Nation Ford head coach Michael Allen preached about the importance of playing hard and staying focused for a full 48 minutes following Nation Ford’s narrow loss to the Richland Northeast Cavaliers Thursday night.
Despite leading by 12 at halftime, the Falcons were outscored 28-7 in the second half, including three unanswered third-quarter touchdowns, allowing the visiting Cavaliers to earn a 58-49 win in an offensive dogfight with plenty of highlights.
Allen said he didn’t want his team to linger on the loss, but “we want to take a hard look at some of the things we can do better.”
Richland Northeast quarterback Will Wilson, a N.C. State commit, was responsible for all of the Cavaliers’ eight touchdowns, including five in the air and three on the ground. Wilson was especially dangerous following the halftime break, where he helped lead his team to 22 unanswered points on three consecutive drives to retake the lead for good.
Running back Patience Andrews led the Falcons with three rushing touchdowns, including two in the first half to give the home team a halftime edge. Andrews unofficially rushed for 105 yards. Quarterback Carson Sanford threw two touchdowns, while wide receiver Jayden Scott and even kicker Austin Sarvis both threw touchdown passes on highlight plays in the first half. Sanford threw for 229 yards in the game.
With the loss, Nation Ford drops to 1-3 on the season, while Richland Northeast improves to 4-0. The game was played on Thursday ahead of Hurricane Francine, which is expected to impact the Fort Mill region Friday.
“As much as you hate to take a loss,” Allen said. “I think you learn something. We haven’t played a weak schedule to go get a W. I think we’ve got a great football team. We need to make adjustments, and we’ll be right there.”
Both offenses exploded into life to start the first half.
Richland Northeast’s Wilson paced a 55-yard, four-minute drive to give the visiting Cavaliers a 7-0 lead in the opening few minutes. The drive was aided by a couple poorly-timed Nation Ford penalties on third down.
But the Falcons battled back through some dogged work in from running back Andrews, who featured in nearly every play from his own half before pushing into the end zone from 11 yards to tie the game early.
Richland Northeast responded with a 44-yard touchdown from Wilson over the middle just four plays later.
That’s when Nation Ford started getting creative. The Falcons’ special teams executed a smooth lateral on the kickoff return, allowing the returner to escape out to the Cavaliers 33. And on the first play from scrimmage, Sanford found wide receiver Josh Ameo in space. The point-after kick was blocked at the line, and Richland Northeast led 14-13.
The Falcons then recovered their own kickoff return with a planned squib on the far side that special teams again executed to perfection. The offense had a chance to get tricky. Scott took a handoff from Sanford, then hurled a 44-yard throw downfield to find Lucas Barz for a quick touchdown that gave Nation Ford its first lead of the night.
Nation Ford then took advantage of the 2-point play to find Ameo in space, giving the Falcons a 21-14 edge.
Taking over on their own 25, Wilson and the Cavaliers took their time to stretch a five-minute, 11-play drive all the way downfield before Wilson pushed his way in to score from inches away after finding his wide receivers for first downs. Wilson then pitched to a receiver on the 2-point conversion to take a brief 22-21 lead with 9:49 left in the second quarter.
Nation Ford only needed four plays on its next drive to respond. Sanford spotted Scott racing through the middle of the field and Scott turned on the jets to beat his defender and score from 46 yards out and put the Falcons up 28-22 after the 2-point conversion failed.
Richland Northeast couldn’t convert a fourth and six on their own turf on the next drive, giving Nation Ford an opportunity to pounce. Sanford found Ameo for a long first down play, then Andrews scored his second rushing touchdown of the night, again from 11 yards away, to put the Falcons up 35-22.
Richland Northeast wasn’t down for long. Wilson connected with a receiver for a 49-yard catch over the middle on the next drive, and the 2-point conversion cut the lead to 35-30 with 4:08 left in the half.
That set up the most surprising play of the night. Nation Ford drove from its own 36 to inside Cavaliers territory, thanks to a 20-yard catch from Scott and a 33-yard rush by Andrews, who was dragged down inside the five.
Stumped from three yards out, kicker Sarvis lined up to kick a 20-yard field goal on the right hash. However, the snap was bobbled, and Sarvis was forced to pick up the ball and make a play. Pursued by defenders, Sarvis dropped back and hurled a desperation toss in the general direction of the end zone, and long snapper/backup wide receiver Mason Southerly was at the right place at the right time to catch it for what will go down officially as a 5-yard touchdown pass.
Allen praised Sarvis for his heads-up play.
“He’s just a football player,” he said. “He’ll compete every time, every down, no matter what. He just picked it up off the tee and said ‘I’m gonna go make a play.'”
Wilson was prolific after the halftime break. He connected with receivers on his first two drives, including a 25-yard throw before connecting on the 2-point conversion to cut the lead to 42-38.
He then found another receiver from 15 yards out just a few minutes later to take a narrow lead, which the Cavaliers would protect for the rest of the game.
Nation Ford, on the other end, was unable to get much traction on anything on the third quarter and was finally forced to punt for the first time with 5:18 left in the period.
Wilson started to exploit his elite running ability through the middle, picking up gains of 16 and 30 yards before scoring from the 19 to put Richland Northeast up by 10 late in the quarter.
Nation Ford’s offense finally gained steam entering the fourth quarter.
Sanford found Ameo on a 45-yard teardrop pass down the sideline, and Andrews earned his third rushing score of the day from five yards out. Sarvis’ extra point cut the Cavaliers lead to just 52-49.
But Wilson and his offense drained about six and a half minutes off the clock on a 15-play, 80-yard drive that included a key third-down conversion to push into Nation Ford territory.
The Cavaliers reached the Nation Ford one, but a penalty pushed them back to the six, and the Falcons defense held on fourth and goal to force a late turnover.
With 4:54 left in regulation, Nation Ford had a chance to score a field goal to tie or a touchdown to win. But on the second play from scrimmage, Sanford threw his only pick of the night to a defensive back.
Wilson capitalized by scoring a 21-yard rushing touchdown on the very next Cavaliers’ play, and the visitors ran out the clock.
“I thought we came out with a lot of energy,” Allen said. “Hats off to (Richland Northeast), they’re a great football team. We’ll go back and watch the film, see how we can do better. We moved the ball well. But you have to play the entire 48 minutes, and I don’t feel like we did. We made too many mistakes, too many penalties, and they cost us opportunities.”
Next week, Nation Ford will begin its Region 3-5A schedule. The Falcons travel to face Northwestern at District III Stadium in Rock Hill. The Trojans shutout Nation Ford 62-0 in last year’s matchup in Rock Hill.
