Nick Woodford’s strong return, Patriots turnovers lead to 36-14 Northeast victory over Southwest

After a close first half between two Macon rivals, a big pick six and an electric rumble to the end zone by running back Nick Woodford led the Northeast Raiders to a 36-14 win over Southwest at Thompson Stadium Friday evening.

The Raiders rode a potent rushing attack to the victory. Though Woodford touched the ball just nine times between rushes and passes, he generated 143 yards of offense and two scores, including a 90-yard touchdown that got the Northeast crowd loud.

“That’s Nick. He’s hard to bring down, he’s so hard to tackle. That was big for him to come back and get a good first game in,” head coach Jeremy Wiggins said. “We’ll increase the reps as we get further into it, we’re just glad to have him back. I’m proud of him, proud of the boys for playing a much better game this week.”

While Woodford played on limited snaps, the run game continued to dominate even when the star back watched from the sideline. Quarterback Reginald Glover, the Raiders’ signal caller last season, took the mantle this week after new starter Lewis Cheney suffered an injury in the opening game against Peach County. Glover rushed for 161 yards of his own.

“We kind of went into a power set and thought we could lean on him a little bit, and we took advantage of that,” Wiggins said. “That was good for us tonight.”

The Patriots kept the game close for the entire first half, with the exception of the final play — as Southwest made an effort to take the lead before the break, quarterback Steve Robinson heaved a ball downfield. 

Northeast’s Jonqavius Flowers picked it off around the 10-yardline and returned it all the way to the house in a crushing blow that gave the Raiders the lead at halftime instead.

Robinson’s turnover problems continued in the second half, as he finished the game with three interceptions.

“Yeah, we need to fix turnovers. You just have to learn from your mistakes and work on it in practice to try and limit those turnovers,” Southwest coach Joe Dupree said.

Robinsons couldn’t get enough velocity on his throws — they had the distance to make it to receivers, but hung up in the air long enough for the Northeast defenders to easily make plays on them.

The quarterback, starting after the Patriots’ main quarterback Chase Dupree bruised his hand this offseason and the backup hurt his leg in their season opener, did make up for his throwing problems with rushing upside. Robinson tallied 143 yards on the ground, including a 64-yard touchdown run.

“We have to do what we do offensively, but we can’t be a run-only team, we have to be more balanced,” Dupree said. “We’ll work in practice and do what we have to do.”

The crosstown rivalry and first region game of the year for both sides started at 5:30 p.m. instead of the usual 7 or 7:30 kickoff.

“Things feel a bit different when you start earlier, the sun can change things, but either way we made mistakes early we shouldn’t make,” Wiggins said. “We cleaned a lot of that up later on.”

Some of those mistakes ranged from Glover fumbling deep inside Southwest territory to a significant number of penalties. Both teams drew plenty of flags throughout the game; Northeast tallied 15 penalties while the Patriots committed seven fouls.

The two teams played close early, trading blows in the first quarter and successfully converting two-point plays to make it 8-8. It looked like that score would hold into halftime, but Flowers’ pick-six made it 15-8 after two quarters.

When the third quarter rolled around, it was all Northeast. While the Raiders coughed up the ball on their possession to open the second half, Southwest gave it right back with an interception. The only issue was field position — Northeast inherited the ball at their own 3-yardline after the turnover, then had a false start penalty push them back to about the 2.

The long field was no problem for Nick Woodford. The star rusher, in some of his only touches of the night, gained eight yards on one run before breaking off a stunning, 90-yard jaunt to the opposite goal line to break the game open.

Once the deficit was two scores the turnover bug bit Southwest even further. With the clock playing a role, the Patriots called more passing plays and gave the Raider secondary more chances to pick off throws.

Turnovers gave Glover and the Northeast offense consistently good field position, and the Raiders capitalized with multiple scores. By the time things wrapped up, Northeast secured a 36-14 win.

Both teams have tough sledding ahead with quality opponents on the horizon.

Southwest will have to contend with Dublin next week. They host the Fighting Irish for a 7 p.m. matchup Friday. Northeast will travel to Washington County for an intriguing matchup between the traditional powerhouse Golden Hawks.