Spartanburg football opened the 2024 season with a dramatic win over South Pointe

Spartanburg kicker Will Love made a 21-yard field goal with six seconds left as the Vikings beat South Pointe, 26-25, on opening night of the South Carolina high school football season.

South Pointe head coach Bobby Collins lamented the missed opportunities by his team Friday night. The Stallions had two extra points blocked, failed on a two-point conversion and committed three turnovers. Had any of those gone South Pointe’s way, the outcome may have been different.

The South Pointe defense, meanwhile, held Spartanburg to just nine points on five Vikings drives beginning in South Pointe territory.

“We’ve got to continue to not turn the football over,” Collins said. “We had two fumbles (with one coming on the punt return) and an interception, so you can’t win that way. You can’t turn the football over and expect to win a football game, so we got to clean it up and go back to work.”

South Pointe quarterback J’Zavien Currence showed a lot of what he can do in his first start. The junior completed 17 of his 27 passes for 210 yards with three touchdowns and an interception to go with 32 yards and a touchdown on the ground.

The four-star junior safety recruit is filling in at the position for the injured Cam McMillon, who is recovering from offseason surgery.

“He made some big plays for us running the ball, made some big time throws, so we just got to continue to work and put him in a situation to do what he does best,” Collins said.

Spartanburg starts the season 1-0 and will face a home test against Dutch Fork, while South Pointe falls to 0-1 and will look to bounce back against in-town rival Rock Hill at District Three Stadium.

Both games are scheduled to kickoff at 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 30.