Stifling defensive effort leads North to all-star game win

Strong defensive play struck a chord early and often in the North’s 21-14 victory in the Touchstone Energy Cooperatives North/South All-Star Football Game on Saturday.

The game, held at Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium, saw two strong squads made up of some of South Carolina’s best players’ battle for bragging rights in their last games as high school football players. Early on, nerves and unfamiliarity with other players led to a North turnover on the first possession and a three-and-out by the South. On the third snap for the South, North defensive lineman and Tennessee commit Tre Lawson broke through to bring down Beaufort’s Omar Cummings for a loss.

The play would set the tone for the North squad.

“We needed a spark to get our offense going,” Lawson said.” I feel like I’m a leader on the defense after the week of practice, so I wanted to make a play early on to let everybody know that we are here to win. We didn’t come here just to have fun and play around; we wanted to win the game.”

Lawson’s hit did that and more, as the South team was forced to punt and the North turned its next offensive drive into seven points as quarterback Brett Burnett hit Malik Williams for a 26 yard touchdown. The North defense would continue to feed its offense throughout the game, forcing five turnovers and applying pressure to any quarterback the South put in the game.

“Our defense played outstanding today,” said North head coach Jimmy Neal of Camden. “We saw them all week in practice do the things they did on the field during this game. They treated us (the coaching staff) like we were Nick Saban and really hung on everything we were telling them. They came out with a focus and intensity about them that was great to see.”

The North All-Stars would add another score in the first quarter, a 56 yard bomb from Devin Beckley to Cedric Smith, before the South would respond. Conway’s Peyton Derrick, an Appalachian State commit, found his backup quarterback in Tyrece Nick for an 11 yard fade route touchdown. The score came after the South lined up for a field goal, then reconsidered after the North took a timeout.

“We committed five turnovers, I don’t care what level of football you’re playing – you won’t win if you turn it over five times,” said South head coach Reggie Kennedy of Irmo. “Our defense kept us in it all day. We wanted to give the fan their money’s worth there at the end, but they (the North) made one more play than us down the stretch.”

In the second half of action, an interception from Derrick on the first drive led to a short field and quick score by the North, as Ant Foster found the end zone from seven yards out. Derrick’s pass was intercepted by North defensive MVP Akyah Miranda, who had three interceptions in the contest.

“I wouldn’t have been able to intercept those passes without my defensive line getting pressure and linebackers filling their voids – it’s a team effort,” the Belton-Honea Path player said. “It felt great to make a play when the ball was thrown my way. I only had one pick this season, so when I saw (the South quarterback) try me, I got really excited.”

The South would mount its final charge in the fourth quarter, with Derrick scrambling for his life against the aggressive North defensive line. On one such scramble, Derrick was able to find Jalen Barr downfield for a 51 yard touchdown to trim the deficit to seven. The South would get the ball with 3:33 left in the game and would drive near midfield before Jaiden Clayton snagged a Derrick pass and sealed the victory for his team.

“It was stressful down the stretch, but our guys played well,” Neal said. “We’ve got some good defensive players and they’re great kids. It was fun and you enjoy winning. This probably won’t define my coaching career, but it’s always more fun to win than lose.”

The offensive MVP for the North was Smith (Richland Northeast), who had 112 receiving yards on the day. The South MVPs were defensively Kaytron Allen (Woodland) and offensively Barr (Lake City).

This story was originally published December 10, 2016 at 10:01 PM with the headline "Stifling defensive effort leads North to all-star game win."