Bishopville – Although he is having to replace several key performers from last year’s SCISA Class A state championship team, Lee Academy football head coach David Rankin was pleased with the Cavaliers’ performance in a 35-13 season-opening win over Thomas Sumter Academy on August 25.
“I thought we played pretty well all around,” Rankin said. “I thought we played hard. We had just one turnover and that came late in the game with a backup. We’ve got to get in shape, but we did fine. We call the dogs off at 35-7.”
Andrew Bowers had a strong game at quarterback replacing his brother, Jesse. Andrew was 7-for-7 passing for 98 yards and two touchdowns. He ran the ball three times for 57 yards.
Lee ran for 232 yards on 29 carries. Deshon Hadden had 61 yards on five carries and Bryson Muldrow had 30 yards on five totes.
Rankin was happy with the performance of his offensive line, which returns just one starter in right guard Aubrey Boyce. Depth along the front was a concern so the fact that Christopher Galloway and Hampton Layton shared time at left tackle in place of starter Tom Katco pleased Rankin.
“Tom Katco had been sick, so we decided just to play him a little on defense,” Rankin said. “The line did a good job. I guess we developed a little bit of depth.”
The other starters on the O line are Dawson Daniels at right tackle, Trace June at left guard and Tyler Berry at center.
William West is starting at wingback, Lance Freidenberger at tight end and Paxton Greene at tight end. West had two catches for four yards and a TD, while Freidenberger had a 29-yard TD catch.
Clayton Catoe, who is also seeing time at QB, had two catches for 16 yards, Hadden had one for 20 and Noah Brazell had one for 29.
Lee’s defense limited TSA to 72 yards rushing and 134 passing.
Freidenberger, Boyce and June are starting up front along with Cambell Wilkes. The linebackers are Hadden, Muldrow and Tucker Boyce, while Catoe, West, Brazell and Bowers start in the secondary.
Tucker Boyce had eight tackles, Wilkes had seven and one tackle for loss, and Hadden and Muldrow both had six. Cain June and Brazell both had an interception, and Trace June and Aubrey Boyce had sacks.
Muldrow had a big game on special teams, returning two kickoffs for 108 yards, a punt for 21 yards and getting off a punt for 43 yards. Kaleb Early is the placekicker.
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