South Point football outlasts Hunter Huss to take the Big South 3A crown

BELMONT – Despite South Point football winning 37 games over the past four years, there are still a few glaring omissions missing from the resume of the Red Raiders’ senior class – including a conference championship.

South Point claimed the Big South 3A championship on Friday, posting a 36-22 win over nearby Hunter Huss. Despite advancing to the NCHSAA 3A West regional finals during the 2021 and 2022 fall seasons, the league title is its first since 2017.

“A lot of good teams (in Big South 3A),” South Point football coach Adam Hodge said. “Our kids just play so hard. We lost one (at Ashbrook) right there in the middle, and told our guys we had to win now. They did that and I am proud of that; every now and then you get challenged, and these guys kept it up.

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As has been the case throughout the South Point conference, little came easily on Friday evening.

Hunter Huss quarterback Javarion Brown was responsible for three touchdowns (two rushing), including a 25-yard TD pass to Jakelan Littlejohn to give the Huskies a 22-21 halftime lead. Despite being absent at halftime, Hodge said the message was patience and execution, emphasizing that South Point was its own enemy for the first 24 minutes.

“We’ve turned the ball over twice and we’re only one down. The world hasn’t ended yet and we still have 24 minutes to make it right,” said Hodge. “Go out there, block better, tackle better and everything will go as hoped.”

Quarterback Patrick Blee’s 17-yard touchdown run late in the third put South Point ahead for good, fullback Chanyce Ford tacking on a 2-point conversion to give the Red Raiders a 29-22 lead. In fact, Huss’ best chance to tie came on the initial possession of the fourth, a 42-yard pass from Brown to Littlejohn that put the Huskies inside South Point’s red zone. They went backwards from there, with penalties and a potent Red Raider rush defense taking a bow at the right time.

Ford took a bow with just under two minutes left, with his 3-yard TD dive providing the end result. It was the senior standout’s second touchdown of the game. Blee finished with three touchdowns of his own, two on the ground and one on a 28-yard pass to Kham Crawford.

The Red Raiders finished tied atop Big South 3A with Kings Mountain, which also finished 6-1 in conference play. However, South Point’s Oct. 28-21 win on Oct. 11 put it ahead in the standings and likely received one of the 3A West’s top seeds.

While Hodge would like to play somewhere in the playoffs, he’s glad South Point won’t be boarding a bus anytime soon.

“It’s good not to have to travel, go out and do those things,” he said. “Some of those journeys can take a long time; you have your Pisgahs, your Smoky Mountains. It’s a good thing we don’t have to travel too far for a while at least.”

This article originally appeared in The Gaston Gazette: NCHSAA football: South Point defeats Huss claims Big South 3A title