ROCK HILL – Nation Ford coughed up three turnovers that led to touchdowns in a 52-29 loss to Region 3-5A foe Rock Hill Bearcats Friday at District III Stadium.
Nation Ford gave up two first-half fumbles that gifted Rock Hill an early lead, and the home team outscored the Falcons 24-8 in the second half following a Carson Sanford interception.
“We haven’t turned the ball over all year, and turnovers cost us tonight,” said interim Nation Ford head coach Jason McManus. “We’re not in a position to overcome those turnovers. We want to move positively forward. We want to go out every day and work hard, work with effort and find a way to keep these kids together and win a couple of games.”
Sanford threw for 256 yards on 26-of-42 passing, led the Falcons with three touchdowns. Running back Patience Andrews had 91 rushing yards on 22 carries, while Malachi Drayton had 48 yards on eight attempts. Jayden Scott, one rushing touchdown, led the team with 101 receiving yards on six catches, while Lucas Barz tallied 90 yards and a receiving score on eight catches.
With the loss, the Falcons drop to 1-6, 0-3 in region play. Rock Hill is now 5-3, 4-0 in region. Because Northwestern defeated Fort Mill on the road, Rock Hill and Northwestern will meet next week at District 3 Stadium with identical 4-0 region records for the chance to secure the top spot in the region.
Meanwhile, Nation Ford continues to search for its first region win in a bid to reach the postseason.
“We’re gonna pour into them,” McManus said, of his plan to generate confidence for his team. “We’ll tell them we love them, be really positive with them. We played a tough schedule early, and we haven’t been as productive on offense and defense as we would want them to be. We want to work really hard, and I think we’ll be fine the last couple of games.”
Rock Hill took a strong early lead thanks to some quick-fire strikes from quarterback Kason Canupp.
Nation Ford opened the scoring when Sanford spotted wide receiver Barz blazing through the middle of the field from 30 yards out on the Falcons’ opening drive.
The Bearcats immediately responded on the first play of the ensuing Rock Hill possession, with Canupp finding Malik Clark in plenty of open space for a 57-yard score.
Wide receiver Josh Ameo fumbled the ball just a minute later, leading to another Rock Hill drive. This time, it only took Canupp two plays before he found Clark again to score. The receiver beat a defender and torched his way up the middle to score from 50 yards away.
McManus employed a hurry-up offensive rhythm, which started clicking midway through the first quarter. Drayton and Andrews provided strong rushing attempts through the middle. On fourth and three at the Rock Hill 25, Barz made an athletic catch at the five to rescue the drive. Sanford then found Ameo from 2-yards out to tie the game at 14-14.
Rock Hill nearly scored on the ensuing Bearcats’ drive, but Kaiden Watkins fumbled the ball after Canupp found him at the Nation Ford goal line just seconds into the second quarter. But the Bearcats had another quick strike soon after. Starting a drive inside his own 20, Canupp found EJ Ratley near the edge, and Ratley torched several defenders down the sideline from the 35 to secure an 81-yard scoring reception and give Rock Hill a 21-14 advantage.
Sanford was strip-sacked on the next Nation Ford drive, giving the ball back to Rock Hill with 4:26 left to play in the first half. Canupp only needed one play to find Watkins in space to score his fourth passing touchdown of the night, this time from 51 yards, to give Rock Hill a 28-14 lead.
With 4:17 left to play, Nation Ford built a slow, purposeful drive downfield, with Andrews leading the way on the ground. A targeting call pushed Nation Ford inside the Rock Hill red zone. Scott then scampered into the right side of the end zone on a wildcat play, cutting the lead to just one score with less than 50 seconds to play in the first half.
Nation Ford drove into Rock Hill territory on its first second-half drive but was picked off by a Rock Hill defender. Five plays later, Donavon Franklin scored from seven yards away to give Rock Hill a 35-21 edge.
Canupp led another strong drive after a three-and-out from Nation Ford and scored with a keeper with less than five minutes left in the third quarter to go up 42-21.
Nation Ford embarked on a mammoth 17-play, six-minute drive that stretched from the end of the third quarter through the beginning of the fourth where Sanford found Scott for big yardage before eventually connecting with Jeffrey Papin for a 10-yard touchdown. Barz caught another pass from Sanford for the 2-point conversion to cut the lead to 42-29.
Rock Hill subbed in its backup quarterback Ian Grissom with less than five minutes left in the fourth. Grissom connected with Zykel Reid to push the lead to 52-29 after kicker Diego Hernandez converted an 18-yard chip-shot field goal.
The Falcons tried one last drive with 92 seconds left from their own 46, but Sanford ran out of time with his team on the 14 looking for one final shot at the end zone.
McManus said his team would work to limit the big plays that doomed Nation Ford Friday night.
“I’ll have to watch those plays,” he said. “It looked like (Clark) was left alone a couple of times, and you can’t leave a D1 receiver open like that. You need to take away the team’s best players. They have really explosive players, and we need to play consistently.”
Both teams next play 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18. Nation Ford travels to local rival Catawba Ridge, while Rock Hill next plays Northwestern at District III Stadium.
