Chargers dismiss Generals

DALZELL -- Northwood Academy, riding on the back of standout tailback Uriah Singleton, knocked off Thomas Sumter Academy 21-7 in the SCISA 2A state semifinals at General Field on Friday.

The Chargers, now 11-2 on the year, will advance to take on Hilton Head Christian, which beat Colleton Prep 35-20 in the other semifinal, in the championship game next week, while the Generals' season ends at 8-5.

"I'm not sure why, but for some reason, we were really tight tonight," said TSA head coach Troy Kessinger, whose team lost to Northwood in the state championship game last year. "We tried to loosen them up before we came out, but you could feel the tension inside before we came out."

As is usually the case, Singleton led Northwood's offense, gaining 206 yards on 28 carries and two touchdowns.

"He's a great back, and I thought we did a decent job holding them to 21 points tonight," said Kessinger. "But they're also are a very good defensive team that did a good job holding us down tonight."

On the game's first play from scrimmage, the Chargers, expecting the Generals to have their full attention on Singleton, faked a handoff to Singleton hoping to sneak a receiver behind the Generals secondary. After quarterback Ty Powell faked the handoff, Powell found Nick Burn wide open deep down the middle of the field. Burn stumbled when making the catch, but was able to hold on for a 35-yard reception that gave Northwoods a first down at the TSA 17.

After a TSA penalty gave the Chargers a first-and-goal from the nine, Singleton scored on a six-yard run on second down to put Northwood on the scoreboard. Seth Graham booted the extra point to give the Chargers an early 7-0 lead.

"That is the first time all year we have thrown the ball on first down," said Northwood head coach Jerry Stoots about the big reception that got the drive started. "We know every team is going to focus on stopping Uriah (Singleton) first, so we were fortunate enough to take advantage of that."

After the two teams traded punts following the Chargers score, TSA pulled a play out of its bag of tricks to help set up the tying touchdown. On a first down from the General 42, Harrison Cardone took a pitch from quarterback Blake Stengel and started around right end. Cardone quickly flipped the ball back to Stengel before crossing the line of scrimmage, which allowed Stengel to hit a wide open BJ Catoe for a 35-yard completion that moved the ball to the Northwood 23.

After a pass interference penalty gave the Generals a first and goal from the eight, Cardone picked up seven yards on first down, which allowed Stengel to score on a quarterback sneak on the next play. Cardone added the extra point to tie things at 7-7 with 22 seconds left in the opening quarter.

"We did a good job getting that touchdown back, and we were hoping that maybe that would get us going," said Kessinger. "I felt like we might be loosening up some and starting to have some fun. We told our guys there are only a few Friday nights like this, so to take advantage of it and have some fun."

Northwood responded by marcheing 58 yards in nine plays, finishing things off when Powell tossed a 15-yard touchdown pass to Derek Mills to give the Chargers a 14-7 lead with 7:45 left in the second quarter.

When the second half got underway, the Chargers decided to turn things over to Singleton, which proved to be the wise thing to do. After the Generals were forced to kick the ball away on the half's first possession, Northwood took over, pinned in at the five yard line after a 47-yard punt by Cardone. Singleton then ran off consecutive runs of 8, 6, 30, 13, 13, 5, 7, and 14 yards to move the ball to the Generals 11.

A holding penalty moved the ball back to the 21, but after Powell hit Mills on a nine-yard pass and Singleton followed a four-yard run with a five-yard touchdown run. Graham's extra point stretched the Panthers lead to 21-7 with 3:44 left in the third quarter.

The Generals moved the ball well on their next drive, but a holding penalty when they got down to the Northwood 21 would force the Generals too turn the ball over on downs. After a recovering a Northwood fumble at its 35, the Generals moved to the Northwood 21 before again turning the ball over on downs.

"We did move the ball some after that fumble, but we had penalties and other mistakes that hurt us all game," Kessinger said. "You can't afford to do that with a team that has a big like they do."