What We Saw: Polk, Northwestern Defeat South Pointe In Shootout

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>ROCK HILL</strong> | Northwestern flexed its muscles offensively as they ran for 321 yards while throwing 261 yards, defeating South Pointe in a 64-31 shootout on Friday night, capturing the region 3-4A title.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“Honestly, we didn't play very well. We've gotta play better. They're going to see some things on film that we have to correct, sooner rather than later. The points that they got, we were blowing coverages, missing tackles. We can't have that. And then we had two turnovers that were totally our fault so it's just things like that just eat at you. I'm happy for the kids. The kids played great. The kids overcame the mistakes as coaches we have to correct so that's always good to see,” Northwestern head coach Page Wofford said.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>53 seconds is all it took for the Trojans to score as <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='241044' first='Finley' last='Polk'] </strong>(pictured above) faked the handoff and found a wide open <strong>Jaylen Burris </strong>for an 80-yard touchdown to begin the game. After that, both defenses began to settle in and it turned into a slugfest.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Jordan Curbeam </strong>would help the Stallions get into a rhythm offensively late in the first quarter as he picked up a gain of 20 yards and made a man miss on one catch, which led to a 42-yard field goal from <strong>Jacob Brookover </strong>to cut Northwestern's lead to 7-3 with 2:38 to play in the first quarter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Polk showed off his running ability after the Stallion field goal as he picked up 50 yards on back-to-back carries, including a 26-yard run for a touchdown, which extended the lead to 14-3 with 1:26 to play in the opening period.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“Teams are going to focus on Turbo. (Do it) at your own risk, that's all I can say. Zilon (Arnold) had another good night as well. Zilon had some yards and showed his explosive ability. Anytime you can get a big play against a defense like that, you can go. We're just so fortunate right now, it's an embarrassment of riches back there in that backfield,” Wofford said.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We knew it wouldn't be long before <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='265222' first='Turbo' last='Richard'] </strong>got involved. He had one big run before capping the drive with a 12-yard touchdown run as the home team went up 21-3 with 10:18 to play before the half. And it looked like the Trojans were primed to blow the game open.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Mason Pickett-Hicks </strong>exploded for an electrifying 74-yard touchdown run as he outran defenders to the sideline, getting South Pointe back in the game at 21-10 with 9:59 to play before the half. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1142616' first='Jeremiah' last='Minor'] </strong>and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='139304' first='Chris' last='Dixon'] </strong>got pressure on Polk on the ensuing series forcing a 3-and-out and the momentum shifted towards the Stallions.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Northwestern took it right back though as Polk connected on a 24-yard completion, finding holes in the zone before Richard scored for the second time on the night to increase the Trojan lead to 28-10 going into halftime.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“They're efficient on offense. They're well coached on defense. No. 44 ([player_tooltip player_id='605531' first='Will' last='Massey']) is really solid at the mike. They are who we thought they were,” South Pointe coach Bobby Collins said.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>TROJAN WAVE</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1012612' first='Aidan' last='Turner'] </strong>ran hard throughout the night, and exploded for a 48-yard touchdown run as South Pointe cut the lead to 36-24 with 2:14 left in the third quarter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>But the offensive onslaught continued for Northwestern – Richard found a seam and ran down the left sideline for a 56-yard touchdown run with 1:43 to play in the third quarter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Trojans decided to go for the onside kick and recovered it. Polk immediately connected with <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='753896' first='Jayden' last='Nichols']</strong> for a 36-yard touchdown reception. If you're keeping track, that's back-to-back plays for the Northwestern offense, both of them touchdowns in less than five minutes.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Polk credited his offensive line and the guys that surround him offensively for the success.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“It's a lot to do with our offensive line. They do work every day, getting better. Going against our defensive line is helping them tremendously and then you got Turbo in the backfield. You got Zilon in the backfield. We've got receivers everywhere making different plays and I'm just the distributor,” Polk said.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Trojan wave of momentum continued as <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='605531' first='Will' last='Massey'] </strong>forced a <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='771038' first='Malachi' last='Marshall'] </strong>fumble and <strong>Jayce Joseph </strong>recovered it.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the fourth quarter, Marshall connected with Curbeam for a 29-yard score down the right sideline to make it 50-31 with 10:35 remaining in the contest.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Northwestern would wrap up the scoring with two touchdowns from <strong>CJ Broughton </strong>and <strong>Zilon </strong>Arnold.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->