Rushing attack helps Pointers ground Rockets

SOUTH POINT — It took Mother Nature to stop Landon Vance.

The South Point Pointers’ sophomore running back carried 19 times for 230 yards and two touchdowns in a 24-6 win over the Wellston Rockets in a game halted twice by lightning.

The second stoppage came late in the third quarter and brought the game to a premature end and prevented Vance from gaining any more yards against the Wellston defense.

The Pointers (2-1) forced a punt on the Rockets’ first series to start the game.

Vance ripped off a 31-yard run to the Wellston 25 and a late hit penalty moved the ball to the 20.

Two plays later, Vance ran 18 yards for the touchdown and the Pointers led 6-0 with 7:06 on the clock

Another 3-and-out gave South Point the ball at its own 39. Nine plays later the Pointers scored on a 9-yard pass from K.J. McLain to Vance and it was 12-0 with just 29 seconds left in the first quarter.

Wellston (1-2) fumbled to start the second quarter and Caesyn Pope recovered for the Pointers at the Rockets-30-yard line.

Vance ran through the defense on the ensuing play to score and it was 18-0 just 15 seconds into the quarter.

In contrast, the Pointers next possession resulted in an 88-yard, 13-play drive capped by a 20-yard wide receiver pass from Ethan Hunt to Davon Lewis on a fourth and 10 play to make it 24-0 with 1:56 left in the half.

Lightning flashed with 1:03 left in the half causing the first stoppage of play.

Vance had runs of 26 and one yards when play resumed to end the half.

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After a brief break, the second half began and South Point drove to the Wellston 8-yard line only to fumble and the Rockets recovered.

With some momentum in their packet, the Rockets went 76 yards in six plays keyed by a 49-yard pass play from Wes Briggs to Carmine Crabtree to the Pointers’ 18.

Two plays later, Briggs hit Crabtree in the corner of the end zone for a touchdown and it was 24-6 with 5:46 left in the third quarter.

South Point punted on its next series and Wesllton used a 24-yard run by Josh Clarkson to reach the Pointers’ 20 but a fumble was recovered by South Point.

The play happened with 1:03 left and that’s when the second lightning flashed and the game was stopped.

Facing another lengthy stoppage and the night getting late, the teams conferred and elected to make it an official contest.

The Pointers finished with 317 total yards with McLain hitting 5-of-10 passes for 49 yards and a score.

Clarkson ran 12 times for 70 yards to lead Wellston. Briggs was 5-of-11 passing for 78 yards and a touchdown while Crabtree had 3 receptions for 73 yards and a touchdown.

South Point visits Symmes Valley next Friday.

Wellston    0 0 6 = 6

South Point 12 12 0 = 24

First Quarter

SP — Landon Vance 18 run (run failed) 7:06

SP — Landon Vance 9 pass from K.J. McLain (run failed) 0:29

Second Quarter

SP — Landon Vance 30 run (pass failed) 11:45

SP — Davon Lewis 20 pass from Ethan Hunt (run failed) 1:56

Third Quarter

We — Carmine Crabtree 17 pass from Wes Briggs (run failed) 5:46

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We SP

First downs  7 15

Rushes-yards 19-84 28-248

Passing yards 78 69

Total yards 162 317

Cmp-Att-Int 5-11-0 6-12-0

Fumbles-lost 4-3 1-1

Penalties-yards 3-35 7-60

Punts-average 4-39.8 1-34.0

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING–Wellston: Josh Clarkson 12-70, Wes Briggs 5-15, Scott Davis 2-minus 1; South Point: Landon Vance 19-230 2-TD, Robert Napier 4-15, Ethan Hunt 1-5, K.J. McLain 2-1, Davon Lewis 2-minus 3.

PASSING–Wellston: Wes Biggs 5-11-0 78 TD; South Point: K.J. McLain 5-11-0 49 TD, Ethan Hunt 1-1-0 20 TD.

RECEIVING–Wellston: Carmine Crabtree 3-73 TD, Greyson Sites 1-4, Josh Clarkson 1-1; South Point: Ethan Hunt 2-23 TD, Davon Lewis 1-20 TD, Landon Vance 2-19, Elye Patterson 1-7.

MISSED FIELD GOALS–None.