Babcock, Copperheads Defense Stands Tall To Beat Fort Mill

FORT MILL | [player_tooltip player_id='1821546' first='Ian' last='Babcock'] (pictured above) secured an interception in the late stages of the contest for Catawba Ridge as the Copperheads won a 13-3 defensive slugfest over Fort Mill in the first round of the playoffs.   “I love this team, man. The defense, we play hard every day at practice. I feel like it's such a brotherhood. We bring the energy every single play. That's what I love about everybody,” Babcock said.   The opening punt on Fort Mill's first possession was shanked, setting up the Copperheads inside the Fort Mill 36. Catawba Ridge got a 24-yard field goal out of it from Josh Crick to take a 3-0 lead with 5:59 to play in the opening quarter.   For every play that was made offensively, it seemed like each team made a play defensively to respond. [player_tooltip player_id='2004904' first='Casey' last='Fikis'] came up with a tackle for loss to end a Fort Mill threat midway through the first.   The one big play offensively in the first half came on a pass from [player_tooltip player_id='1824265' first='Will' last='Griggs'] to [player_tooltip player_id='1603804' first='Colten' last='McCauley'] down to the Yellow Jacket 30 yard line. But the Copperheads hurt themselves with a holding penalty after [player_tooltip player_id='1394975' first='Joseph' last='Duey'] made a good open field tackle and then [player_tooltip player_id='1821816' first='Smith' last='Stapleton'] strung out the jet sweep and Josiah McGill made a sack to end the Catawba Ridge threat to end the first quarter.   Yellow Jackets' quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='1149056' first='Quinn' last='Kelly'] went down with an injury after a hard hit and would not return with 3:53 before the half, forcing [player_tooltip player_id='1266099' first='Broden' last='Mitcheson'] to take snaps at quarterback for the rest of the game. Mitcheson was a star, making plays at running back early and then lined up at quarterback as they moved him around on rollouts and direct snaps.   [player_tooltip player_id='1816383' first='Brody' last='McMillan'] ran hard for a first down as [player_tooltip player_id='1422524' first='Josh' last='Dobson'] made a nice tackle in the hole to limit the gain, as part of a solid evening for one of the top cornerbacks in the PRZ Rankings and in the country. But the drive didn't get much as [player_tooltip player_id='1270438' first='Connor' last='McFadden'] made a tackle for loss, who was in the backfield throughout the evening.   “Our defensive coordinator always has a great defensive game plan and then those guys trust it. They line up where they're supposed to, they know where to go and they make plays when they have the opportunity and they did that literally every play throughout the course of the night. (There was) maybe a run or two here, but we're hoping and praying that Quinn's OK for them over there. I know losing your starting quarterback makes it difficult but defensively, I couldn't be more proud of how they performed tonight,” Lendyak said.   [player_tooltip player_id='1647568' first='Boston' last='Halpin'] set the Copperheads inside Yellow Jacket territory with a big block from Brody Rivard. But the penalties hurt Catawba Ridge again – one coming out of a timeout and then an illegal shift, forcing another Crick field goal, this one from 35 yards out to make it 6-0 at the halftime break.   Griggs would find some rhythm late in the third quarter as he found [player_tooltip player_id='1819399' first='Isaiah' last='Thomas'] for a big completion on a fade near midfield. He then connected with McCauley on an RPO and it looked like the Copperheads were positioned to get points, but the drive stalled inside the 20, and Crick missed the field goal. There was no panic on the sidelines from the Copperheads offense.   “We were trying to draw up some new plays and try to get some stuff going but for the most part, we just stuck to what we do and it worked,” Griggs told Prep Redzone SC after the game.   Fort Mill lined up to go for it on 4th and 1 with under 8 minutes to play in the contest, but an illegal shift forced a 47-yard [player_tooltip player_id='1820447' first='Noah' last='Hardy'] field goal to cut it to a 6-3 lead with 7:27 to play in the game.   The play of the night offensively came from Griggs to McCauley on a slant down to the Fort Mill 32 with some hard running from Halpin on the next few plays. Halpin would close the scoring with a 2-yard touchdown run with 2:28 to play in the contest.   “Anytime you win in the playoffs, you just get to buy more time with your seniors. We just wanted to give them another game and then you couple that with a cross town rival, we knew coming in, it was going to be a really big football game and at the end, we just made enough plays to find a way to get more points than they did,” Lendyak said.   Additional Catawba Ridge Standouts   The slugfest continued in the second half as [player_tooltip player_id='1824254' first='Xavier' last='Gilmore'] made a nice pass breakup on first down throw midway through the third quarter before [player_tooltip player_id='1592496' first='Nolan' last='Jones'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1819410' first='Shane' last='Corley'] combined for a tackle for loss on a screen.    [player_tooltip player_id='1603727' first='Alex' last='Johnson'] made a tackle for loss on the first play of the game for Catawba Ridge, and was all over the place up front. [player_tooltip player_id='1821286' first='Tyler' last='Robinson'] did a nice job in one-on-one coverage as well.   UP NEXT FOR CATAWBA RIDGE: The Copperheads will make the short drive down Highway 21 to Rock Hill to face No. 1 seed Northwestern in the second round at District Three Stadium.

FORT MILL | Ian Babcock Ian Babcock 5'11" Catawba Ridge | 2026 SC (pictured above) secured an interception in the late stages of the contest for Catawba Ridge as the Copperheads won a 13-3 defensive slugfest over Fort Mill in the first round of the playoffs.