Porter-Gaud blanks Heathwood Hall 44-0

By Neill Kirkpatrick

Special to the HSSR

Charleston – It was a bright Saturday afternoon at Singleton Field on the campus of Porter Gaud where the home standing Cyclones were anything but hospitable as they scored on four of their five first half possessions as they beat Heathwood Hall Episcopal 44-0.

The game was scheduled for Friday night but was moved to Saturday due to Hurricane Helene.

The Cyclones moved to 5-1/1-1 with the win and will head to Ben Lippen (2-3,0-2) next week. Heathwood Hall (1-5,1-3) will be on the road again next week as they head to Augusta Christian (1-4,1-1).

Despite the final score, Porter Gaud head coach Brad Bowles still saw plenty that he that his team needs to improve on, “We have a long way to go. We do not play perfect football but our guys play really hard. We have some really good players and leaders. We have to keep getting better, keep working. We made a lot of mistakes and we have work on that.”

The Cyclones took the lead for good when they went 93-yards in seven plays on their first possession. Quarterback senior Nolen Shuman was the catalyst on the on the drive as he rushed for 50 yards and completed a 22-yard touchdown strike to Grayer Hyatt. Quinn Mulholland added the point after for a 7-0 lead.

Shuman was again front and center on the next drive as he and Hyatt connected on a 75-yard touchdown pass. That pushed the lead to 14-0.

Meanwhile the defense led by sophomore Daven Brown, seniors Hugh Buxton, Chase Anderson, and Mills Knapp and junior Pierce Lewis were causing all kinds of problems for the Highlanders offense from their opening snap. They harassed Highlander quarterback Patrick Beck all game long and held the Highlander offense to less than 200 yards for the game.

Brown then showed he knew his way to the end zone as he scored the Cyclones third touchdown of the game on a two-yard run. He is on of the top sophomores in the state regardless of classification. His score pushed the lead to 21-0.

The Highlanders finally stopped the Cyclones offense in the first half when Shuman looked to connect downfield again but the Highlanders Jackson Noble went high over the receiver and got both feet down for the interception.

After the pick, the Highlander offense was able to move the ball across midfield for the first time. On third and 17, Beck hit Nobles for a 15-yard gain to the Porter Gaud 22. Nobles again made a fantastic catch on the sideline, lifting his heels before he made the catch to stay inbounds. However, on fourth down the Highlanders tried to run it up the middle and were met by Lewis and company for a yard loss and a turnover on downs.

The Cyclones would need just three plays to go up 28-0 when Tony Brown busted through the line and ran untouched for a 65-yard touchdown. Brown would rush for a team high 171 yards and score two touchdowns on the night.

The Porter Gaud offense picked up were it left off in the first half as they took their first possession of the second half 58 yards in 10 plays to push the lead to 35-0. The Cyclones overcame three penalties on the drive. Brown scored his second touchdown from the one and carried the ball four times for 69 yards.

The defense got into the scoring column as sophomore outside linebacker Julian Buxton came off the edge and wrapped up Beck as he attempted to pass. The ball did not get out of the end zone and Buxton had his two points. The lead was 37-0.

The final score of the night came right after the free kick. Top fifty senior (HSSR) JJ Fludd went over a thousand yards for the year as he took the hand off and raced down the left side for a 71-yard touchdown run. It was just his sixth carry on the night. Fludd also made his presence known defense making several plays at the line and in the secondary. The score made it 44-0 and that is how the game ended.

On the night, the Cyclones had over 400 yards of offense led by the play of their offensive of Frank Schmidt, Haze Marchant, Alexander Stiglic, James Temple, and Kyler Boggan. This group has been together and they pave the way for the Cyclones to move the football.

While the Highlanders did not dent the scoreboard, they moved the ball but did not finish any of the drives in the end zone.

“I am proud of the effort night, we played hard. I tell my guys all the time to pay attention to getting better every week and trying to find away to push your self harder each week,” said Heathwood Hall head coach Tymere Zimmerman. “Porter Gaud is a good football team but we had some opportunities but as I told them we have to finish.”