Richard Winn whips Laurens Academy 43-6 for SCISA 8-man title

Batesburg-Leesville -- Richard Winn Academy’s surprise of a season ended on a happily

unsurprising note on Friday.

The Eagles scored early and often against Laurens Academy in the SCISA 8-man football state

championship game and clinched the program's first state title since 2014 with a 43-6 victory at the

W.W. King Academy’s football field.

RWA senior quarterback Charlie Bonds closed out his high school career rushing for 109 yards and

two touchdowns and passing for 155 yards and two scores.

As head coach Paul Brigman explained, as Bonds and his fellow seniors go, so goes the

team.

“It’s the leadership that we got from those senior guys most of all. Charlie Bonds has been one of

our best guys,” Brigman said. “Charlie has led the team from ninth grade on and this group’s

been together for a long time. They’ve been a joy to coach and so receptive to coaching and just

wanting to get better. In the end it turned out like we wanted it to. It was a great win.”

Friday's win puts a lot of distance between the 2020 season, when Bonds and others were

very young and watching Richard Winn fall hard to Holly Hill Academy in the state championship

game.

“When we lost in 2020 it was a heartbreaking loss for us, and we’ve been fighting to get back

here the last couple of years,” Brigman said. “We’ve been close, but we weren’t able to get there.

Charlie Bonds got hurt in ‘21 and he’s been on a comeback trail for about a year and a half. This

year he was fully healthy, and this team was ready to roll from the very beginning.”

Besides Bonds, senior wide receiver Jake Gaillard finished the night with five catches for 149

yards. His last two grabs of the night were both touchdowns, the first one for 35 yards and the

second was for 58.

“This is such an exceptional night,” Gaillard said. “I can’t thank God enough for such a great

team. I’m really blessed to be here.”

Senior Josh Tyndall rushed for a 39-yard touchdown in the first quarter, then hit a 30-yard field

goal early in the second. Junior Eli Smith also scored a rushing touchdown.

The Eagles, who finished the year with a 12-0 record, ran straight through the regular season with

none of their games even  being close.

Richard Winn’s dominance throughout the year was reminiscent of the school’s back-to-back AA

state championships in 1995-1996 under head coach David Porter.

Richard Winn wasted no time getting on the scoreboard against 9-4 Laurens. Four plays after

the opening kickoff, Bonds rumbled nine yards into the end zone and Bennett Nicholson scored

the 2-point conversion to put the Eagles up 8-0 less than three minutes into the game.

After that score came another Bonds touchdown run, this one from four yards out. Tyndall broke

free for a 39-yard rushing score late in the first quarter to give the Eagles a 20-0 lead.

Tyndall made a 30-yard field goal early in the second quarter. Bonds opened up the passing game

with two touchdown strikes to Gaillard. The first was a 35-yard TD pass at the 4:55 mark, and

the second was a 58-yarder with a little over a minute to go in the first half.

“I don’t think we could have played any better,” Tyndall said. “That was the best half we’ve ever

played and we finished strong.”

Bonds had 101 yards on nine carries in the first half, while Gaillard had four catches for 149

yards.

“We got the ball and scored and went from there. It’s kind of our plan the whole time,” Bonds

said. “We couldn’t have done much better, I’ll say that.”

In the second half with a running clock, Richard Winn’s Justin Autry picked off an Ethan Collins

pass and returned it 43 yards to the Laurens Academy 43-yard line. Two Smith runs of 20 and

25 yards, respectively, the Eagles were up 43-0 at the 4:49 mark of the third quarter.

The Crusaders’ only score came in the fourth quarter at the end of a 10-play, 75-yard drive

capped with Collins’ 4-yard touchdown run.

Richard Winn took possession and drained the clock until the Eagles turned the ball over on

downs. By then the clock was at 1:30 left in the game and the Crusaders ran two rushing plays

before time expired and Richard Winn chalked up a state championship.

“We set those goals early in the year,” Brigman said. “That’s where we always want to end up,

winning a region title, winning a state title. We fall short some years, of course. When we start in

June that’s always been what we talk about, where we want to be in November. It’s been a great

ride this year, it really has.”

Laurens Academy 0 0 0 6 – 6

Richard Winn 20 17 6 0 – 43

First Quarter

R - Charlie Bonds 9 run (Bennett Nicholson run) 9:27 

R - Bonds 4 run (run failed) 5:41

R - Josh Tyndall 39 run (pass failed) :39

Second Quarter

R - Tyndall 30 field goal 9:04

R - Jake Gaillard 35 pass from Bonds (Tyndall kick) 4:55

R - Gaillard 58 pass from Bonds (Tyndall kick) 1:07

Third Quarter

R – Eli Smith 25 run (kick failed) 4:49

Fourth Quarter

L – Ethan Collins 4 run (pass failed) 9:07

LA RWA

First downs 13 18

Rushes-yds 39-210 28-259

Passing yds 71 155

Att-Com-Int 15-6-1 8-5-0

Fumbles-lost 2-1 2-0

Penalties-yds 5-55 3-25

Punts-avg 4-27.0 0-0.0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING 

L – Garrett Murphy 24-141, Ethan Collins 9-44, Caleb Hardy 7-28. R – Charlie Bonds 12-109,

Eli Smith 9-69, Bennett Nicholson 2-47, Josh Tyndall 1-39, Jake Gaillard 1-18, Grant Taylor 2-(-

1), Dylan Albert 1-(-2).

PASSING

L – Ethan Collins 6-15-1. R – Charlie Bonds 5-8-0.

RECEIVING

L – Caleb Hardy 4-25, Garrett Murphy 1-28, Anthony Candelas 1-18. R –