Laurens Academy football team makes run to 8-man state championship game

Laurens – Coming into the 2024 season, none of the players on the Laurens Academy varsity

football team had never been on an LA football team at any level that had a winning season, according to

head coach Jolly Doolittle.

The Crusaders took care of that this year in a big, big way.

Laurens Academy finished the year with a 9-4 record and played for the SCISA 8-man state title.

“Just all the credit goes to those guys, our assistant coaches,” said Doolittle, who just completed

his second season as head coach. “We had a plan that we believed in strongly. We told the players if we

followed that plan we’d be successful.

“The players worked hard last offseason. The time and effort they put in are two huge things as

far as the improvement we made. They had the belief they had to go out and work hard. It just means a

lot for all of them to see that that works.”

LA actually only lost to two teams all season. They fell to Wardlaw Academy and to undefeated

state champion Richard Winn Academy three times. The Crusaders faced RWA twice during the regular

season and then in the title game.

“We had a pretty good season when we lost four games and three of them were to one team,” said

Doolittle, whose team knocked off defending state champion Jefferson Davis Academy 34-28 in overtime in the

semifinals.

The Crusaders were led by senior Garrett Murphy, the Region 2 Offensive Player of the Year.

Murphy rushed for 2,209 yards and 288 touchdowns on 210 carries and caught 31 passes for 542 yards

and six touchdowns.

Junior Garrison Vaughan was selected as the Region Athlete of the Year. He was a standout in

the trenches on either side of the line. He led the defense with 125 tackles, including an amazing 44 ½

tackles. He had 7 ½ quarterback sacks, caused six fumbles and recovered three fumbles.

“Garrison was our best 2-way lineman in our region,” Doolittle said. “I believe you win with guys

up front. He just had a remarkable season.”

The other All-Region picks were seniors Anthony Candelas and Hack Hardy and sophomore

Caleb Hardy. Candelas had 76 tackles, 18 TFLs and six sacks defensively to go with 16 catches for 257

yads and three TDs on offense.

Caleb Hardy caught 83 passes for 751 yards and seven TDs while rushing for 488 yards and nine

touchdowns on 66 carries. Defensively, he had 103 tackles, 15 ½ TFLs. Hack Hardy had 93 tackles and

20 TFLs.

Doolittle is excited about the future.

“We’ve still got a lot of work to do, but we’ve got a lot of guys who can get a lot better. That has

us excited, and we have guys who are hungry to do that. We’ve got a lot to replace, but we’ve got guys

willing to continue to work and continue to take step forwards.”