Prep Sports
Northpoint football coach Greg Wallace didn’t want to talk about being undefeated or about the region championship his team secured Friday night at Harding.
Instead, Wallace’s thoughts were on a welldeserved celebration.
“I just want to get a cheeseburger and lie down,” Wallace laughed.
Buy one for everyone on defense, coach.
Northpoint, ranked ninth in the The Commercial Appeal’s Dandy Dozen, used a stout defensive effort against one of the area’s most explosive groups of playmakers and defeated the host Lions 12-7.
The victory extends Northpoint’s record to 9-0 but more importantly clinched the regularseason Division 2-A West Region championship and most likely home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
Harding (6-2, 2-1) got into the Northpoint red zone four times Friday but didn’t score until Marquavious Moore punched it in from nine yards with 2:13 to go in the game.
That made it 12-7, but the Trojans’ Reid Haberstroh pounced on an onside kick. Northpoint then picked up a first down on a Christian Saulsberry run and ran out the clock.
“We’re not the biggest or the strongest,” said Wallace, whose team concludes the regular season against Fayette-Ware on Oct. 30. “But we’re mean and nasty.”
The meanest and nastiest of all the Trojans was senior defensive end Tyree Bryant, a 6-2, 230-pounder who was in on seemingly every big play.
Northpoint got the only points of the first half when Saulsberry capped a 63yard drive with a 13-yard run, his 19th touchdown of the season.
That drive was set up by an interception by the Trojans’ Jamison Patterson after the Lions had driven to the Northpoint 9-yard line.
Harding put together another nice drive to open the third quarter, using a 27-yard pickup by Moore to reach the Trojans’ 14. But Northpoint forced a four-and-out and then responded with an 86-yard drive that made it 12-0. Nelson Farbizius scored from 11 yards.
And in the fourth quarter, Harding recovered a fumble after a huge hit by Keilan Hulton on Adam McPherson but came away scoreless once again after going four-and-out from the 15.
This week’s Division 2-A state volleyball tournament in Murfreesboro could rightly be called the West Tennessee Classic.
Three of the four teams in the field will be from Shelby County as Harding, St. George’s and St. Mary’s won substate matches Saturday to advance.
The most surprising were the Turkeys, who placed third in the West Region and went on the road to defeat East/Middle No. 2 seed Zion Christian 25-17, 22-25, 25-19, 25-22. It will be the first final four appearance for St. Mary’s.
“We came out ready to play and were very solid in the first (set),” said Turkeys coach Kari Duncan. “Then we started to play a little reactionary in the second and lost, but once we decided to just play our game, we got back on track. Our defense today was just great, but it was really a team effort.”
“We know we’re the underdogs; we’ve played fewer matches than the other teams. But I think we have a chance if we can execute and get the other teams out of their games.”
Harding, the top seed in the West Region, had no trouble with The King’s Academy, winning 25-10, 25-10, 25-7. The Lions will take a 37-6 record into the tournament.
St. George’s, which lost to Harding in last week’s region title game, advanced with a 16-25, 25-6, 25-16, 25-10 victory over Friendship Christian. The Gryphons will be looking to win their first state title since 2011 when play begins on Wednesday.
ECS, the other local hopeful in Division 2-A, lost on the road against nationally ranked Knoxville Webb.
Briarcrest surged into the Division 2-AA tournament and won its 42nd match of the season, defeating Brentwood Academy 25-14, 25-14, 25-11. The Saints (42-4-1) will be joined at state by St. Agnes, which qualified with a victory over Nashville Ensworth last week.