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It's been a mystery for years.
After every Northwestern football game, coach Jimmy “Moose” Wallace pulls a piece of note pad from the top of his coaching shorts and reads from it rather than give quotes.
But instead of checking his notes before speaking after his Trojans' 20-0 win against rival Rock Hill on Friday night, Wallace left his notes inside his shorts.
“Field position. Field position. Field position. Field position. Field position,” he said. “He had it in the first quarter and scored twice. We didn't have it in the third quarter and with all the athletes Rock Hill has that can score on any play, we were a little concerned.”
He should have been, but Northwestern's defense steamrolled the Bearcats and seemed to have an invisible wall inside the 30 that wasn't about to let any Rock Hill players cross over.
The meeting was the 44th between the two old foes, but was the first not played on the final Friday of the regular season and the first that wasn't a region game. And it was the third time that the Trojans and Bearcats were undefeated when they met.
Rock Hill won the first in 1989, when both were 10-0, but Northwestern won the rematch and a state championship. Northwestern was 10-0 and Rock Hill 9-0 when they met in 2004. Northwestern won, but the rematch went to Rock Hill that time and the Bearcats won the second state championship in three years.
Rock Hill leads the series, 23-21.
The Trojans (3-0) had seven possessions in the opening half and the first four starting in Bearcats' territory. But give the scrappy Bearcats credit.
Only one ended with a touchdown and Rock Hill (2-1) forced punts on two and stopped the Trojans on downs on the other.
But you don't get ranked No. 2 in the state because you score on every possession. You get there because you make the plays needed to win.
The first one Northwestern made came on the defensive side. Rock Hill quarterback Randall Dixon dropped back to pass from his 31 and flipped the ball toward a receiver in the right flat.
The pass was caught, but not by a Bearcats' player. Northwestern defensive tackle Gerald Dixon made the pick and ran the ball back 32 yards for the game's first score.
“That was a great play,” Wallace said. “We heard Rock Hill make a bear call and we were in the perfect defense to defend it. I can't say anything bad about the way we played on that side of the ball.” Northwestern, which dominated time of possession in the half, got the ball on Rock Hill's 35 after a 9-yard Bearcats' punt.
Justin Worley's first down pass fell incomplete. His second-down pass would be a good candidate for ESPN's plays of the week. Worley was rushed hard, but stayed in the pocket. He fired a bullet over the middle to Labris Adams, who made the catch between two defenders at the 10 and ran into the end zone for a 35-yard touchdown.
The rivalry is considered one of the best in the county and Greatest American Rivalries, which chose the Trojans and Bearcats, was on hand for the game and brought a giant blow-up football balloon that was next to the north end zone.
The organization picks a player of the game and gives baseball caps to all the players and coaches on the winning team. Adams was named MVP. He had three catches for 71 yards.
“It was a called play to me all the way,” Adams said of his TD catch. “Rock Hill was loading up on Cordarrelle Patterson and I was getting open. Justin was on the money with the throw. I caught it and kept running until I got to the end zone.”
The game was a defensive standoff in the second half, but for Northwestern's lone touchdown.
The Trojans finally scratched in the fourth quarter, scoring when Worley connected with Julian Patton in the back-left corner of the end zone for a 14-yard TD.
