The Greenwave of Ashbrook High School defeated South Point for the first time since 2005. The Greenwave’s defense brought some Gastonia toughness to the matchup and limited South Point’s offense in a 17-14 win.

With the win, Ashbrook has forced a massive tie at the top of the Big South 3A Conference. There are now five teams with just one loss in the conference, including Ashbrook and South Point.

The victory was an emotional one for the Greenwave community as South Point felt like a particularly elusive team to peg down. For Ashbrook head coach Darius James, a former player at the school, he had never been involved in a win over South Point in either capacity.

South Point entered the matchup as the No. 22 team in North Carolina, according to the HSOT Top 25 poll.

Ashbrook’s defense had the Greenwave in business early. On the first South Point play of the game, Cameron Mayfield forced a fumble and recovered it for a touchdown return.

Later in the first half, South Point settled for a field goal but a personal foul on Ashbrook allowed the Raiders to try for a shorter fourth down. They picked up the first and then scored with Chanyce Ford a play later. The senior caught a bobbled exchange in mid-air and then sniffed his way into the end zone from a couple of yards out.

When South Point’s Zeke Pruitt made an interception in the end zone with 2:09 left in the second quarter, Ashbrook answered with a takeaway of its own on the following play. Power 4 junior prospect Caleb Gordon recovered a fumble and returned it to the Raider six-yard line.

South Point’s defense held strong and forced a fourth-and-goal from the seven-yard line with 8.5 seconds left. The Ashbrook kicker made a 27-yard field goal.

At halftime, Ashbrook led 10-7.

On South Point’s opening possession of the second half, Mayfield picked off Patrick Blee for his second takeaway on a first possession of a half.

The ensuing Greenwave drive started well and the team advanced to inside the South Point 30-yard line, but an errant snap seemed to stop the momentum. But the Greenwave was able to overcome the setback. Quarterback AJ McClain completed a 46-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Savion Lindsay to put Ashbrook up by two scores.

In the fourth quarter, South Point put together a good stretch of complementary football. The Red Raiders forced a turnover on downs by Ashbrook. On the next South Point series, the Red Raiders faced a fourth-and-eight. Blee completed a pass to keep the drive alive. Later on the drive, Ford scored his second touchdown of the night on a 35-yard scamper.

Ashbrook managed to milk some clock on the following drive, but South Point ultimately got the ball back with 4:52 left in the fourth.

Down three points, South Point was unable to put together a scoring drive to take the lead. The Ashbrook defense forced a turnover on downs on a fourth-and-one. From there, Ashbrook was able to force South Point to burn its timeouts.

Ashbrook (7-1 overall, 4-1 Big South 3A) is set to travel to Kings Mountain, one of the other one-loss teams, next week. South Point (5-1 overall, 3-1 Big South) is going to look to respond at home against Forestview next week.

Scoring

First Quarter

• 10:33 – Cameron Mayfield fumble recovery for a touchdown. Greenwave 7, Red Raiders 0

Second Quarter

• 7:24 – Chanyce Ford 2-yard rushing touchdown. Greenwave 7, Red Raiders 7
• 0:04 – 80 24-yard field goal. Greenwave 10, South Point 7

Third Quarter

• 4:50 – AJ McClain 46-yard touchdown pass to Savion Lindsay. Greenwave 17, South Point 7

Fourth Quarter

• 8:19 – Chanyce Ford 35-yard touchdown rush. Greenwave 17, South Point 14

Source: highschoolot.com