Catawba Ridge head football coach Zac Lendyak said he saw “flashes” of how dangerous his Copperheads football team can be during their 35-17 loss to South Pointe.
If his team can eliminate unnecessary penalties and become more consistent when responding to adversity, Lendyak says his team can make a real impact as the Region 3-4A schedule draws closer to the end.
Catawba Ridge led by 10 midway through the second quarter, but the offense threw three interceptions over the next six possessions as the visitors overtook the lead.
The Stallions (5-2, 5-0 in region) scored 28 straight points over the next 28 minutes of play to maintain their spot at the top of the region standings. With the loss, Catawba Ridge drops to 4-4, 2-2 on the season.
“We see flashes of what we can do on offense and defense,” he said. “Anytime we got some momentum tonight, where we had a chance to take that next step, we kind of gave it away. When you’re playing a team like South Pointe, you can’t do those things. If we can control that, we’ll be a dangerous team.”
Catawba Ridge showed plenty of promise in the first half, but a late interception spoiled valuable momentum just before the halftime break.
Kicker Josh Crick nailed a 39-yard field goal on his team’s first drive of the night.
South Pointe responded on its ensuing drive. Running back Rasean Brown bowled over a defender from 4 yards out to finish out a 45-yard, 6-play drive.
The Copperheads didn’t need long to answer. On the first play of the second quarter, quarterback Will Gambrill, who was 20-for-37 for 286 passing yards with three interceptions and two touchdowns, spotted Colten McCauley, who had five catches for 103 yards, on a long route, and the receiver snagged his 34-yard pass out of the air around a South Pointe defender to help his team retake the lead.
Following a South Pointe three-and-out, Gambrill tossed a similar downfield ball, this time from 48 yards out to Calvin Rocheleau, who had nine catches for 155 yards, and outran his defender and untouched into the end zone to put Catawba Ridge up 17-7 with 8:02 left in the second quarter.
South Pointe slowed down the tempo on its next drive, grinding 80 yards on 12 plays over the course of 3:30, with quarterback Braylon Frederick finding quick routes to receivers over the field.
Brown found the end zone from 11 yards, cutting to the near side and cutting the Copperheads lead to three with 4:45 left in the half.
Catawba Ridge took over on its 28 with plenty of time left to play. Gambrill quickly connected with Rocheleau for 13-yard and 26-yard catches to push into South Pointe territory. Gambrill connected with Rocheleau for 13-yard and 26-yard catches to push into South Pointe territory.
But with 98 seconds left to play, defensive back Carson Moore picked off Gambrill at the South Pointe 18 before running the ball back nearly 50 yards.
South Pointe only needed two plays before Brown dashed into the end zone again from short yardage for his third score of the night to give South Pointe a 21-17 lead heading into the break.
The momentum shift was clear. Catawba Ridge was just 23 yards away from taking a 10-point lead, and a minute later, found itself trailing by four.
“You’ve got to be able to have change of momentum plays, and we didn’t do that tonight,” Lendyak said. “It was like they made a play and then they made another play, and we weren’t able to slow them down. A couple of plays here and there, and we just weren’t quite able to keep them out of the end zone, we need to pick up the first down on offense and help the defense out.”
On South Pointe’s first drive of the second half, Frederick found receiver E’Lijah Barber for a 21-yard gain, leading Brown to bullrush his way into the end zone for his fourth and final touchdown of the night.
Facing third and 19 on his own 11 a few minutes later, Gambrill threw up a prayer, but defensive back Jordan Hines came down with the pick.
Four plays later, King Davis caught a 16-yard scoring catch from Frederick to push the lead to 35-17 seconds before the end of the third quarter.
Gambrill’s last interception of the night came midway through the fourth quarter, where he tried to find a pass in the flat, but Jamil Watson came away with the ball.
“We need to take control of the things we can control,” Lendyak said. “Perfecting that, and when we put the whole thing together, we’re a pretty dangerous football team. We need to keep believing in ourselves.”
The game was the final regular season home game of the year for Catawba Ridge. The Copperheads will finish the regular season with road games at Lake Wylie on Oct. 23 and at Clover on Oct. 30.
