Laurence Manning Academy at Hammond

By WORTHY EVANS

HSSR Contributing Writer

A state championship matchup at Edens Stadium it was not. While Laurence Manning Academy locked up with Hammond in a rematch of last year’s SCISA 4-A state championship game, Hammond’s prolific offense overwhelmed the young Swampcats 65-14, with the teams playing with a running clock in the second half.

Quarterback Andrew Turner led the Skyhawks (6-0, 3-0 Region 4A) with 200 yards passing, two touchdowns through the air and two more on the ground. He only needed 10 completed passes to give Hammond a decided edge.

Five Skyhawk rushers had 181 yards and six touchdowns. Aspen Brooks hit a field goal and defender Preston Springs pounced on a loose ball in the end zone after a high snap on a punt.

“It was exciting to see the execution offensively and defensively,” Skyhawks head coach Jon Wheeler said. “You’ve got to hand it to their offensive coordinator Patrick Anderson, he did a heck of a job with shifts and motions, different formations and they made some good plays, but I feel like our defense handled it well for the most part. I’m very proud of our guys.” 

Anderson served as Laurence Manning’s active head coach Friday. The Swampcats (2-4, 1-3) were without head coach Robbie Briggs, who resigned earlier in the week. Briggs, who coached the Swampcats from 2003-2018, was hired to replace Will Furse, who was hired as Robert E. Lee Academy’s head coach and athletic director.

Laurence Manning took the opening kickoff, and its fortunes went downhill from there.

Quarterback Grainger Powell threw an interception on the first play, and Hammond converted it into a 33-yard Brooks field goal.

On the Swampcats’ next possession the snap to punter John William Gainey went high and into the end zone. Hammond’s Springs pounced on the ball for a touchdown to make it 9-0 Skyhawks just three minutes into the game. 

After that the Hammond offense took over, with a Kinson Holland 3-yard touchdown run and Turner’s 42-yard TD pass to Michael Tyler to wind up the first quarter with Hammond up 23-0.

The Skyhawks made it 37-0 on a 6-yard Turner score and Turner’s 59-yard TD pass to Daylin Haltiwanger. 

After Brentston Rembert stopped the shutout bid with a 4-yard touchdown run, Immanuel Johnson capped a long-quick Hammond drive with a 3-yard score with two minutes left in the half.

Hammond got the ball to start the third quarter, and needed just a minute and 17 seconds to continue the scoring. Turner’s 2-yard run capped a four-play, 65-yard drive.

The Skyhawks got additional scores from Johnson and Blaze Barnes, while Cade Mooneyham picked up another touchdown for the Swampcats.

The Skyhawks essentially knocked out an opponent early in the game, but Wheeler said that the final score concealed the need for the team to grow and gel for the postseason.

“There were a couple of drives where we hurt ourselves defensively, there’s some execution stuff that we can clean up defensively,” Wheeler said. “Offensively, we’ve got to punch it in early, instead of a field goal. But you know, not too many complaints about that. After that, it was boom-boom-boom. I’m very proud of them.”

Laurence Manning    0      7     0      7      --     14

Hammond                 23    21    14      7      --     65

First Quarter           

H - Aspen Brooks 33 field goal 10:36

H - Preston Springs fumble recovery (kick blocked) 8:59

H - Kinson Holland 3 run (Brooks kick) 3:18

H - Michael Tyler 42 pass from Andrew Turner (Brooks kick) :45

Second Quarter

H – Turner 6 run (Brooks kick) 11:43

H - Daylin Haltiwanger 59 pass from Turner (Brooks kick) 9:39

L - Brentston Rembert 4 run (Daniel Vargas kick) 4:26

H - Immanuel Johnson 3 run (Brooks kick) 2:02

Third Quarter

H – Turner 2 run (Brooks kick) 10:43

H – Johnson 11 run (Brooks kick) 5:07

Fourth Quarter

L – Cade Mooneyham 22 run (Vargas kick) 4:15

H – Blaze Barnes 58 run (Brooks kick) 2:06

                          LMA                     H

First downs          10                   14

Rushes-yds        26-116           19-181

Passing yds       116                   222

Att-Com-Int     21-10-4          11-10-0

Fumbles-lost     0-0                 0-0

Penalties-yds    3-13                 3-40

Punts-avg          4-28.0            1-36.0

RUSHING

L – Payton Brown 7-19, B.J. Balls 5-3, Pierson Gamble 5-58, Cade Mooneyham 2-25, Brentston Rembert 2-13, Shawn Thomas Moore 1-5, Grainger Powell 3-(-17).

H – Immanuel Johnson 7-75, Kinson Holland 6-60, Blaze Barnes 2-61, Charlie Allen 1-(-16), Andrew Turner 2-26.

PASSING

L – Grainger Powell 10-21-4-62.

H – Andrew Turner 8-9-0-200, Charlie Allen 2-2-0-22.

RECEIVING

L – Drew Ferrell 3-19, Scoop Dennis 2-15, Payton Brown 2-27, B.J. Balls 1-4, Zy Dennis 1-(-3).

H – Michael Tyler 3-57, Wham Walker 2-26, Everett Edens 1-47, Immanuel Johnson 1-7, Daylin Haltiwanger 1-59, Tripp Cohn 1-6, Jack Croft 1-21.