South Point stays perfect, beats Huss 51-20

GASTONIA — It wasn’t an accident that the South Point kicking team stood on the field for over three minutes waiting for the game to start.

It’s safe to say the Red Raiders were ready to play.

South Point scored two touchdowns in the first five minutes of the game and cruised from there, posting a 51-20 conference win Friday night over Hunter Huss.

“Any time you can start out like we did, it helps,” South Point coach John Devine said. “We got a big turnover early and just started rolling. They really came out smoking tonight.”

South Point (6-0, 2-0) was almost methodical in its execution, with quarterback Desmond Lowery running the Red Bone offense as if he was born into it.

“We knew they were big in the middle, so we ran around them,” Devine said. “Desmond had a good night reading the defense. He continues to grow as a quarterback. It’s good to have him as our leader.”

Devine credited his assistant coaches with having the team ready to play.

“Our offensive coaches were outstanding this week,” Devine said. “They had our offense ready to go from the opening whistle.”

Hunter Huss (2-4, 0-2) took the opening kickoff, but South Point got the ball on the first play as Michael Lewis intercepted a pass. Five plays later the Red Raiders were in the end zone, thanks to the first of three rushing touchdowns by fullback Aaron Crumbley. After a three-and-out for Huss, Lowery found Chris Lane on a 58-yard touchdown pass to push the lead to 14-0 with 7:20 still left in the first quarter.

The Huskies scored on their next drive as Damarrius Dixon found paydirt on a 32-yard run.

But Crumbley ran for two more touchdowns, James Justice added a 34-yard field goal and Lane caught a 28-yard pass from Lowery with 19.6 seconds left to give South Point a 37-6 lead at the half and put the game out of reach.

“I thought we played better in the second half, but we’ve got to start playing better on defense,” Huss coach Steve Gardner said. “We’re going to make some changes.”

South Point amassed 498 yards of total offense while its defense intercepted three passes.

“The main thing was that our defense gave us good field position,” Lowery said. “You give our offense that kind of field position and you’re going to get hurt.”

Crumbley finished with 157 yards rushing while Lowery ran for 116 yards and completed four of eight passes for 108 yards.

SP 20 17 7 7 - 51

HH 6 0 7 7 - 20

First quarter

SP — Aaron Crumbley 9 run (kick failed) 10:01

SP — Chris Lane 58 pass from Desmond Lowery (James Justice kick) 7:20

HH — Damarrius Dixon 32 run (kick failed) 5:06

SP — Crumbley 12 run (Justice kick) 3:00

Second quarter

SP — Crumbley 1 run (Justice kick) 11:57

SP — Justice 34 FG

SP — Lane 28 pass from Lowery (Justice kick) 19.6

Third quarter

SP — Lowery 22 run (Justice kick) 11:20

HH — Dixon 1 run (Austin Lutz kick) 2:18

Fourth quarter

SP — Nathan Hall 1 run (Justice kick) 3:57

HH — Darius Antrum 22 run (Lutz kick) 1:42