The late Gus Allen now has some company at the top of the mountain as the all-time winningest football coach in Fort Mill Township history. And it’s someone he would be happy with.
Gus Allen was joined by his son, Michael Allen, Nation Ford head football coach, as the younger Allen collected his 63rd career win with the Falcons tying his father’s win record of 63 wins when he coached Fort Mill. The elder Allen, who passed away in 2018, was head coach of Fort Mill High for eight years in the 1970s and finished his time coaching at Fort Mill with a 63-34-2 record before moving to another school.
The younger Allen didn’t realize his accomplishment Friday night. His next win would give him the record for most wins in Fort Mill football history with 64.
“Thank you, dad,” he said, looking toward the sky.
However, for the younger Allen, it was just about getting a win as Nation Ford had started the season 0-4 before facing Richland Northeast Cavaliers Friday night at home where they picked up a 33-20 win. They are now 1-4 and will face Clover next week to open their Region 3-5A schedule.
Leading by just one point to open the fourth quarter, quarterback Carson Black led Nation Ford on an eight-play drive as Jeremiah Hailstock would punch it in for an 8-yard touchdown to give the Falcons some breathing room with about 10:30 left in the game. Black hit Josh Ameo on a 28-yard pass to get them into the red zone setting up Hailstock’s run to make it 27-20.
Black was 14-21 for 200 yards and two touchdowns. His main targets were Ameo, who caught four passes for 76 yards and Ben Wakefield, who caught four passes for 61 yards. Each scored a touchdown.
“I am really proud of the way Carson leads the team,” Allen said. “I am really proud of our effort and tenacity.”
Nation Ford continued to move the ball on their second drive of the fourth quarter milking the clock the entire time. The drive ended with an AJ McCullom 7-yard touchdown run. McCullom rushed for 91 yards on 10 carries for the Falcons. That gave the Falcons a 33-20 lead with 3:33 left in the game.
Nation Ford came out in the third quarter to get the opening kick and drove it right at the Cavaliers. Black hit Wakefield for a 21-yard gain and Jordan Ussery for an 18-yard gain setting up a 1-yard touchdown run by McCullom to push the Falcons lead to 21-12.
The Falcons defense played their best game of the season reading the Richland Northeast offense to a tee in the game for most series. Both Braydon Flores and Clayton Rygol led the defensive effort as Flores had three sacks unofficially for the Falcons in the game.
The Cavaliers made a game of it under two minutes left in the third quarter as they scored on a 28-yard touchdown off a screen pass and then converted a 2-point conversion to pull within one.
Richland Northeast opened the game going right at the Falcons by running the ball up the middle and keeping it on the ground. The Cavaliers saw that they had trouble with the Falcons pass defense so they quickly went to their ground game. Richland Northeast hurt their opening drive by getting several penalties pushing them back to midfield.
Nation Ford’s first down looked promising on the second play as Black hit Ameo for a 26-yard pick up, but then stalled shortly thereafter.
With about three minutes left in the first quarter, Nation Ford’s Flores came up with a big sack causing the Cavaliers to lose about eight yards and forcing them to punt. The Falcons defense struggled some in stopping Richland Northeast as they were able to move the ball better than Nation Ford early on.
The Cavaliers was able to get down into the Falcons 5-yard line once the second quarter started and then scored on a 5-yard touchdown to put them up 6-0 at 9:04 after Nation Ford blocked the extra point.
The score by the Cavaliers woke Nation Ford up as they would answer them on the next drive. Black hit Lucas Barz on a 27-yard pass pushing the Falcons past midfield. That would then set up several runs by Hailstock to get Nation Ford into the red zone and then knocking on the door of the 10-yard line. Black would then hit Ameo for a 11-yard touchdown pass to get the Falcons on the board.
Black was picked off on the Falcons next drive, but the Nation Ford defense came up big with a stop. However, Richland Northeast recovered a fumbled punt by the Falcons and took over at the 17-yard line deep in Nation Ford territory. The Cavaliers took full advantage of it and scored four plays later on a 12-yard touchdown pass to go up 12-7 after a failed 2-point conversion with 1:25 left in the half.
Right before the half, Black drove Nation Ford 43 yards in six plays to hit Wakefield for an 8-yard touchdown pass to give them a 14-12 lead with 29 seconds left in the first half.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
