It’s time for high school football. Here’s how Rock Hill schools did in Friday’s jamboree

High school football is back.

Rock Hill, Northwestern and South Pointe suited up Friday evening for the sixth-annual WRHI Football City Kick-Off.

Hosted at District Three Stadium, it was a lat chance for each school to get some game-speed action.

The scrimmages allowed the teams to iron out some of the kinks they encountered during the offseason. The first three quarters of the scrimmage were eight minutes long, and the fourth and final quarter was a 10-minute running clock.

Opening the festivities was the Rock Hill Bearcats taking on the Cuthbertson Cavaliers of Waxhaw, N.C.

The Bearcat defense had a strong showing, allowing just 85 yards on eight Cuthbertson drives en route to a 20-10 final score. For a team that allowed more than 40 points per contest last season, head coach Bubba Pittman said Friday night’s effort was a step in the right direction.

“After last year, we needed some confidence defensively,” Pittman said. “Real proud of that defense, getting out there and playing hard. We still got some things we got to clean up. We got to play better in certain areas. We have to defend certain things that teams are beating us with right now, but we’ll do that. Coach (Tim) Jones does a great job. He’ll have that defense ready.”

The Rock Hill offense was led by quarterback and Appalachian State commit Matthew Wilson.

The senior threw for a touchdown and ran for two more, using his ability as a dual threat to cause problems for the Cavalier defense.

“Matt’s a natural leader,” Pittman said. “His job is to lead this football team, and he does that extremely well. He does a great job of making the people around him better. He’s been doing that since he was a freshman here. We’re just really lucky to have him.”

Northwestern vs Dutch Fork

The second match featured the Northwestern Trojans, the top-ranked 4A team in the state, and the Dutch Fork Silver Foxes, the top-ranked 5A team in the state.

The Trojans seized control early.

Senior cornerback Jamond Crothers picked off a pass during Dutch Fork’s first possession and returned it well into the red zone. Northwestern would capitalize on the short field with a touchdown pass from quarterback Finley Polk to Kameron Vance to give the Trojans a 7-0 lead.

However, the Trojans were never able to pull away.

Dutch Fork scored 14 points off a Northwestern lost fumble and turnover-on-downs, and the Silver Foxes left District Three with a 14-14 draw.

“You can’t have turnovers,” Northwestern head coach Page Wofford said. “Can’t turn the ball over. And defensively, we missed some tackles. So it goes back to blocking, tackling and protecting the football, and that’ll be the same thing that we work on every week.

Despite the mistakes, Wofford said the main goal was to get his team some game-speed action while avoiding turnovers as the team prepares for its regular season opener.

“(I just wanted to see) some grit,” Wofford said. “Just to keep fighting just to play. To see some things that we’ve worked on in practice, which we did. We didn’t flinch. We’re playing a really good football team, just go out there and play your game.”

South Point vs Chambers

The final clash of the night was the South Pointe Stallions against the Chambers Cougars of Charlotte.

South Pointe’s offense was able to move the ball rather well throughout the scrimmage. However, three turnovers kept the Stallions from putting points on the board, something that head coach Bobby Collins wants to fix before the regular season starts.

“We got to score points,” Collins said. “We ended last year the same way at Greenville. Had one touchdown at the end of the half, one more at the end of the third quarter, and another at the end of the game. We can’t do that and expect to be successful. You don’t score points, you don’t win.”

The Stallion defense held strong for most of the game, holding Chambers to zero points off two first-half South Pointe turnovers.

However, Chambers scored touchdowns on three of its final four possessions, and South Pointe could not keep up as the Stallions fell to an 18-13 defeat.

Collins said he is confident in his team’s ability to learn from the scrimmage and said he was pleased with the overall performance. He said the plan to solve any struggles on both sides of the ball will come from perfecting it during practice reps.

“Our kids got to fight through adversity,” Collins said. “I got no complaints. It’s our first (game) of the year. We’ll figure it out.”

Another thing people kept their eyes on was the new turf that was installed at District Three over the summer. All three Rock Hill school head coaches had positive first impressions of the new turf and said it serviced their team well.

“We love playing here,” Wofford said. “We love having a big crowd, and the turf here is nice. Turf is turf, but you know we’d play on I-85 if we have to.”

South Pointe opens its regular season on the road at Spartanburg on Aug. 18.

Northwestern’s regular season opener will be the Keep Pounding Classic at Bank of America Stadium against Charlotte Providence Day on Aug. 19.

Rock Hill doesn’t have its first game until Aug. 25, when the Bearcats head to District Three Stadium South to take on South Pointe.