By Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

SOUTH POINT — The South Point Pointers want to turn the page and get the program on the upswing.

They may have at least dog eared the page on Friday.

The Pointers scored 22 straight points in the second quarter to take a 22-14 halftime lead only to see the Boyd County Lions rally in the second half for a 43-28 season opeingin win.

“It shows that they are trying to make the turn to a better program. We just have to build on this effort and move on to the next game,” said Pointers’ coach Chris Davis.

“They showed fight and that’s what I wanted out of them. We didn’t get the result that we wanted, but they didn’t give up and played with heart.”

The Lions took a 7-0 lead on a 1-yard run by quarterback Rhett Holbrook. Cole Thompson added the conversion with 5:12 left in the first quarter.

Holbrook teamed up with Trey Holbrook on a 36-yard scoring strike early in the second quarter for a 14-0 lead.

That’s when the Pointers went into high gear.

Jordan Ermalovich hit Braydon Hanshaw with a 14-yard touchdown pass and Brylon Balandra kicked the conversion and it was 14-7 with 9:30 on the clock.

Balandra hit a 29-yard field goal three minutes later to get the Pointers within 14-10 and a safety with 3:59 left in the half cut the deficit to 14-12.

On the free kick, Eli Wilburn return the ball 84 yards for a touchdown and the Pointers now led 19-14.

Balandra put the finishing touches on the scoring burst with a 30-yard field goal and only 5 seconds on the clock.

Boyd County regrouped at halftime and rallied to take a 27-22 lead.

Rhett Holbrook hit Josh Thornton with a 25-yard touchdown pass and it was 22-20.

Backed up on their own 9-yard line, the Lions’ Malachi Wheeler did more than get his team out of the hole as he raced 91 yards for the touchdown.

Blaine Freeman scored on the first play of the fourth quarter as he caught a 4-yard pass from Ermalovich and South Point led 28-27.

But Dakota Thompson had a pair of 30-yard touchdown runs over the final 4:40 of the game as the Lions got away with a road win.

The Lions had 298 yards rushing with Wheeler running 19 times for 200 yards. Dakota Thompson had75 yards on just 6 carries.

Rhett Holbrook was 7-of-15 passing for 113 yards and a pick.

Ermalovich took to the air and was 26 of 40 for 305 yards.

Freeman finished with 48 yards on 12 carries as the Pointers had 341 total yards with only 36 going on the ground.

Boyd County  7     7     13    16    =     43

South Point     0     22    0     6     =     28

First Quarter

BC — Rhett Holbrook 1 run (Cole Thompson kick) 5:12

Second Quarter

BC — Trey Holbrook 36 pass from Rhett Holbrook (Cole Thompson kick) 10:59

SP — Braydon Hanshaw 14 pass from Jordan Ermalovich (Brylon Balandra kick) 9:30

SP — Brylon Balandra 29 field goal 6:36

SP — Safety 3:59

SP — Eli Wilburn 84 kickoff return (Brylon Balandra kick) 3:51

SP — Brylon Balandra 30 field goal 0:05

Third Quarter

BC — Josh Thornton 25 pass from Rhett Holbrook (run failed) 7:50

BC — Malachi Wheeler 91 run (Cole Thompson kick) 3:50

Fourth Quarter

SP — Blaine Freeman 4 pass from Jordan Ermalovich (pass failed) 11:46

BC — Cole Thompson 32 field goal 8:10

BC — Dakota Thompson 30 run (kick failed) 4:40

BC — Dakota Thompson 30 run (Cole Thompson kick) 1:09

———

BC  SP

First downs     14    10

Rushes-yards  40-298    26-36

Passing yards  113  305

Total yards     411  341

Cmp-Att-Int    7-15-1     26-40-1

Fumbles-lost   0-0  1-0

Penalties-yards       8-69 7-40

Punts-average 3-37.7     4-37.0

———

Individual Leaders

RUSHING–Boyd County: Dakota Thompson 6-75, Malachi Wheeler 19-200, Rhett Holbrook 11-29, team 4-minus 5; South Point: Blaine Freeman 12-48, Braydon Hanshaw 1-5, Gage Chapman 2-minus 3, Jordan Ermalovich 10-minus 16, team 1-minus 8.

PASSING–Boyd County: Rhett Holbrook 7-15-1 113; South Point: Jordan Ermalovich 26-40-1 305.

RECEIVING–Boyd County: Josh Thornton 3-53, Trey Holbrook 2-49, All 1-11, Malachi Wheeler 1-0; South Point: Eli Wilburn 6-58, Gage Chapman 1-21, Kamren Wilkerson 3-14, Jalyn Anderson 1-21, Owen Frederick 2-14, Braydon Hanshaw 7-153, Blaine Freeman 3-5, Xathan Haney 1-14.