Amir Chisolm has 50-yard TD catch in final 2 minutes to lift Porter-Gaud to 15-10 win over LMA

Manning – Porter-Gaud had a hard time getting the football into the hands of playmaker Amir Chisolm in their SCISA AAAA football state playoffs first-round game against Laurence Manning Academy on Friday. When the Cyclones needed Chisolm to work some of his big play magic though, they managed to get the ball in his hands. And Chisolm didn’t disappoint.

Chisolm caught a pass from quarterback Cam Werntz in the right flat along the P-G sideline, then turned back to the middle of the field and never looked back on the way to a 50-yard touchdown reception that gave Porter-Gaud a 15-10 victory at Billy Chitwood Memorial Field.

The victory sends the Cyclones on to the semifinals where they will face undefeated Hammond on Friday in Columbia.

The Swampcats finish the season with a 6-4 record.

P-G, which lost to LMA 10-7 in the regular season, was trailing 10-9 when it got the ball back at its 37-yard line with 1:56 remaining in the game following a 33-yard punt by Laurence Manning’s Landon Dukes. On first down, Werntz connected with wide receiver Wilson Yarborough for a 13-yard gain to midfield.

That was followed by Werntz throwing a short, quick pass to Chisolm, who was set up in the flat in front of the Porter-Gaud bench. He immediately cut back to the middle of the field and broke away from the pack for the touchdown pass with 1:35 left. The Cyclones went for the 2-point conversion but were unsuccessful, leaving the score at 15-10.

That was Chisolm’s sixth and final touch of the night, finishing with two catches for 76 yards and four carries for 13 yards as he was slowed down by an injury.

“Amir Chisolm sealing this thing … look, he is one of the best players in this state,” said Porter-Gaud head coach Matt Neighbors, who is in his second season. “It’s mind blowing that he does not have more stuff going on (recruiting-wise) than he does.”

Chisolm entered the game with 69 catches for 1,150 yards and eight touchdown while running for 472 yards and 10 scores on 57 rushes, both team highs. That’s 126 touches and over 1,600 yards of total offense.

The Swampcats picked up a pair of first downs to move to their 48 with just under a minute to go. After an incompletion, quarterback Grainger Powell scrambled out of the pocket for a 6-yard gain to the P-G 46. He then threw a short pass to Connor Carter that was marked just shy of the first down marker to bring up fourth down and one yard to go.

An incompletion followed, giving Porter-Gaud a first-round playoff win over Laurence Manning for the second season in a row after losing the regular-season matchup.

“It’s very disappointing for us,” said Laurence Manning head coach David Rankin, who had two hospital stays and coached this game from the press box in his first year at the school. “We struggle against them (the defense) up front. They’re just quick and we have trouble up front against them. They’re just quicker than us.

“They’re very fast up front and we had trouble up front. We just couldn’t quite get it done.”

The Swampcats controlled the flow of the game in the first half, running 34 offensive plays to just 11 for the Cyclones. However, the game was tied 3-3 at halftime.

The first quarter was scoreless, but LMA started a drive before it ended that used 16 plays and sucked 9 minutes, 16 seconds, off the clock. It got as close as the P-G 10 before settling for a 27-yard field goal by placekicker Daniel Vargas with 6:11 remaining in the second quarter.

“We were trying to control the clock and keep their offense off of the field,” said Rankin, who used a 3-back set a good part of the night. “We did a pretty good job of it in the first half.”

Porter-Gaud managed a couple of first downs on just its second possession of the game before having to punt. It looked as though Laurence Manning would take the 3-0 lead into the locker room when it took over at its 10 with 2:22 left in the first half.

However, a bad handoff exchange on second down resulted in a fumble with the Cyclones’ Beanie Brown recovdering at the 7. They got as close as the 4 and were pushed as far back as the 23 before facing fourth down at the 20. Placekicker Hunter Thiem came in to connect on a 37-yard field goal with 20 seconds to go for what would be the first of three on the evening.

“We were able to get an extra possession right down here before the half that helped us out,” Neighbors said.

He’s a special kid. We trust him any time we get in that ara.

P-G received the second=half kickoff and finally got its offense going. Chisolm’s other catch was a 26-yarder for a first down that moved it to its 47 Scooter Brown, who had no carries in the first half, followed with runs of five and 14 yards for a first down at the Swampcat 34.

Porter-Gaud got as close as the 26 before having to settle for a 43-yard field goal by Thiem with 6:48 remaining in the third quarter to make it 6-3.

After an LMA punt, the Cyclones got the ball back attheir 34 with 3:45 left in the quarter. They ran off 12 plays and got as close as the Laurence Manning 10 before settling for 27-yard field goal by Thiem with 10:43 remaining in the contest to make it 9-3.

“We just started executing a little bit in the second half,” Neighbors said. “We still couldn’t punch it in, but we executed enough to get our kicker in range.”

Thiem is rated as one of the top 100 punters in the country, according to Neighbors and will play collegiately at Lafayette. However, he’s pretty good at putting the ball through the uprights.

“He has a range of 50 yards on in,” Neighbors said. “He’s really a special kid. We trust him anytime he’s in that area.”

The Swampcats responded with their only touchdown. Powell connected with Scoop Dennis for 12 yards on first down and then went up top to Carter for 34 yards and a first down at the P-G 19. That eventually led to a 3-yard scoring run by running back Pierson Gamble and Vargas’ extra point attempt made it 10-9 with 8:55 left.

After forcing a punt, LMA lost its second fumble, setting Porter-Gaud up at the Laurence Manning 30. Thiem ended up attempting a 45-yarder and it had plenty of leg, but he hooked it left, leaving the score at 10-9 to set up the finish.

After having just three yards of offense in the first half, the Cyclones finished with an even 200, 156 of it coming on Werntz’ passing. He connected on 11 of 15 passes.

Yarborough had six receptions for 44 yards, while Scooter Brown finished with 35 rushing yards on 12 carries.

Rankin was pleased with how his defensive unit play.

“I don’t think we could have played much better on defense,” he said.

Laurence Manning finished with 205 yards of total offense. Powell connected on 14 of 27 passes for 151 yards, and the Swampcats ran for 54 yards.

Laurence Manning standout Scoop Dennis had six catches for 40 yards and ran the ball six times for 31 yards. Eight of the 12 touches came in the second half, a fact Rankin lamented after the game.

“If I could do something different, I would have been a little more aggressive, especially early in the game,” he said.

Carter finished with two catches for 37 yards, Rob Briggs had three receptions for 38 yards, and AJ Dennis had two grabs for 26 yards. He also had 30 yards on 12 rushes.

   Hammond is trying to win a state title after having its run of nine consecutive titles snapped last season. The Cyclones lost to the Skyhawks 42-7 in the regular season, but Neighbors channeled his inner Ric Flair when talking about the opportunity.

“To be the man, you’ve got to beat the man,” Neighbors quoted the famous wrestler without adding his trademark ‘Woooo!’ “They tore us up earlier this year at their place. We get a little shot at redemption, and it’s on us to do what we do.”