Northwestern High School is one of three high schools in
Rock Hill, South Carolina
Rock Hill is the largest city in York County, South Carolina and the fifth-largest city in the state. It is also the fourth-largest city of the Charlotte metropolitan area, behind Charlotte, Concord, and Gastonia (all located in North Carolina, ...
, United States. It was opened in 1971 as the city's second high school, replacing Emmett Scott High School, which had been designated for African American students during the era of segregated schools. Along with rival Rock Hill High School, it is one of the 16 largest schools in the state by enrollment, with about 1,791 students in grades 9–12.
Northwestern offers the
International Baccalaureate
The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB Dip ...
diploma.
Presidential candidate
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
spoke at Northwestern on October 6, 2007.
Athletics
The Northwestern Trojans are in Region III-AAAAA in the state of South Carolina. There are seventeen sports with thirty teams representing the school. The Trojans have a rich tradition both on and off the field. The football team is consistently ranked in the top ten in South Carolina and has played in six of the last eight state championships winning the championship in 2010, 2013, and 2015. The soccer team has been in the state championship game five out of the last six years, winning the championship in the 2006 and 2008 seasons. In 2009, they had an undefeated season.
In the 4A State Championship game, the Trojans defeated
Irmo 3-1, claiming the State Championship as well as the
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
Rise High School National Championship. The following season, the teams met up again in the 4A State Championship game. Northwestern once again proved too much for the Yellow Jackets, winning 4-2. This secured their third consecutive championship and their fourth title in five years.
The boys' cross country team won the state championship in 2005 and 2006.
In the 2009 football season, the Trojans defeated rivals
South Pointe High School in the 4A state-semifinals on November 27, 2009, at the Rock Hill School District Football Stadium. This propelled them to the state championship game at
Williams-Brice Stadium in
Columbia where they lost to Berkeley.
On July 10, 2010 it was announced that Northwestern would play South Pointe High School, in a nationally televised double-header on ESPN August 28. Northwestern showed their power offense in that game where they beat
South Pointe 42–20. The key came when they scored five touchdowns in 4 minutes and 50 seconds in the third quarter, taking a 20–7 deficit to 42–20. In the 2010 football season, the Trojans had a perfect 15–0 season and went to the state championship game at South Carolina's Williams-Brice Stadium, playing Greenwood. The Trojans defeated Greenwood 42–10 and won the state championship. In 2012 second year head coach Kyle Richardson led the Trojans back to the state championship, where they lost to Greenwood in overtime.
In 2010 QB Justin Worley was named National Gatorade Player of the Year, joining previous winners Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, and numerous other pro athletes. Worley is the first and only National Gatorade Player of Year from South Carolina.
The baseball team is consistently in the playoffs, and has produced numerous collegiate players.
Northwestern athletics have produced several collegiate student-athletes, going to such major universities as
Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...
,
Clemson University
Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enro ...
,
South Carolina
)''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
,
Florida State
Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...
,
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
,
Notre Dame,
Ohio State
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...
and
The College of Charleston
The College of Charleston (CofC or Charleston) is a public university in Charleston, South Carolina. Founded in 1770 and chartered in 1785, it is the oldest university in South Carolina, the 13th oldest institution of higher learning in the Unit ...
.
State Championships
* Football: 1989, 1993, 2010, 2013, 2015
*Basketball:
* Boys' Soccer: 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010
* The Purple Regiment Marching Band: 2008
* Boys' Cross Country: 2005, 2006
* Baseball: 2017
National Championships
* Boys' Soccer: ESPN Rise 2009 National Champions
Notable alumni
*
Sean Barnette, professional
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
player
*
Jeff Burris, former
NFL player and current
college football
College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States.
Unlike most ...
coach
*
Shawn Ferguson
Shawn Ferguson (born January 21, 1991, in Rock Hill, South Carolina) is a retired American soccer player who formerly played for Charleston Battery in the United Soccer League.
Career
Born in Rock Hill, South Carolina, Ferguson started his caree ...
, professional
soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
player
*
Ricky Garbanzo
Ricardo "Ricky" Garbanzo (born August 26, 1992) is a Costa Rican-American soccer player who last played for Charleston Battery in the USL.
Career College and Amateur
Garbanzo moved to United States at age 7 and grew up in Rock Hill, South Caroli ...
, professional soccer player
*
Brandon Hudgins
Brandon Hudgins (born January 14, 1987) is an American middle-distance runner. He is known for having stopped running when he experienced three episodes of granulomatosis with polyangiitis, and subsequently making a comeback to run a sub-four min ...
, professional
runner
Running is a method of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. Running is a type of gait characterized by an aerial phase in which all feet are above the ground (though there are exceptions). This is ...
*
Johnathan Joseph
Johnathan Lee Joseph (born April 16, 1984) is a former American football cornerback. He played college football at South Carolina Gamecocks football, South Carolina and was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the first round of the 2006 NFL Dr ...
, NFL
cornerback
A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...
, 2x
Pro Bowl
The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players.
The format has changed thro ...
selection
*
Cheslie Kryst
Cheslie Corrinne Kryst (; April 28, 1991 – January 30, 2022) was an American television correspondent, model, and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss USA 2019. Kryst was also an attorney and had served as a correspondent for ''Ex ...
,
Miss USA 2019
Miss USA 2019 was the 68th Miss USA pageant. It was held at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada, on May 2, 2019. Nick Lachey and Vanessa Lachey served as hosts, while Lu Sierra served as commentator, all for the second consecutive time and w ...
*
Alex Martinez, professional soccer player
*
Enzo Martinez, professional soccer player
*
Cordarrelle Patterson
Cordarrelle Patterson ( ; born March 17, 1991), nicknamed "Flash", is an American football player for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). A versatile utility player, he plays running back, wide receiver, return specialist ...
, NFL
wide receiver, 4x Pro Bowl selection and
Super Bowl LIII
Super Bowl LIII was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2018 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots defeated the National Football Confe ...
champion with the
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...
*
Jamie Robinson,
CFL
The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...
linebacker
Jamie Robinson, Florida State, Safety - 247 Sports
''247Sports.com''. Retrieved Jan 27, 2020.
* Derek Ross, NFL cornerback
* Mason Rudolph, NFL quarterback
The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...
* Rick Sanford
Richard Sanford (born January 9, 1957) is a former American football defensive back in the National Football League (NFL) for the New England Patriots, and Seattle Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based ...
, NFL defensive back
In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...
* Nate Torbett
Nathanael Torbett (born September 4, 1994) is an American soccer coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of Port City FC of the United Premier Soccer League.
Career
Youth and College
Torbett grew up in Asheville, North Carol ...
, professional soccer player
* Benjamin Watson
Benjamin Seth Watson (born December 18, 1980) is a former American football tight end. He was drafted by the New England Patriots 32nd overall in the first round of the 2004 NFL Draft and won Super Bowl XXXIX with the Patriots over the Philadel ...
, NFL tight end
The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...
, Super Bowl XXXIX
Super Bowl XXXIX was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Philadelphia Eagles to decide the National Football League ( ...
champion with the New England Patriots
The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...
* Justin Worley
Justin Scott Worley (born November 20, 1992) is a former American football quarterback. Worley played college football for the Tennessee Volunteers.
Early years
Worley attended Northwestern High School in Rock Hill, South Carolina, where he pl ...
, NFL quarterback
References
External links
*
{{authority control
Buildings and structures in Rock Hill, South Carolina
Public high schools in South Carolina
Schools in York County, South Carolina
International Baccalaureate schools in South Carolina