The 14-0 South Pointe Stallions and the 13-1 Northwestern Trojans are set for round two of their rivalry Friday night in Clemson.  This time, the winner will be crowned state champs.

 
On at least three occasions over the last twenty years or so, the two best teams in the state of South Carolina played their home games on the same field. That field is Rock Hill's District 3 Stadium, home of the Rock Hill Bearcats and Northwestern Trojans. Due to seeding or how the brackets played out in those years, the 'Cats and Trojans ended up meeting at District 3 in the semifinals instead of the state championship. In '89, they each came into their regular season finale 10-0 and Rock Hill, led by future Clemson linebackers Tim Jones and Andy McCrorey, won 19-16 in 3 OTs on a half-back pass. Three weeks later, the Trojans, who were led that year by future Notre Dame and NFL player Jeff Burris, won the re-match 14-7. Northwestern went on to win the state title the next week, 21-6 against an over-matched Lancaster team. More recently, in 2004, the Trojans won the regular season battle 14-9, only to have the Bearcats come back and win the semi-final match-up 7-6. Rock Hill went to USC's Williams-Brice Stadium a week later and easily handled Stratford 21-7 to win their 2nd title in 3 years.

Well, Rock Hillians have finally gotten the state title match-up they have wanted for so long. However, there is an interesting twist to the story. There is a new kid in town and they have crashed the party. They are the South Pointe Stallions and they have claimed their share of the lime-light. They are this year's city champs after having defeated the other two, 28-7 over the Trojans and 31-10 against the 'Cats. South Pointe opened in 2005 due to tremendous growth in the city, and this is only their 3rd year of varsity football. Many worried that the quality of the teams in Rock Hill would suffer with the talent spread out between 3 schools, but after only a couple down years it has actually made it even better, with 3 good teams instead of 2. All three were ranked in the top 5 in the state and only last week did one of them lose to a team outside of the city. That was when Rock Hill lost in the Division I semi-finals to Sumter and Shrine Bowl and future Clemson running back Rod McDowell, and finished 11-3 with a surprising team full of juniors that should be a force to be reckoned with next year.

This week is not just about the city trophy but the state as the Stallions and Trojans take their budding rivalry about 2 & 1/2 hours down I-85 to Clemson's Death Valley Friday night at 8 for the AAAA Division II title. Many in Rock Hill wonder why the game can't be played at District 3, but the site is pre-determined a year in advance. It can't be changed now, and these kids shouldn't be robbed of their chance to play in a big-time college stadium because most of them will never get another chance to. Ironically, South Pointe has 3 players who will be dressed in the enemy colors of garnet and black the next time they come here as USC Gamecocks. WR Charles Holmes, QB/DB Stephon Gilmore, and safety DeVonte Holloman have committed to the Gamecocks. Holloman originally committed to Clemson but backed off when coach Tommy Bowden stepped down. Last Saturday at Death Valley, Clemson defeated USC 31-14 for the 16th time in 21 years, which helped lead to the interim tag being removed from coach and head recruiter Dabo Swinney.

Another star in the Stallion secondary is DB/kick returner Pat Burris. The Burris name is familiar to the Trojans. The previously mentioned Jeff is his uncle and his dad, Pat, played for the Trojans and Arkansas. The elder Pat is an assistant now at South Pointe. Burris has 2 kick and 2 punt returns for TDs while Holloman has taken 5 punts back. Counting INTs, the pair has accounted for 16 of the 19 non-offensive TDs for the Stallions. South Pointe averages scoring 8.14 points a game by their defense/special teams. That is more than the 6.2 a game they give up. So theoretically, if they hadn't scored a point on offense all year they could still be 14-0. In the playoffs, they have outscored their opponents 140-29. South Pointe is ranked as high as #1 in the country by one website.

Northwestern's playoff numbers almost mirror the Stallions, as they have a combined score of 136-30. However, the Trojans tend to score their points the more traditional way, on offense. Sophomore QB Justin Worley has thrown for 3,345 yards and 48 TDs in their "Air Raid" passing attack. Their idea of running the ball is usually short swing passes to Shrine Bowl RB/WR Jarrett Neely. Worley has a fleet of wideouts at his disposal in Cordarelle Patterson, Labris Adams, and Julian Patton, among others. In the 1st game this year, South Pointe rushed as little as one player and dropped 10 in coverage at times. The unorthodox strategy was effective as the Stallions defeated the Trojans 28-7. "We'll probably blitz all 11 players on every play this time," Stallions coach Bobby Carroll said. "The first time we played this season, it was like your daddy taking you behind the woodshed, taking off his belt, bending you over a stump and whipping you," said Trojans coach Jimmy "Moose" Wallace. Wallace exaggerates just a bit as the score was 7-7 in the 4th quarter. 

Wallace and Carroll will be facing one another at the site of one of their greatest accomplishments together at Northwestern. In '93 in Clemson, when Carroll was defensive coordinator for Wallace's Trojans, Northwestern defeated a defending state champion and 7th ranked (nationally) Gaffney team full of Division I college prospects. The final was 2-0 on the strength of an early safety and a late blocked field goal. Carroll coached Wallace's defenses for 18 years before leaving to be South Pointe's first coach. The Trojans won 2 out of 4 state title games under Moose and Carroll. Carroll has several former Trojan players and coaches on his Stallion staff.

There is one little-known yet interesting fact about this match-up. It almost didn't happen. Northwestern was the 17th largest school that qualified for the AAAA playoffs in South Carolina. If one more school hadn't qualified, the Trojans would have moved up into the upper half of the 32 playoff teams, putting them in Division I and in a separate playoff from Division II South Pointe. Once again, there would have been no all-Rock Hill state championship. It's finally here! C U in the Valley!