Briggs rerturnng to Laurence Manning for second stint as football head coach, AD

                Manning – Robbie Briggs is back to give it another go as the football head coach at Laurence Manning Academy.

               Briggs, who was in charge of the program for six seasons from 2013 through 2018, was hired to replace Will Furse as both the football head coach and athletic director.

               Furse left his alma mater after two years to take a similar position at Lee Academy in Bishopville.

               “I’m at a point in my life where I can do this again,” Briggs said. He said the subject had been breached about him coming back, but Briggs told the Laurence Manning administration he didn’t want to deal with it until after his daughter’s wedding.

               He was delivering wedding flowers to hospital patients the day after the wedding when he figured out he should take the job.

               “I felt something that came over me that said, ‘Hey, you need to do this again,’ “ Briggs said. “It wasn't planned, there were no previous discussions. There was a calling for me to come back and go for Round 2 there. We want to continue to build the momentum and get over the hump.”

               Getting over the hump means winning the SCISA AAAA state championship. Laurence Manning played for the AAA title twice under Briggs and twice in three years under his successor, Austin Floyd. Furse guided the Swampcats to the AAAA title game in both of his seasons in charge.

               What’s the common denominator in those six championship game appearances? The foe each time was Hammond School. The Skyhawks have won a state championship the past seven years and 15 in the last 19 seasons.

               Laurence Manning fell to Hammond 28-21 this past season after leading early in the contest. While the Swampcats lost several key players from that squad, Briggs thinks a championship is doable in the near future.

               “Their record speaks for itself,” Briggs said of Hammond. “The ultimate goal is to get over the hump. Hopefully we’re close to being part of a championship team here. We’re not too far away, but I still feel like we have a lot of work to do.”

               Briggs recorded a 50-24 in his first stint at Laurence Manning. The Swampcats reached the semifinals in five of those six seasons and played for the state title in 2014 and 2017.

               Briggs will have the opportunity to coach his son, Rob Briggs, who will be a rising freshman.

               “It was a timing thing to get back in football, and my son's part of that opportunity,” Briggs said. “They’re great people, the LMA board, booster club and administration. I’m looking forward to it.

               “When I first met with the players I told them they needed me, and I needed them. I’m excited to be able to get back into developing young men.”

Before coaching at LMA, Briggs was the head coach at Manning High School, his alma mater, for 12 seasons. He posted a 103-45 record at Manning, giving him an overall record of 153-69.

Briggs guided the Monarchs to three lower state title games and 10 or more wins in five of the seasons. Briggs was on the coaching staff at Manning for 18 years, the first six as an assistant. He was an All-State linebacker on Manning’s 1988 AAA state championship team.

               FOUR BASEBALL PLAYERS SELECTED ALL-REGION

               Laurence Manning had four of its baseball players selected to the SCISA All-Region 2-AAAA team in Tyler June, BJ Balls, Bryson Hodge and Chapell Brogdon.

               June,  a senior who has signed to play collegiately with University of South Carolina, led the Swampcats in hitting with a .475 batting average. He also stole 25 bases, had 25 runs batted in and scored 20 runs.

               Balls batted .380 with 24 stolen bases, 20 RBI, 26 runs and two home runs. Brogdon batted .308 with 14 RBI while handling the catching duties for every inning.

               Hodge had an outstanding season on the mound. He posted a 7-0 win-loss record while picking up four saves. He had a 1.75 earned run average and struck out 62 batters in 40 innings.

      FIVE LMA ATHLETES SCORE IN DIVISION I TRACK MEET

               Jernee Ford, Lily Wellborn and Lucy McCarron scored points for the Laurence Manning girls and Dillon Smith and Nate Hawthorne scored points for the boys in the SCISA Division I track and field state meet on May 4 at Porter-Gaud School in Charleston.

               Ford finished third in both the discus and the shot put, while Wellborn finished third in the javelin. McCarron was sixth in the shot put. The Lady ‘Cats finished eighth with 19 points.

               On the boys side, Smith was fifth in the discus and Hawthorne was sixth in the javelin. The boys finished with three points.

               Other girls who competed in the state meet were Marlee Black in the 100-meter dash, Alexandra Farmer in the 400 dash, Falyn Murphy in both the 100- and 400-meter hurdles, Isabella Quiroz in the pole vault, Summer Carey in the discus, Olivia Danback in the javelin and the 4x100-meter relay team.

               Other boys who competed were Ian Harris and Thomas Sumpter in the 100, Pierson Gamble in the 400, Drew Beard in both the 800- and 1,600-meter runs, Cam Barrineau in the javelin and Smith in the shot put.

               LMA BOYS GOLF FINISHES FOURTH

               The Laurence Manning boys golf team finished fourth in the AAAA state tournament held at the Hackler Course in Conway.

               The Swampcats shot 640 in the 36-hole tournament. Trinity Collegiate won with 594, Hammond was second at 611 and Porter-Gaud was third at 615.

               Bryson Watt, who will play collegiately at University of South Carolina Sumter, had consecutive rounds of 78 for a team low 156. Walker Cribb shot 160 (80-80), Riley Overstreet 161 (82-79) and Robbie Robertson 163 (82-81).