South Point #039;scary#039; game for Redmen
Published 12:00 am Thursday, October 2, 2003
Halloween is several weeks away, but Rock Hill football coach Bob McCollister is already feeling its effects.
The Redmen host the South Point Pointers Friday in a game between Ohio Valley Conference teams. While both teams are 1-0 in the OVC, Rock Hill is 5-1 overall and South Point 2-4.
But the Pointers have won two of their last three games, including a stunning 28-27 win over Fairland last week.
"This is a scary game," McCollister said.
What scares McCollister the most is the Pointers record. The Rock Hill coach said the Pointers are better than their record shows. Now, he just has to get his team
to believe it.
"They played such a tough schedule early, you have to look past their record," McCollister said. "They're playing better now. And when you start the league, everyone is 0-0. No one is out of it already. With the league so small, one loss can be devastating."
First-year South Point head football coach Dan McDavid said his team took a few weeks to adjust to a new offensive and defensive scheme.
"We had a tough schedule early, but our kids have responded to the new offense and defense. We've made some strides since the first game of the year. We're not the same team," McDavid said.
The Pointers have gained more than 1,000 yards the past three games after picking up a little more than 200 yards during the first three games.
Leading South Point is senior tailback Caleb Copley who rushed for 203 yards last week against Fairland. Chris Chapman is the fullback while freshman Chris Smith has taken over the quarterback duties. The Pointers skilled players concern McCollister.
"Copley is a strong kid and he runs with his shoulders square and he's hard to bring down. He scares you as a coach because he can turn a 5-yard gain into a 20-yard gain," McCollister said. "Smith has a very impressive arm. He can throw it downfield and
that's a scary thing. We have to make sure we don't go to sleep like we did last week."
The Redmen counter with fullback Dan Mullins, tailback James Russell and quarterback Steven Daily.
"Rock Hill is comparable to Greenup County," McDavid said. "They have a nice quarterback who is very accurate, they have size, they have good skilled kids, and they have a running back (Russell) who gets about 100 yards every game."
McDavid said the two teams match up evenly in terms of size, but he's not certain how well the teams match up in skilled personnel. He hopes the Pointers can play ball control and never find out how good the Rock Hill offense really is this season.
"We're going to have to make some first downs on offense and keep the chains moving," McDavid said. "We have to be able to do what we want when we want to. We have to be consistent on offense. We can't be in third-and-long all the time.
"Defensively, we have to play hard every down. Rock Hill has a lot of weapons."
Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. at Redmen Stadium.
1953 Rock Hill team to be honored
The 1953 Rock Hill Redmen football team, the only undefeated team in school history, will be the featured guests Friday as the Redmen host South Point.
A reception will be held at 6 p.m. in the school cafeteria. Members of the 1953 team will be introduced at 7:05 p.m. prior to the Rock Hill vs. South Point game.