Catawba Ridge head coach Zac Lendyak said his team is in a “rough patch” following the Copperheads’ 16-7 loss at home to Rock Hill Friday night.
Despite eliminating some penalties that had plagued them in last week’s loss to Nation Ford, Catawba Ridge struggled to unleash its offense on Senior Night.
The Copperheads, which dropped to 4-5 and 1-4 Region 3-5A, were shut out in the second half, the offense totaled just nine rushing yards all night, and quarterback Bradey Compton was 14-of-29 for 163 yards and a touchdown, but also threw two interceptions, including one with less than three minutes to go as the home team was pushing hard into Rock Hill territory to cut the lead to one score.
“We’re in a rough patch,” Lendyak said, acknowledging his team’s four-game losing streak. “We have to show up and keep working. That’s all we can do. We weren’t able to move the ball on offense the way we needed to today. … It seems to be our Achilles heel that we haven’t put a full game together.”
During last week’s 41-34 loss to Nation Ford, he said, the offense was rolling, but the defense couldn’t hold; this week, the fortunes seemed to flip.
With the win, Rock Hill finishes its regular season with a 6-4 record and a 4-2 mark in region play. Catawba Ridge will finish its regular season at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 31, at Clover High School.
Calvin Rocheleau led the Copperheads with 43 receiving yards on four catches, Colten McCauley picked up 31 yards on three grabs, and Darius Sutton scored a touchdown on his lone reception from 21 yards early in the second quarter.
“We’ve got to be more physical up front,” Lendyak said. “We’re doing a good job of identifying where to go, but once we get there, we’ve got to continue to stick on the blocks and give our guys more of a hole to get through. We struggled to do that tonight, just couldn’t find any consistency in the run game, and it made it really tough to pass the ball.”
On the last home game of the year, Catawba Ridge got off to a slow start, giving up a turnover on downs from its first possession. Rock Hill picked up the ball on its own 33 and drove 68 yards on 11 plays over more than five minutes before Myles Brooks executed a well-timed reverse sweep from 3-yards out to open the scoring for the Bearcats.
The Copperheads were made to pay for a miscue midway through the drive where the defense gave up a quarterback run by Jonah Young, then were called on a personal foul to push Rock Hill from the Catawba Ridge 31 to the 7 en route to Brooks’ touchdown.
Brooks then picked off Compton on the Copperheads’ next offensive play as he tried to spot a receiver downfield near the sideline.
Catawba Ridge took advantage of a Rock Hill error to tie up the ballgame. On fourth and 18, Rock Hill’s punter couldn’t reel in a high snap and had to dive on the ball on his own 38. It only took Compton three plays to help Catawba Ridge score, finding Sutton in the far corner of the Bearcats’ end zone from 21 yards out on the first play of the second quarter.
Both teams traded punts midway through the second quarter, and Catawba Ridge had little opportunity to take the lead. Rock Hill pinned the Copperheads back to their own 1 with 4:20 left on a punt. Catawba Ridge made it as far as its own 32, but 15 yards of that was a pass interference call.
Xavier Gilmore picked off Young to give Catawba Ridge one last shot before the halftime break with less than 40 seconds to go.
Despite completions to Sebastian Archbold and Boston Halpin, Compton couldn’t push his team past the Rock Hill 35 before the halftime buzzer rang.
Rock Hill opened the second half with a strong kickoff return to set up its offense inside the Catawba Ridge 40, then drove downfield on nine plays before Erby scored on a jet sweep play on fourth and short to give Rock Hill a 14-7 lead.
Catawba Ridge’s Josh Dobson ripped off an electric 55-yard kickoff return himself on the ensuing possession, but the offense fumbled on the ensuing possession on the Rock Hill 16, ending what might have been a promising drive.
Catawba Ridge was forced to punt on its first drive in the fourth quarter, but a high snap forced the punter to grab the ball and run out of the back of the end zone for a safety, rather than risk a return for a touchdown.
The Copperheads then went four-and-out with five minutes left. Rock Hill missed a 48-yard field goal attempt on the next drive, and Brooks picked off Compton on the Rock Hill 29, running the ball all the way back into Copperhead territory, effectively ending any hope of a Catawba Ridge comeback.
Lendyak said his team would study the film on Saturday and turn its attention to the final regular-season matchup at Clover.
“(We focus on) us,” he said. “Putting together that complete game. That’s where success happens: we keep grinding. That’s my job as the head coach to figure out what we can do to put a complete game together.”
