By Jack Veltri
Correspondent
Right out of the gate, the Catawba Ridge Copperheads landed the big first punch. But like any prized fighter, the Northwestern Trojans got back up and made sure it would be the last of the night. And it was.
In a game that Copperheads head coach Zac Lendyak thought was closer than the score indicated, Catawba Ridge suffered a 59-17 loss to Northwestern Friday night. Catawba Ridge now moves to 4-2 on the year and 1-1 in Region 3-5A play.
“We just went with the toughest team in the state,” Lendyak said. “(Northwestern) is No. 1 for a reason. They’re really good. And we weren’t intimidated. We came in and gave them every shot we had, and it just wasn’t enough tonight.”
With a chance to make an early statement, the Copperhead offense went 80 yards down the field and scored 53 seconds into the game. Senior quarterback CJ Couch, who threw all passes on the opening drive, hit senior wide receiver Preston Cooper for a seven-yard touchdown.
On the ensuing possession, Trojans quarterback Finley Polk’s second pass of the night went into the hands of sophomore defensive back Isaiah Revell for a big-time interception.
From that point on, despite still leading, this would be about as good as things would get for Catawba Ridge. The offense had multiple chances to convert on third down and short situations, but couldn’t do so consistently.
“Go back to the first half, we had two times where it was third and inches and we decided to punt on fourth and inches,” Lendyak said. “I told the guys at halftime, when you get a chance and you catch a ball and you get tackled for six, now it’s going to become seven. If you get tackled at eight, now it’s going to become nine.
“Those little inches, literally it’s a game of inches. If those turn into first downs, we’re going up-tempo. We’re keeping the defense off. Literally, there were about three series that ended with third or fourth and inches and if those could’ve been first downs, I’m not saying it’s a difference in 42 points, but it’s a difference in the flow of the game.”
After getting off to a hot start, Catawba Ridge found itself punting more times than not in key situations. This, in turn, allowed Northwestern to find a rhythm and put its foot on the gas.
Once Polk got going, it was going to be hard for the Copperheads to stop the Trojans key playmakers. Polk finished his night going 20-for-30 passing with four touchdowns through the air and one on the ground.
Trojans running back Zymier Gordon-Miles was also effective, as he ended up rushing for 148 yards. He had seven runs of at least 13 yards, with a long of 26 to make things tough on the defense in the run game.
Polk did make one other mistake, a second interception thrown midway through the second quarter. And Catawba Ridge answered with a touchdown pass from Couch to Cooper for a second time to make it a three-point game.
But that would be as close as the Copperheads got. By halftime, the Trojans were back up to leading by 17 points and kept it going deep into the second half. Northwestern outscored Catawba Ridge 28-3 after halftime to run away with the blowout win.
Without much of an effective run game, the Catawba Ridge offense heavily relied on Couch making plays in the passing game. He finished 22-for-46 with the two touchdowns and an interception.
“When you watch (Northwestern’s) film, it stands out pretty clear that those front four are really good,” Lendyak said. “We’re definitely a pass-first team. We wanted and needed to run the ball more. We just couldn’t generate anything. So, we got to a point where we wanted to give our kids the best chance to be successful and we thought throwing the ball did that tonight.”
The Copperheads will go into a bye week before returning to action and traveling to Indian Land on Friday, Oct. 11 for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.
