South Point hangs 70 points on Trojans

BELMONT — South Point defensive back Brandon Spencer said he and his teammates felt challenged when they read a story this week in The Gazette that insinuated they were vulnerable to a passing team.

While they allowed a school-record for passing yardage, they countered with a pair of huge interceptions that led to another school record — this one for points in the playoffs in a 70-31 rout of Northwest Cabarrus.

“We knew we had to step it up after what we read in the newspaper,” said South Point senior defensive back Brandon Spencer, who had a team-high seven solo or first-hit tackles. “We’d been getting passed on by a couple of teams, so we had to step it up.”

Northwest Cabarrus sophomore quarterback Jeremy Cannon passed for 487 yards — completing 30 of 47 passes — but interceptions by Jesse McGaha and Michael Lewis (for a touchdown return) and some critical pass break-ups made the impressive yardage total go for naught.

So did South Point’s offense.

The Red Raiders’ “Red Bone” attack was virtually unstoppable, racking up 525 total yards on a mere 38 offensive snaps — or an amazing 13.8 yards per play. Chris Lane’s school-record six touchdowns led the way.

“Their offense got rolling and it just kind of snowballed on us,” said Trojans coach Mike Helms, a 1977 graduate of Hunter Huss High School. “I had scouted two films of them this week and they played much better than what I’d seen. The way they’re playing, they just might win it all.”

That’ll resume next Friday when the Red Raiders (12-1) host T.C. Roberson (11-1), who rolled to an impressive 37-0 home victory over Winston-Salem Parkland Friday night.

Charlotte Catholic (11-2) visits Hickory (13-0) in the other Western N.C. Class 3AA semifinal.

South Point dominated the game after Northwest Cabarrus drove 57 yards in 15 plays for a field goal on its first possession and drove 80 yards in three plays on its second possession for a 10-7 Trojans’ lead.

The Red Raiders, who scored on Spencer’s 72 return of the kickoff after Northwest Cabarrus’ opening drive, scored on eight of their 10 offensive possessions. And the two misfires ended with a missed field goal and by South Point running out the clock (on the Trojans’ 16) at the end of the game.

“You pick your poison with our offense,” Devine said.

Northwest Cabarrus’ choice was to try and take away the Aaron Crumbley’s fullback dives and Desmond Lowery’s quarterback keepers. That only meant Lane was unstoppable.

Lane scored four touchdowns on running plays that covered 51, 61, 16 and 21 yards and two touchdowns on scoring passes of 18 and 42 yards from Lowery. Lane wasn’t touched on five of the scores and he broke a tackle at the point of attack on the other.

“They had to cheat to get to the pitch,” Devine said. “They had to cheat to get to the fullback. They had to cheat to get to Des. But Des pulled the trigger and made good reads all night long.”

The point total was the highest in the postseason for South Point since a 69-21 playoff victory over Concord in 2003; The Red Raiders’ overall school scoring record came in a 76-6 regular-season win over Charlotte’s Berry Academy earlier that N.C. 3A state championship season.

NWC 10 7 0 14 - 31

SP 14 28 21 7 - 70

First quarter

NWC — Logan Cannon 30 FG, 7:57

SP — Brandon Spencer 72 run (James Justice kick), 7:33

NWC — Jeremy Cannon 1 run (L. Cannon kick), 6:36

SP — Chris Lane 51 run (James Justice kick), 1:20

Second quarter

SP — Lane 18 pass from Desmond Lowery (James Justice kick), 8:55

NWC — Kris Farley 19 pass from J. Cannon (L. Cannon kick), 5:44

SP — Lane 61 run (James Justice kick), 4:45

SP — Lane 42 pass from Lowery (James Justice kick), 1:41

SP — Lane 16 run (James Justice kick), 1:30

Third quarter

SP — Aaron Crumbley 1 run (James Justice kick), 10:50

SP — Michael Lewis 35 interception (James Justice kick), 10:25

SP — Lane 21 run (James Justice kick), 3:40

Fourth quarter

NWC — J. Cannon 4 run (L. Cannon kick), 11:13

SP — Kip Weaver fumble recovery (James Justice kick), 8:20

NWC — Gavin Billings 18 pass from J. Cannon (L. Cannon kick), 3:37

NWC SP

First downs 29 17

Rushes-yards 31-105 35-465

Passing yards 487 60

Comp-Att-Int 30-49-2 2-3-0

Fumbles-lost 2-1 1-0

Penalties-yards 4-35 4-41

Individual statistics

RUSHING—Northwest Cabarrus, Jeremy Cannon 22-61, Dolando Clowney 6-27, Robert Freeman 1-2, Max McNair 2-15. South Point, Lowery 5-39, Crumbley 10-80, Josh Justice 6-68, Lane 9-185, Jesse McGaha 1-48, Scott McWhirter 2-37, Nathan Hall 2-8.

PASSING—Northwest Cabarrus, Jeremy Cannon 30-49-2, 487. South Point, Lowery 2-3-0, 60.

RECEIVING—Northwest Cabarrus, Farley 11-159, Josh Cannon 5-129, Gideon Duke 1-8, Graham Wright 3-23, Fred House 5-71, Austin Wright 4-79, Billings 1-18. South Point, Lane 2-60.