Ten teams get in dress rehearsals at 3rd Annual FTC Football Jamboree
LMA, Williamsburg, Fairfield Central have impressive wins
Manning – Ten high school football teams got a dress rehearsal at the 3rd Annual FTC Football Jamboree on Friday at Manning High School’s Ramsey Stadium. For some it was a good night, for others ….. well.
Here’s a review of the five one-half scrimmages.
CARVERS BAY 0, MANNING 0
Both head coaches were obviously pleased with their defenses in this showdown. The offenses? Not so much.
“I felt like we performed really well on defense,” said Manning head coach Reggie Kennedy. “Offensively, we didn’t really do that well. And that was the opposite from our scrimmage on Monday (with Orangeburg-Wilkinson, Lee Central and Clear Dot Charter School). We were really good on offense that day and not so good defensively.”
Carvers Bay head coach Matthew Richard saw his team playing to a draw with the Monarchs as a positive.
“A program like Manning, a coach like Reggie Kennedy, any day you can get a tie against them -- a AA team that's probably going to be competing for a state championship -- we'll take that any day,” Richard said.
“We're still developing. we're going to take it one day at a time. We've got a lot to improve on, but we like a lot of what we saw.”
Carvers Bay made a goal line stand late in the second quarter, turning Manning away on fourth down and goal at the 5-yard line. The Bears kept 280-pound Monarch running back Jaylnn Coard from getting in the end zone.
. “I'm proud of my guys for standing up and creating a wall and never giving up,” said Richard, whose team opens up its season against Waccamaw.
Richard was particularly pleased with the play of sophomore defensive end Jaquan Hannah, who had three quarterback sacks. “He made me really proud tonight,” Richard said.
While disappointed with the offensive performance, Kennedy believes a good season awaits the Monarchs.
“I feel good about this team, about where we’re at right now,” said Kennedy, whose squad plays host to Crestwood in its season opener. “I think this is the best team we’ve had at this time in my time at Manning. We’ve just got to focus on getting ready for next week.”
LAURENCE MANNING 24, SCOTT’S BRANCH 6
This scrimmage pitted a veteran head coach who is getting ready for his first season in six years – Laurence Manning Academy’s Robbie Briggs – against a former player and assistant coach in first-year Scott’s Branch head coach Patrtick Fleming.
The Swampcats, who are being led by Briggs for the second time, won 24-6, but both coaches thought positives were accomplished.
“Everybody's healthy No. 1,” Briggs said. “No. 2, I thought we played basically everybody on our team, and I was pleased with the kids. We're so young, but we're going to get there.
“We did some good things. I’m thankful to get out of here with a good performance.”
Sophomore quarterback Grainger Powell threw a pair of touchdown passes, one to Zy Dennis and the other to BJ Balls,. Peyton Brown ran for the other touchdown. Placekicker Jason Vargas also booted a 45-yard field goal, albeit without a rush.
“He’s just a freshman,” Briggs said. “He and Josh Gainey are doing a good job with our kicking game.”\
LMA opens its season on Thursday at John Paul II.
Fleming played for Briggs and coached with him when Briggs was an assistant and the head coach at Manning High. He was the defensive coordinator for Kennedy at Manning before taking the over at Scott’s Branch after the Eagles went 0-10 last season.
“I feel pretty good. It's a building process,” Fleming said. “We were without four starters on defense. I thought the backups came in and played well. We've still got a long way to go.
“We’re just teaching the guys to keep going. A game is four quarters. It's not defined in one play or one quarter.”
Scott’s Branch scored late on a short run by quarterback Jaiven Conyers. The TD was set up by a long pass from Conyers to Quintin Jackson.
LEE CENTAL 8, EAST CLARENDON 0
This contest featured a Lee Central team that is playing at the Class A for the first time after being a AA school for the rest of its history. After being part of the smallest classification in the state for all but two years of its long existence, East Clarendon is back at AA this year.
The Stallions were able to get a points on the board on a touchdown pass from JuJu Davis to Damarion Morgan and on a safety in the 8-0 win.
“I thought the kids played very hard,” said longtime LCHS head coach Justin Danner, whose team opens its season at Timberland. “Having the kids miss out on that week due to the weather (Tropical Storm Debby), it's been hard for a lot of the teams in the lower state. We're seeing it right now. Everybody's trying to get their problems fixed before the first week of the season. I thought our guys played pretty hard. We've got a lot of things to fix, but I’m happy we found a way to be ahead in the end.
"I thought the defense played really hard. They found a way to get some (three) turnovers and get it back to the offense. I thought offensively we got off to a really fast start, but we sputtered in the red zone. Those are areas we want to get fixed, but those are teachable moments.”
East Clarendon is preparing for its second year under head coach Larry Cornelius after going 5-6 last season and winning a state playoff game for the first time n several years. While obviously not happy with the overall performance, Cornelius is taking things in stride.
“We're trying to get ready for the season opener.” Cornelius said of the road game against Scott’s Branch. “Our defense did well tonight considering it was against the Wing-T. To give up just a score in one half is pretty good. We’ve got some things we need to fix in our secondary. We made mistakes back there we shouldn't make.
"Offensively, we've just got to play loose. We had three turnovers. We did some good things, but we weren't consistent. Offense is all about consistency. We'll put it together.”
WILLIAMSBURG 23, HEMINGWAY 0
Williamsburg Academy is having to adjust to the loss of several key players that it rode to a 34-2 record, a state championship and two runner-up finishes in the three previous seasons. It had a strong performance in the 23-0 win over Hemingway.
Ty Tilton ran for two touchdowns for the Stallions while TJ Bennett scored the other one.
“It was a good performance not too many penalties,” said WA head coach Tyler Boyd. “I thought we executed well. I was just hoping to do better than last week for sure (in a scrimmage against Orangeburg Prep and Colleton Prep), and we did that. We're in a little better shape than we were last Friday,”
The Stallions open their season at Thomas Sumter Academy.
Hemingway has struggled in the last few years and is in its first season under head coach Mike Donald. Considering his 20-man roster was in its first competition against another program, Donald didn’t have a lot of complaints.
“We knew we were going to have some ups and downs but we saw some good things as well,” said Donald, who was the defensive coordinator at Marion last season. “We're not far off from where I expected us to be right now.
On the defensive side we've got to be able to tackle and finish our tackles while we're there. Our goal is to be a lot more competitive and actually win some games. We need to start the process of getting Hemingway (once a Class A lower state power) back on the map.”
Donald was pleased with the play of wide receiver Jhaumauri Greene and running back Romance Hanna.
Hemingway opens its season at Mullins.
FAIRFIELD CENTRAL 26, ORANGEBURG-WILKINSON 0
While Fairfield Central put up the most points of any of the teams with its 26-0 win over Orangebrug-Wilkinson, Griffins head coach Demetrius Davis was really pleased with the defensive performance.
“Defensively, I felt like we played pretty good,” he said. “Defense is wat we feel like is going to be our strength. The guys flew around. They had just 20 yards of total offense, so that’s a pretty good performance.”
Coach Davis was also pretty happy with the offense. Fairfield alternated Ford Davis and Kaden Diggs at quarterback. He said they will be sharing time behind center after the transfer of 2-year starter Cameron McMillon.
Tydarion Grier scored twice for the Griffins while Jaden Boyd and Jalen Mozie had a touchdown apiece.
“Offensively, we were able to get the ball out on the perimeter,” Coach Davis said. “e're not very big, so we try to use our speed.”
Fairfield Central plays host to Ridge View on Friday to open its season.
O-W head coach Chris Carter wasn’t pleased with his team’s play as a long discussion following the scrimmage before boarding the bus would attest.
“I know our guys are a lot better than that,” Carter said. “I'm going to take my hat off to Fairfield Central. They did a great job. I think we're better than that, and we're going to be better.
"We've got to work on our secondary, we've got to get better with our tackling. We've got to get better in attacking, attacking the line of scrimmage and just making plays.”
Carter said he was pleased with the play of freshman quarterback Brenden Peoples, who took over late in the game, along with Chris Darby, James Ross and David Blanchard.
O-W opens its season at home against the Anderson Cavaliers.
