South Pointe seniors head to state title with 1 goal: ‘Let’s go out and make history’

To some South Pointe football seniors, it still doesn’t feel real.

“When we won the game, and we knew we were going to state,” senior quarterback Zay McCrorey told The Herald in a group interview earlier this week, “I just went home and cried. Because in ninth grade, we always talked about going to state our senior year. And we made it happen.”

His senior teammate and linebacker Ty Chambers, seated right next to him in the South Pointe gym, chimed in: “Not only that. But starting at state. Like, starting!”

The South Pointe football team (11-1) is playing Lower State champion Beaufort for the 4A state title at 7 p.m. Thursday at Benedict College’s Charlie W. Johnson Stadium in Columbia. This program from Rock Hill isn’t new to this kind of spotlight: The Stallions have won six championships since opening as a school in 2005 — including four in a row from 2014-17 — and on Thursday will play in their eighth state title game.

But this senior class is new. These Stallion seniors are the first ones in a while without a football state championship experience. They’re new to this spotlight, this stage. And not only that — they’ve been dreaming about Thursday night for years.

“Up until now, we’ve been preaching how we want to be back here next week practicing,” McCrorey said. “Now there isn’t a next week. So let’s just go out and make history.”

Meeting the South Pointe seniors

You’ve already met this senior class on the field throughout this season. They’re a fun group, all with different roles and paths to where they are now.

Take McCrorey for example: The Stallion quarterback, who’s so big he was a defensive lineman as a freshman, saw his first varsity start in the playoffs last season, after playing junior varsity all of last year. (He brings a lineman toughness to the quarterback position. He sometimes pancakes linebackers after handing the ball off to one of his running backs: “I like hitting people,” he said with a smile Monday. “I always tell my running backs that I gotta block for them because they block for me. I’m just returning the favor.”)

Or take Chambers, the 5-foot-10, 160-pound linebacker who plays bigger than he is. Head coach DeVonte Holloman calls him the “heartbeat of the team” — the kind of guy who brings the competitive edge out of a team with a legacy and tradition so polished. He scooped up a fumble and returned it 81 yards for a touchdown in the Upper State title game last week that changed that game’s tides.

“I saw the ball on the ground,” Chambers said, “waited for a whistle, they didn’t blow the whistle, so I picked the ball up and was running. Like full speed. I saw the end zone and said, ‘I gotta get that.’ I was just smiling running into the end zone.”

Or take Ja’Quan Thompson, the senior Stallion running back who with each game runs harder and harder. Ever since he transferred from TL Hanna his 10th grade year, he’s been an unselfish presence in a three-headed backfield and brought a quiet but important leadership to the Stallions, Holloman said.

And there are more guys like this. Patchwork stories define this senior class.

It’s what made them so determined, so hungry, they say.

“Holloman always wants to call practice short, but we’d be still wanting to go at it,” McCrorey said. “So then he gives us 15 more minutes.”

Thompson shrugged: “We love each other. We’re a family.”

‘We have to cherish it’

The seniors are also talented. The stats speak for themselves.

McCrorey has thrown for 2,635 yards and 25 touchdowns — most of them to senior Waymond Jenerette (who holds South Pointe single-season records with 1,248 reception yards and 15 receiving touchdowns). Armendiz Huskey, Demari Kendrick, Khy’re Rawlinson and Jakhari Webb are part of the receiving mix, too.

The team has found ways to move the ball on the ground as of late, thanks to a dynamic backfield of Thompson (710 yards, seven touchdowns) and junior Caleb Sims (597 yards, seven touchdowns). They’ve been led by a senior-laden offensive line that has become a strength for the team after it “took its lumps” last year. The seniors on the line? Alexavier McMoore, Josh Greenwood, Jordan McVay and Logan Daye.

Their senior defensive leaders are no different. There’s Chambers, yes, but also defensive tackle Anquerrious Davis, linebacker Jaylen Stratford and defensive backs Chris McCullough, Isiah Steele and Quan Peterson (who’s committed to play football at Syracuse in the fall).

And you can’t mention the senior class without the team’s steady-legged kicking specialist Chip DiStasio. The senior in the regular season finished 94% on extra points (29-of-31) with 24 touchbacks and has only been more consistent in the playoffs.

All these seniors have waited for this moment for a long time.

And it’s here on Thursday.

“We were in practice last week,” McCrorey said on Monday. “It hit me bad. Holloman was talking about how he didn’t want it to end because he really loves us. It made me sad. (We) talk about it every day, how many days we have left. How much we have to cherish it.”

Chambers chimed in once more: “Our last Monday as a team.”

And Thursday marks the team’s last game, the last time this unheralded but perfect mix-of-a-group will compete with each other.

A final chance to be remembered forever, they say.

“Everybody is going to remember you if you win a championship,” McCrorey said. “So we can win, look back at it in a couple years and say, ‘We really did it.’ ”

2021 Class 4A SC state championship game

Who: Beaufort (12-2) vs. South Pointe (12-1)

When and where: Thursday at 7 p.m. at Benedict College’s Charlie W. Johnson Stadium in Columbia

How to follow: All five games will be carried on Sinclair Broadcasting stations across South Carolina. Affiliates are WMYA (My40 Asheville-Greenville), WACH (57.2/1250/Columbia), WCIV (MyTV Charleston) and WWMB (CW21, Florence/Myrtle Beach). You can also stream the game on the NFHS Network with a valid subscription.