NORTHWESTERN @ GAFFNEY RECAP (2011)

Not The Rain, Cold, Wind Or The Trojans Could Slow Down The Tribe, as the Indians overcame a terrible weather night and dominated Northwestern 49 to 20. The Indians moved up and down the field in the 1st quarter, but only scored one TD. They scored on a 5-yard run from C.J. Miller. They had two other drives halted on downs deep in Northwestern territory. The Tribe led 7 to 0 after the 1st quarter.

The 2nd quarter has been a huge scoring quarter for the Indians this season and last night was no different, as they put 21 points on the board. The first points of the quarter was a 3-yard interception return by Snoop Byers. The Tribe had turned the ball over on downs at the 3-yard line the previous play. Byers' INT seamed to open up the flood gates (no pun intended), as the Indians scored two more TDs, one on another 5-yard run by Miller and a 4-yard run by Joey Copeland. The Tribe led 28 to 0 late in the quarter. The Trojans finally got on the board, just before halftime, as QB Matthew Turney hit Dupree Hart with a 48-yard TD pass. The score at halftime was 28 to 6 in favor of the Tribe.

The 3rd quarter was more of the same, dominating Gaffney defense and two more TDs by the offense. They scored on a 22-yard TD pass from Copeland to Quinshad Davis and then C.J. Miller scored his third TD of the game on a 2-yard run. The score after the 3rd quarter was 42 to 6.

The Tribe scored their final points of the night, in the opening minutes of the 4th quarter, on a 5-yard TD run from Hyleck Foster. The Indians led 49 to 6 and started putting in reserves for the balance of the game. Northwestern did score a couple of late TDs, with their starters against Gaffney's reserves, to make the score closer than the game actually was. As you will see in the Game Stats Summary, it was a dominating Gaffney victory. The FINAL SCORE IN THE PAYBACK TOUR ROUND 3 WAS GAFFNEY 49 AND NORTHWESTERN 20.

Game Stats Summary

First Downs Gaffney 24, Northwestern 11
Yards Rushing Gaffney 209, Northwestern 17
Yards Passing Gaffney 239, Northwestern 136
Total Yards Gaffney 448, Northwestern 153
Turnovers Gaffney 3, Northwestern 3

Individual Game Stats Leaders

QB Joey Copeland was 16 for 28 for 239 yards and 1 TD Pass and 2 INTs, 34 yards rushing and 1 TD
RB C.J. Miller had 20 carries for 132 yards rushing and 3 TDs
RB/WR Hyleck Foster had 4 carries for 23 yards and 1 TD
WR Quinshad Davis had 10 catches for 192 yards and 1 TD
WR Ryan Frock had 3 catches for 32 yards
WR Brandon Bevis had 2 catches for 16 yards
DB Snoop Byers had 1 INT for a TD

My View From The Stands..... (1) Surprisingly the crowd on the home side was pretty good considering the awful weather. (2) The Indians relied heavy on the running game rushing for 209 yards and 5 rushing TDs. That was a good move with the weather as bad as it was. (3) The offense moved the ball very well despite the adversity of having two offensive linemen and 2nd leading receiver out of the game and with the weather being horrible. (4)They had way to many penalties, 12 for 89 yards. (5) The defense was very dominant against the high powered Northwestern offense.

The Indians now get ready to play Spartanburg for the Region 3 4A Championship on Friday night at Gibbs Stadium on the campus of Wofford College. The Indians will be trying to win their first Region Title since 2006. The Indians also won their 16th State Championship in 2006 going a perfect 15 and 0.

Until Next Time.