, Nation Ford 14
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FORT MILL | Run it. And run it some more. York (1-0) did that with Javarus Gutherie, Ayden Davis Ayden Davis 6'0" | 170 lbs | QB York | 2024 State SC and Triston Barnett (pictured above) and a strong…
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Continue ReadingFORT MILL | Run it. And run it some more.
York (1-0) did that with Javarus Gutherie, Ayden Davis Ayden Davis 6'0" | 170 lbs | QB York | 2024 State SC and Triston Barnett (pictured above) and a strong defensive effort to pull away from Nation Ford (1-1), 30-14 on Friday night.
“It was sloppy, but it was hot. I thought our defense played hard all night long. (Nation Ford) is a good football team, and we knew that. Much improved from last year. They’ve got no quit in them. But I felt like our conditioning, our summer workouts paid off there in the end. I just felt like we were in better shape in the last quarter,” York head coach Dean Boyd said.
The Falcons cashed in on a Barnett interception by Zay Neely for the first points of the night inside York territory on a pass out to the flat from quarterback Kaden Barnette to Ladamus Mitchell on a 8-yard TD to give the Falcons a 7-0 lead with 5:29 to play in the opening quarter.
York answered on a 49-yard TD run on the right side of the offensive line from Gutherie to tie the game at 7 with 3:24 in the opening quarter.
SECOND QUARTER STALEMATE
Neither offense could get much going in the second quarter.
The Cougar defense stepped up on 4th and 1 with 1:37 to play before the half as Tae Byers and the defensive line stuffed an inside run when Nation Ford was in their own territory. Zane Beardsly knocked through a 42-yard field goal with 48.9 seconds to give York a 10-7 lead going into the half.
MOMENTUM SHIFTS
York came out and opened the second half with two straight long runs before Barnett scored on an 11-yard run. It looked like the Cougars were in position to put the game away leading 17-7 with 10:21 in the third quarter.
But a roughing the passer penalty on the ensuing drive gave Michael Allen’s team a jolt. Lucas Barz recovered a fumble in the end zone after Barnette threw a pass out into the flat to make it 17-14 with 5:47 to play. Nation Ford coach Michael Allen told Prep Redzone SC about some of the keys to that third quarter shift.
“The defense made a couple of stops there, got some energy going and got a couple of good runs off and got the ball down in the red zone. Then we had a couple of penalties and penalties always kill those drives. It’s just focus down where it really counts. We had opportunities but hats off to York. They did what they needed to do tonight,” Allen said.
That is as close as Nation Ford would get as the Cougars’ defense came up with some critical red zone stops, including on 4th & 12 with 2:32 to play in the third.
Barnett scored on a 44-yard TD run to extend York’s lead to 24-14 with 4:57 to play in the fourth quarter. Ziggy Byers closed the scoring on the night on a 35-yard TD run with 3:56 to play in the contest.
“At halftime, we said, guys, we’re going to line up and run right at them. They’re starting to take away our stuff outside. We’ve thrown the ball a bunch in preseason and haven’t run it as much. So we just said, we’re going to take our time and do what we’ve gotta do and go out there and run the football. Give credit to our guys. They did a great job with it. We were able to break a couple of big runs,” Boyd said.
YORK NOTABLES
Tae Byers | DL
Byers was in the backfield throughout the night and was excellent in attacking the running lanes. He didn’t miss when he had the ball carrier in his grasp.
De’Maurion Stewart | DB
Stewart was a name we wrote down several times in our notes for the way he came up in run support to prevent the gain. He also did a good job of reading pass plays, including one where he had an interception with 6:55 to play before halftime
Najib Yunsah | DB
Yunsah nearly had an interception on a screen in the first quarter. He played well in coverage situations.
NATION FORD NOTABLES
Josh Ameo | WR
Ameo was impressive to watch speed by defenders and make plays on screens. He has a burst once he gets out into the open field.
Kaleb White Kaleb White 5'9" | 205 lbs | LB Nation Ford | 2025 State SC | RB
White ran hard behind his offensive line throughout the evening and is fun to watch with his speed. He’s tough to bring down on first contact.
Mitchell Ladamus | DB/WR
Ladamus made plays on offense, like we mentioned but there was one play in the second quarter where he timed his jump perfectly to prevent a touchdown.