FTC Jamboree wets the appetite for the start of high school football season
Williamsburg Academy's Caden Morris at the FTC Jamboree.
By Neill Kirkpatrick
Special to the HSSR
Manning – Friday night at Ramsey Stadium on the Campus of Manning high school the fourth annual Farmers Telephone Cooperative Jamboree saw the final dress rehearsal for many area schools as they were getting ready to open their season’s next week in week zero of the high school football season.
Manning head coach Reggie Kennedy said, “We have a great partnership with FTC. They came to me about four years ago and said they wanted to host a jamboree for the area’s teams. The jamboree has grown over the years and we have been able get some very good teams to participate. One of the biggest things they (FTC) do is a delayed broadcast during the week so people who couldn’t make it to the jamboree can still see their favorite team play.”
Farmers Telephone Cooperative is a local telecommunications company headquartered in Kingstree, SC, providing digital tv, internet and phone packages to over 60,000 customers.
The opening game of game saw SCISA 1A runner up Williamsburg Academy taking on Hemingway. The Stallions defeated the Tigers 21-6.
Sophomore Grant Small raced 70 yards for the first score of the game while senior quarterback Micah Balder connected with Jay Kellahan from 46 yards and Caden Morris from 14 yards for the Stallions other two scores.
The Tigers score came on a ten-yard scamper by freshmen Jalen Skinner.
WA head coach Will Furse said, “We played pretty well but we have some things to clean up. Overall, we had some big plays, the passing game had some big plays and defensively we played well.”
Game 2 was a match up of class A teams Carvers Bay and Scott’s Branch. Carvers Bay is ranked 15th in the HSSR class A poll. The Bears got the scoring started in the match up when senior Juluis McCrea burst up the middle then cut right and out ran everyone for a 60-yard touchdown run. Quarterback Christian Simmons added the two-point conversion for a 8-0 lead.
Scott’s Branch responded with a 70-yard drive of their own as quarterback Jaiven Conyers connected with Majestic Hatcher from a yard out and Nyren Bowman added the two-point conversion to tie the contest at 8.
The rest of the contest belonged to the Bears as Simmons scored on a nine-yard run, Kenard Heyward scored on a 30-yard interception return and Zyrion Reed had a 37-yard run to pay dirt. The final was 30-8.
“We ran ball well tonight. We have told the offensive line that we are going to lean on them all year. We had a few mistakes early on but we were able to clean them up and get the win,” said head coach Matthew Richard Jr.
The third match up was between HSSR number three ranked class AA team Fairfield Central and AAAA Crestwood. It was a defensive battle with only score coming after a turnover. After a couple of punts, the Crestwood defense would make a big play. Crestwood’s sophomore linebacker Yachin Gamble picked up a fumbled hand off and raced 31-yards for a touchdown. However, the touchdown was taken off the board as Crestwood committed a penalty on the return.
The Knight’s retained the ball and started a drive on the Fairfield Central 20. It took them four plays to score when senior Jorden Gadson scored from the nine. The Knight’s defense made the score stand as they won the match up 6-0.
Crestwood head coach Roosevelt Nelson said, “Defensively, we played well against a very good team in Fairfield Central. We did some good things but we have to get better and clean up our mistakes.”
The fourth game saw a SCISA vs SCHSL battle between Laurence Manning Academy and AA East Clarendon. East Clarendon is ranked 15th in the HSSR AA poll.
This game was another defense battle with the only score coming on a Braylon Brown 22-yard field goal. The Wolverines defeated the Swampcats 3-0.
The Swampcats had a chance to score on their first drive when quarterback Grainger Powell lofted a beautiful long pass to Scoop Davis, who was behind the Wolverine secondary, but Davis could not hang on to the pass.
East Clarendon head coach Larry Cornelius, “I’m not happy with our players or myself we had too many mistakes. This looked like our first scrimmage not out third. We had some starters out but the other guys have to step up. We have a week to get ready, this is gut check time for our guys.”
The night’s final match of the night was between Jamboree host Manning and class A power Lee Central. The Monarch’s are ranked number four in the HSSR AA poll.
Manning took their opening drive and went 70 yards in 11 plays to open the scoring when junior Lavon Steveson scored from the two to put the Monarch’s up 6
The final score came when junior Daniel Robinson scored on fourth down from the three. The PAT was good and Manning led 13-0.
