Orangeburg -- No matter how prolifically the Daniel High School offense passed or ran
the football, Camden stayed close behind the Lions on Saturday in the AAA football state
championship game at South Carolina State University's Oliver C. Dawson Stadium.
Through a dozen scores in regulation and two touchdowns in overtime, the Bulldogs
matched the Lions.
It came to one decision for the Bulldogs after Jah Mayrant dragged Daniel defenders
into the end zone for Camden’s overtime score: attempt an extra point and see about a
second overtime or go for the 2-point conversion and try to win it outright.
Camden went for the win as quarterback Grayson White took the snap and faked a
handoff to Mayrant, who appeared to have a clear view of the end zone. White kept the ball,
but Daniel defenders grounded him one yard short of the goal line, and when the whistles
blew the play dead, the Lions stormed the field knowing they clinched a 49-48 victory and
their third state championship in four years.
“I’m proud of my kids, proud of their resiliency,” Daniel head coach Jeff Fruster said.
“This might be the most resilient bunch that we’ve had the pleasure of teaching and coaching
for an entire season. They never gave up on themselves, never gave up on the promise of this
team. I’m so very proud of what they’ve been able to accomplish.”
Daniel, which finished the season 14-0, and 11-4 Camden exploded for 834 combined
yards of total offense while having just one collective punt.
Lions quarterback Kolton Chapman passed for 130 yards and a touchdown, but also
rushed for 117 yards and two touchdowns. Jakari Bennett led the Daniel ground attack with 145
yards and three TDs.
The numbers were similar for Camden.
White passed for 116 yards but rushed for 103 yards and three touchdowns. Mayrant also
had 103 yards on the ground and three rushing scores.
Mayrant was a big part of Camden’s late rally. The Lions had just scored to take a 42-28
lead with 7:04 left in the game, and kicked off to Bulldogs returner Aidan Heriot. Heriot threw a
lateral to Mayrant, and Mayrant broke free for a 76-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
“We hit them with a couple of big special teams plays tonight,” Camden head coach
Brian Rimpf said. “We were down by 14 and had to get back in it. That was a big play, Heriot
throwing to Mayrant. and he had some great blocks downfield and he was able to get in.”
Because Camden missed the extra point, the score remained 42-34. However, the CHS
defense, which had failed to stop Daniel’s offense for most of the game, finally forced the Lions
to turn the ball over on downs.
That stop led directly to Camden’s 54-yard scoring drive that White closed out with a
1-yard run. He followed that with a 2-point conversion run to tie the game at 42-42 with 1:29 left.
Daniel tried to move into a position to kick a game-winning field goal in the final 90
seconds, but Bruce Brown’s 51-yard field goal attempt in the last few seconds fell well short of the
crossbar.
In high school overtime, each team gets the football at the 10-yard line and has four plays
to try and score. Chapman found Jason Bish for a 5-yard touchdown pass on fourth down to
give Daniel a 49-42 lead.
When Camden took over, the Daniel defense got flagged for being offsides, which put the
ball on the 5. Mayrant scored on a physical touchdown run that presented Camden an
opportunity to win.
“We were going for two,” Rimpf said without hesitation. “We were going to see what they
were lined up in. I thought we had them offsides. They jumped, it would’ve made it a little bit easier
to go 1 ½ yards instead of three, but it was gonna be in 15’s (White) hands. Grayson White’s had a
great season, and it was going to be in his hands. It just didn’t work out for us.
“We were one yard short,” Rimpf added. “ In the end we were one yard short.”
Fruster said he knew Camden was going to run White for the conversion attempt. White,
after all, had scored the game-tying touchdown and conversion in the final 1:30 of the game.
“At the end of the game, we know you’ve got to put the ball in the hands of your best player,”
he said. “We knew that.”
From the early action, it was evident that who won the state title would be the one who
made the least mistakes.
Daniel and Camden scored on the first five possessions of the game. Daniel got touchdown
runs two and eight yards from Chapman and a 36-yard TD run from Bennett. Camden got a 36-yard
touchdown run from Mayrant and a score from seven yards out from White.
With Daniel leading 21-14 midway through the second quarter, Camden took possession and
drove to midfield. There, Daniel defensive back Tremaine Davis jumped a route, grabbed a White
pass at the Lions 49-yard line and returned it 51 yards for a touchdown.
Down 28-14, the Bulldogs settled down with a 12-play, 66-yard drive that Mayrant capped with
an 11-yard touchdown run to make it 28-21 with 35 seconds left in the first half.
The teams combined for 435 yards of total offense in the first half. Daniel had 197 total yards on
22 plays and Camden had 238 yards on 34 plays.
White threw three interceptions, all of which led to Daniel scores.
“They ended up getting more forced turnovers than we did, which was the story of the game,”
Rimpf said. “We weren’t able to get more than one turnover.”
The Bulldogs, who lost to Daniel in both the 2020 and 2021 3A state championship games,
nipped at the Lions heels throughout the game. Seeing his team prevail, Fruster said that Daniel’s
resilience was what he was most proud of seeing within his team.
“We talk about the ability to overcome adversity, never thinking that you’re out of a fight or out
of a game, and I think they showed that they have that ability tonight,” Fruster said. “They got exactly
what they earned.”
Camden 7 14 7 14 6 – 48
Daniel 14 14 7 7 7 – 49
First Quarter
D -Kolton Chapman 2 run (Bruce Brown kick) 8:46
C - Jah Mayrant 36 run (Max Ford kick) 6:44
D - Chapman 8 run (Brown kick) 4:40
Second Quarter
C - Grayson White 7 run (Ford kick) 10:03
D - Jakari Bennett36 run (Brown kick) 8:06
D - Tremaine Davis 51 interception return (Brown kick) 6:47
C - Mayrant 11 run (Ford kick) :35
Third Quarter
D - Bennett 22 run (Brown kick) 10:40
C - Grayson White 1 run (Ford kick) 5:33
Fourth Quarter
D - Bennett 35 run (Brown kick) 7:04
C - Mayrant 76 kickoff return (kick failed) 6:49
C - White 1 run 1:29 (White run) 1:29
Overtime 1
D - Bish 5 pass from Chapman (Brown kick)
C - Mayrant 5 run (run failed)
DWD CHS
First downs 17 21
Rushes-Yards 36-279 46-295
Passing yards 130 130
Att-Com-Int 19-13-0 17-11-3
Fumbles-lost 2-1 0-0
Penalties-yards 4-25 5-50
Punts-Avg 1-46.0 0-0.0
INDIVIDUAL
RUSHING
D-Jakari Bennett 13-145, Kolton Chapman 18-117, Tory Shaw 5-17. C-Jaquarius Mayrant 10-
103, Grayson White 22-103, Averee Hickmon 11-66, Aidon Heriot 2-24, Team 1-1.
PASSING
D-Colton Chapman 13-18-0, team 1-0-0. C-Grayson White10-16-3, Aidan Heriot 1-1-0.
RECEIVING
D-Sam Earle 5-47, Jason Bish 3-33, Tory Shaw 1-19, P.J. Chancellor 2-14. CC-Aidan Heriot 5-
54, Jaquarius Mayrant 4-50, Wilson Nash 1-14, Donald Moore 1-12.
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