Catawba Ridge’s Jairus Frank sprints away from Fort Mill’s Nick Krise (21) and Sam Conforto (22) during their game Friday at Bob Jones Stadium. Photos by Rob Upton

History was made Friday night at Bob Jones Stadium as Fort Mill and Catawba Ridge clashed on the gridiron for the first time ever with the Copperheads coming away with a 40-21 win.

Catawba Ridge improved to 5-1 overall and Fort Mill dropped to 0-5 on the season. Copperheads’ head coach Zac Lendyak said it was important for his team to get the win over Fort Mill.

“Fort Mill is a great football town with great rivalries and we wanted to start things off 1-0 and that is what we did,” he said. “Real proud of the guys tonight.”

After Fort Mill went three and out on their first series, Catawba Ridge didn’t waste any time scoring as they put the ball in the end zone on a 45-yard touchdown run by quarterback Kayden Hager just four plays into the drive. 

Defensively, Catawba Ridge was able to stifle Fort Mill most of the night. However, at times, Fort Mill’s defense was just as tough forcing a Copperhead punt on their second series after giving up the long run on Catawba Ridge’s first drive. 

The second quarter started with Fort Mill driving but a big fourth down tackle by Copperheads’ Asa Johnson turned the ball over. On the Copperheads’ next series, Hager hit Ben Hudgins for a big 32-yard catch to get into Yellow Jackets territory. A bad snap then forced Catawba Ridge to punt the ball, which was blocked by Fort Mill’s Gavin Steiner. 

Both teams offensively struggled with penalties in the first half. Those penalties forced each team into punting the ball often. 

Hager was able to lead Catawba Ridge again on little short passes which turned into big gains. That set up a 25-yard touchdown pass to Jairus Frank, who broke tackles rumbling into the end zone. 

Fort Mill put together a nice drive towards the latter half of the second quarter. Quarterback Kyle Neibch hit Andrew Thompson twice on the drive and then a big 17-yard run by Will Alvarado put them into the red zone. However, the Copperheads’ defense bit Fort Mill when they needed to and stopped them again on fourth and one. 

That stop left plenty of time for Hager to drive 89-yards and hit Quinten Jackson for a 31-yard touchdown pass with 7.7 seconds left in the first half to put Catawba Ridge up 20-0 at the break. 

Catawba Ridge blew the game open in the third quarter scoring 20-unanswered points. Frank took the opening pass on the first play of the third quarter and ran to the one-yard line, while Hager ran the ball in two plays later to extend the Copperheads lead to open the quarter. 

Catawba Ridge kept their foot on the gas as Andre Hodge interception gave the ball right back to the Copperheads. The Copperheads pushed forward and scored six plays later on a Henry Bowen two-yard touchdown run. Bowen would come right back and score again after another Catawba Ridge interception this time by Sam Dickerson just three plays after the turnover. 

“Things started rolling,” Lendyak said. “We talked about a couple little tweaks and the boys responded well.  We were a little two hyped up in the first half.”

Fort Mill was able to get on the board in the fourth quarter as Sam Conforto was able to pick off a pass from Hager and return the ball 35-yards to score preventing another Copperheads’ shutout. 

The Jackets did get an offensive touchdown as Neibch found Joshua Sturgeon on Fort Mill’s next series for an 11-yard pass in the end zone. 

“The third quarter steamrolled on us,” said Fort Mill head coach Rob McNeely. “We had some bad turnovers on their side of the field and we couldn’t recover from it. We need to continue to coach these guys hard.”

Fort Mill was led by Sturgeon, who had six catches for 73 yards and a touchdown. Hager led Catawba Ridge with 258 passing yards on 12-of-21 passing and 14 rushes for 76 yards. Hager ran for two touchdowns and threw for two scores as well. Bowen ran for 48 yards on 12 carries and two touchdowns. Hudgins caught three passes for 79 yards and Jackson caught three passes for 48 yards and a touchdown. Frank caught two passes for 89 yards and a touchdown as well.

Fort Mill will play at Indian Land next week for their last game of the season. The Jackets were originally schedule to play Lancaster, but COVID-19 issues with the Bruins has pretty much ended their season. Catawba Ridge is off next week and will prepare for their 4A playoff opener Nov. 13.

Catawba Ridge 40, Fort Mill 21

Scoring Summary

First quarter

CR-Kayden Hager 45-yard run, 7:52 

Second quarter 

CR-Hager to Jairus Frank 25-yard pass, 5:31 

CR-Hager to Quinten Jackson 31-yard pass, 7.7 

Third quarter

CR-Hager one-yard run, 10:53 

CR-Henry Bowen two-yard run, 8:19 

CR-Bowen three-yard run, 7:14 

Fourth quarter

FM-Sam Conforto 35-yard interception return, 10:15 

FM-Kyle Neibch 11-yard pass to Joshua Sturgeon, 5:24 

FM-Neibch 31-yard pass to Will Alvarado, 9.9 

Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep 

Fort Mill’s Joshua Sturgeon hauls in a pass as he is defended by Catawba Ridge’s Jacobie Henderson during their game.
Catawba Ridge’s Ben Hudgins takes to the sky to snag a pass during the Copperheads’ game against Fort Mill.