Wilson Hall, Generals fall short

Northwood runs past TSA 28-10

Hammond rolls over Barons 41-7

Friday Night Football (11/21)

By WORTHY EVANS
Special To The Item

ORANGEBURG – Thomas Sumter Academy marched through the SCISA 2A state playoffs playing mistake-free football and with powerful runs by go-to fullback Phillip Frazier. The Generals got neither against Northwood Academy in the state championship game at Orangeburg Prep's Indian Field on Friday.

Along the way, TSA got a strong dose of Uriah Singleton as he rushed for 160 yards and three touchdowns on 18 carries to lead Northwood to a 28-10 victory over the Generals.

"We ran into a buzzsaw tonight with their defense," said TSA head coach Troy Kessinger, whose team finishes the season with an 11-3 record. "Their defense handled our offense and to me, that was the name of it. Offensively we just struggled."

The Generals generated only 56 rushing yards on 27 attempts. Frazier, who rushed for well over 100 yards in each of his team's playoff games, was limited to 39 yards on 12 carries. Meanwhile Singleton, who had 214 yards against the Generals in the Chargers' 35-14 victory earlier in the season, powered his offense on long drives throughout the game.

Northwood is in its fifth year fielding a football team and third year competing in SCISA.

"It's a dream come true for us, for our team, for our program and for our kids,it really is," said Northwood head coach Jerry Stukes whose team finishes 12-2. "To do this we thought we might be the best 2A team, but you still have to go out and play all the games. We tell our kids that to be the best, you have to beat the best, and we feel like we've done that through the year."

Thomas Sumter used two turnovers to jump to a 10-0 lead midway through the first quarter, but Northwood scored 28 unanswered points to clinch the win, including two scores that resulted from TSA turnovers.

"That's the way it goes," Kessinger said. "We've got to take care of the ball better than that at a state championship game, but I can't fault our kids. Their effort was great."

On Northwood's first play from scrimmage, Singleton fumbled and Frazier jumped on it to set TSA up on the Northwood 27. The Chargers defense stiffened, however, and the Generals had to settle for Harrison Cardone's 30-yard field goal at the 8:24 mark of the first quarter.

Later in the period, Zach Robertson picked off a pass from Northwood quarterback Brandon Stukes and put the Generals at midfield. Six plays later, TSA quarterback Blake Stengel connected with Dustin Scott for a 34-yard touchdown pass. Cardone's point after made it 10-0 Generals with 1:11 to go in the first.

Singleton made sure that TSA's grip on Northwood was short-lived. Just 23 seconds removed from the kickoff that followed the Generals' score, Singleton blasted up the middle and shot past the defenders on his way to a 62-yard touchdown run.

With TSA's lead cut to 10-7 going into the second quarter, Northwood picked up Stengel's fumble on the exchange from center to put the Chargers at the TSA 33. After a 21-yard run from Nick Burn, Singleton burst into the end zone from five yards out to give Northwood a 14-10 lead at the 10:37 mark of the second quarter.

Burn later intercepted a Stengel pass and returned it 56 yards to the TSA 26, but the Chargers' possession ended with Graham's missed 31-yard field goal attempt.

Just 30 seconds into the second half, Rock Richard stripped the ball from Frazier as he carried it into a pile. Burn picked up the loose ball and ran it in from 29 yards out to give Northwood a 21-10 lead. Singleton scored his third and final TD of the night when he rushed 22 yards for a score with 7:01 left.

"Thomas Sumter had us on the ropes," Stukes said. "They had us on the ropes and they were a step quicker than us. For our kids to bounce back the way that they did, it was tremendous for us." Kessinger, in his third year as head coach of the Generals, had taken over the program when it had only a couple dozen athletes on the sidelines. He credits the group of seniors on this team with not only helping build themselves into a state-championship contender, but also build the program into a perpetual winner.

"Our seniors need a lot of credit," he said. "They've been with me since I've been here. They're the ones who've bought in to what we're doing and they worked hard. They've come a long way."