Means, Northwestern Make Quick Work of Irmo 5A DII Title Game

ORANGEBURG | [player_tooltip player_id='232624' first='Xavier' last='Means'] wanted to put his name into Northwestern lore.   Not even the Trojans' junior quarterback could have imagined it was going to come this easily.   Means rushed for four touchdowns, threw for two more and Northwestern steamrolled Irmo 55-13 in the Class 5A, Division II state championship game Friday at South Carolina State's Oliver C. Dawson Stadium.    For Means, a first-year starter with blazing speed and plenty of potential but who was also in his first state championship game, he answered questions that have been coming at him all season.    Could he repeat what Finley Polk did last year? Could he throw the ball enough to keep Irmo's talent defensive line at bay?   Could he win the big one?    All of them, answered with a resounding Yes.   “We always want to blow people out. That's why our fans are here,” said Means, pictured. “It definitely surprised me a little bit that it was like this. But all year we've been doing this. I trust in my guys that we can do this.”   Means didn't waste any time getting hot on Friday, either.    He capped off a 59-yard opening series with a 3-yard scoring run. On the Trojans' next series, he finished off a 44-yard possession with a 2-yard run. Third series? He scored on that one, too, this time from 8 yards out to polish off an 84-yard drive.   He took a break with his legs to add a 16-yard touchdown pass to [player_tooltip player_id='1817848' first='David' last='Flood'] with 6:13 to go in the second quarter, and after a pair of non-offensive touchdowns from his teammates, Means scored on a 1-yard rushing score just prior to halftime.   That gave him five first-half touchdowns and propelled Northwestern to a second-half running clock that might as well have initiated the post-game trophy celebration.    He had 200 total yards of offense (174 passing, 26 rushing) at half and finished with 248. While the stage and the opponent may have pointed to another outcome, this was much of the same from what coach Page Wofford saw out of his first-year starter the more the season progressed.   “I don't know what his stats were, but how many incompletions did he throw?” Wofford asked before being informed it was only three. “I mean, the play we kept beating them on, we put that in during the first quarter.”   Audible or no, Means was the storyline in a game that was built up to be a potential nail biter like last year's championship game between these same two teams.   By any metric, this couldn't have looked much different than Northwestern's 2024 title win over the Yellow Jackets. A year ago, the Trojans won this same matchup when Matthew Fish connected on a 27-yard field goal as time expired to lift Northwestern to the title.   Any thoughts of a close game late evaporated during the Trojans' 35-point second quarter. It was then that Wofford's squad hit another level that Irmo couldn't replicate.   “I don't mean to sound cocky, but Coach Wofford told us during film that as long as we play our best game, nobody can run with us,” senior receiver [player_tooltip player_id='1267334' first='Kameron' last='Vance'] said. “After that first drive, after we scored, we just felt like the game was in our hands. So I kind of had a feeling we were going to run it up. But I didn't know it was going to be by this much.”   Maybe that's because despite his breakout season, a five-touchdown half in the state championship game isn't the norm for anyone, let alone a first-year starting quarterback.    Means entered the game with 2,687 yards passing and 23 touchdowns and 1,179 yards and another 23 on the ground. His production has been a steady diet of he and the rest of his offensive teammates overwhelming opponents.    But reaching the team's average point production of 49 points per game by halftime proved the speedster who blew up in the spring during the Carolinas Coaches Combines could be just as dangerous in a real game.    OTHER NORTHWESTERN NOTABLES   [player_tooltip player_id='1267200' first='Tamarion' last='Watkins'] DB, 2026 - The Texas A&M signee added his own exclamation point to the game and his stellar career in the first half. More importantly than his two tackles, he picked off a pass and returned it 39 yards for the first of the two aforementioned non-offensive Northwestern touchdowns in the second quarter.   [player_tooltip player_id='1267334' first='Kameron' last='Vance'] WR, 2026 - Vance was all of the field, catching passes (five receptions for 67 yards) and in the return game (one kickoff return for 18 yards). But his haymaker came when Irmo lined up to punt from its own 24-yard line in the back end of the first half on the Yellow Jackets' first possession after Watkins' return. Senior defensive back [player_tooltip player_id='1823338' first='Amarian' last='Coleman'] blocked the punt easily, and Vance picked it up and took it back 12 yards for yet another Trojan first-half score. Vance added a 10-yard touchdown catch in the second half to polish off his own high school resume.   [player_tooltip player_id='1823340' first='Nigel' last='Smith'] RB, 2026  - The one-year wonder couldn't match Means' production, but his 104 yards on 13 carries added some balance early that took some of the pressure off the junior quarterback. It also gave him his seventh 100-yard rushing game of the year. Like Means, Smith finished the season with north of 1,200 rushing yards. He also had 11 touchdowns, his last one coming in the Upper State championship game victory against Indian Land.    IRMO NOTABLES   [player_tooltip player_id='860400' first='Drevon' last='Dopson'] QB, 2026 - Dopson was under constant pressure while the game was still up for grabs and after. He was pressured into a pair of interceptions, including the one Watkins housed, but he also completed 12 passes for 124 yards and a first-quarter touchdown to [player_tooltip player_id='1820287' first='Ethan' last='Singletary'] and added another 35 yards on the ground. For Dopson, it was an anticlimactic finish to his otherwise solid final season of high school ball.      [player_tooltip player_id='755890' first='Amire' last='White'] RB, 2027 - White continues to have all the looks of a star tailback for least one more season. The junior wrapped up his 2025 season with 102 yards on 14 carries another seven yards on a catch. He fought for most of those yards after contact, as Northwestern was swarming the line of scrimmage throughout the game.    [player_tooltip player_id='1422528' first='Maleek' last='Miller'] WR, 2027 - Miller will be one of the state's top senior receivers next fall, although we already knew that before he hauled in six reception for 64 yards. What gives him another production and value bump, however, is his ability to run the ball. Miller took a traditional handoff into the end zone from 3 yards away with 1:16 left in the first quarter to make it a 14-6 game.

ORANGEBURG | Xavier Means Xavier Means 6'0" | 160 lbs | QB Northwestern | 2027 SC wanted to put his name into Northwestern lore.