Northwood Academy Upsets Hammond 23-10 To Take Over Top Spot In SCISA AAAA
Team photo courtesy of Northwood Academy.
Northwood Academy Upsets Hammond 23-10 To Take Over Top Spot In SCISA AAAA
By Billy G. Baker
Publisher
Columbia—Northwood Academy’s 23-10 win over host Hammond on September, 26, was the first time the Skyhawks had lost to an in-state SCISA team since a 7-6 lost to First Baptist, in 2020, and that team was also coached by Johnny Waters, the current head coach with the Chargers.
After the game, Coach Waters told the HSSR, “We had a lot of players step up on both sides of the ball tonight,” said Coach Waters. “I guess we have to start with our quarterback Kevin Johnson who had a phenomenal game. It wasn’t so much his stats but how he controlled the offense and managed the offense for us tonight. It wasn’t always pretty but we kept plugging along.
“Hammond seemed focused on stopping our receiver Ayden Hogan, an East Tennessee State commit, but he still had a really good game along with our other receiver Drew Wolfe also having a great game as well. We have four very good running backs and Kaven Ford is our number one guy, and he had 100 yards rushing tonight.”
Coach Waters also praised the defense. “Our defense has been stellar all year,” said Coach Waters. “Defensive lineman Hammer White, linebackers Cody McCleary, Quincy Lingard, and Dominic Russell, along with safety MJ Davis were good leaders once again for us on defense tonight.
“This is my third season at Northwood and we have been searching for that statement win and certainly this wins tonight in our statement win,” said Coach Waters. “When I came to Northwood three years a go the team had been 0-29 so we knew we had some work to do. Last year we lost to Hammond to 16-0 and to Porter-Guad twice, so this win tonight is the win we have been working towards.
“We had a great week of practice and on the way up here today I felt like the team was ready to play, and anytime you play a team like Hammond, you hope your team is ready, and I felt like we were,” said Coach Waters. “At half-time we stressed to the players that we had to finish the game with a solid second half. I told the players that we had to play harder in the second half and I felt like we did. Holding them to a field goal on their drive to open the third quarter was huge for us.”
Hammond head coach Jon Wheeler also spoke with the HSSR after the game, “We came out in the third quarter and put a good drive together and we were able to get some points out of it that put us back in the game,” said Coach Wheeler. “We just need to work on stopping the run better and getting our defense off the field and limiting big plays. It starts with me so I have to make sure I coach them up better, and get them better prepared to play.
“Ben Kiser is our senior leader and he is a real warrior on the field for us at quarterback,” said Coach Wheeler. “He makes us go.”
Coach Wheeler credited Northwood for winning some one-on-one battles on the perimeter. “Coach Waters does a good job with his team and we tip our hat to him, and he had his team ready to play.”
The game was played in a steady rain. Northwood took a 2-0 lead with 4:12 left in the first quarter when the Hammond snapper snapped the ball over the Hammond’s punter head through the back of the end zone.
Hammond went ahead 7-2 with 1:41 left in the first period when QB Ben Muela Kiser found WR Jackson Ross open down the middle for a 29-yard pass reception and PAT made it 7-2.
With 11:28 left in the second period junior NA QB Kevin Johnson tossed a 77-yard touchdown pass to junior WR Drew Wolfe down the Charger sideline to give his team a 9-7 lead after Cole McLeod’s PAT.
Northwood made it 16-7 with 3:45 left in the first half as Hogan caught a four-yard TD reception from Johnson and McLeod’s PAT made it a 9-point advantage for the Chargers at the half. Northwood had begun the scoring drive at their own 13-yard line and 12 plays later Hogan scored.
Two key plays that kept the 12- play scoring drive alive involved a 40-yrd pass completion from Johnson to junior WR Drew Wolfe that gave NA a first down at the 35. Then DL Connor “Hammer” White (5-8, 270) was put in the back field where he ripped off an 18-yard tackle breaking run down to the 8-yard line.
Hammond received the third quarter kick-off, starting at their 27-yrd line, coming straight at the Chargers. On the first play RB Levi Myers gained 12 yards right up the middle and three p[lays later Kiser gained 24 yards that gave the Skyhawks a first down at the 49-yard line. Bubba Alexander then ran three straight plays off tackle, netting 19 yards to move the ball to the Chargers 30-yard line.
On 4th down from the 22-yard line Ross kicked a 39-yard field goal to trim the deficit to 16-10 with 6:04 left in the third period.
The final touchdown of the game was scored by Northwood on Kaven Ford’s six-yard run with 7:27 left in the game. The Chargers drove 68 yards in 11 plays on that scoring drive. A hard 22-yard run by senior RB Michael Polite during the drive had moved the ball to the Skyhawk 16-yard line. Hogan also caught three passes during the drive for 33 net yards.
For the game Hammond ran 54 plays for 262 total yards, 126 rushing and 136 passing. Kiser was 14-0f-22 for 120 yards and one TD pass. In the fourth period freshman QB Cade Amell displayed a strong arm completing two passes for 16 yards.
Hammond was led on the ground by Kiser who netted out 75 yards on 12 carries while Myers was 5-of-16 yards and Alexander was five for 29 yards. The leading receivers for Hammond were Kanye Reed (5-for-45) and Asher Gause (three for 29).
Johnson completed 12-of-20 passes for 213 yards and two TDs against Hammond. The top three rushers for Northwood were Ford with 100 net yards on 17 carries and one rushing TD. Polite had 10 carries for 72 yards while White had three rushes for 25 yards.
The top two receivers for Northwood in the big win were jr. Drew Wolfe who caught four passes for 132 yards and one TD. Hogan had seven catches for 81 yards including one TD reception.
The top three tacklers for the Chargers were DB MJ Davis with 10 total tackles; LB Dominic Russell had 9 tackles and LB Quincy Lingard had 8 stops against Hammond.
Next week Northwood will host Cardinal Newman while Hammond is on the road to Laurence Manning Academy.
