Hammond Wins “Prize Fight” Over Northwood Academy17-10 On September, 25

By Billy G. Baker

Publisher

Summerville—The Hammond School have won a state record 22 state football championships, so when the Skyhawks lost to Heathwood Hall, 16-13, in the SCISA AAAA semi-finals last year, it set up a championship finals between the Highlanders and Northwood Academy the following week, with the Chargers dominating the game 61-7. earning Chargers head coach Johnny Waters his third state title.



Earlier in the 2025 season, Hammond lost to Northwood Academy (23-20) at home and the Skyhawks went on to finish 9-2 missing the state finals after having won 8 state titles in a row through the 2024 season.

Hammond and Heathwood Hall will conclude the 2026 regular season with a game against each other on October 29.

Hammond avenged their loss to the Chargers last season with a hard-fought 17-10 win on the road on September 25. The game was tied 3-3 at the half as both defenses dominated play in the first half.     

“In the second half we wanted to come out and establish the run,” said Hammond head coach Jon Wheeler. “They are an explosive team on offense. We might have had five stops in a row, and then all of a sudden, they find a crease, and hit a big pass, and you can never relax against a team like that.

“They are well coached up-front, and they have one of the best offensive lines that I have coached against since I have been coaching in SCISA,” said Coach Wheeler. “Our objective coming out of the half, tied at 3, was to establish the run and you have to be able to run the football if you want to win. Our goal was to keep our defense off the field as much as possible.”

Coach Wheeler agreed that the pick six touchdown in the third quarter by senior Leyton LaMotte was the big momentum changing event of the game. “Freshman Dre Bethea had the pass break-up, and LaMotte was in great position to pick it off and he only had to go 20 yards, or so, to the end zone,” said Coach Wheeler. “That was a huge play in the game for us.”

   Coach Waters described the game with these words: “The game was like a heavy weight prize fight,” said Coach Waters. “These two teams have a lot of respect for each other. I told our kids before the game it is going to come down to who does more of the little things right. I was a little surprised at how well Hammond was able to cover our receivers.

“Hammond’s score on the pick six was their 9^th touchdown scored by their defense this season,” said Coach Waters. “That stat is quite remarkable, and almost unheard of, and their defense has a lot of team speed with quality athletes.

“We learned a lot about how their defense was able to slow us down, and quite honesty, if we are fortunate enough to meet them in the state finals at the end of the season, we feel like we will employ a different strategy in attacking their defense,” said Coach Waters. “Football is a game of breaks and in this game, we didn’t get many breaks.”  

Testament to that thought was what happened to the Chargers on their next possession after Hammond had taken a 10-3 lead on the pick-six with 10:44 left in the third period.

A touchback set the Chargers up at the 20-yard line and on the first RB Michael Polite raced 55-yards Hammond 25. Four plays later, PK Elliott Parrott looked like he had hit a school record 47-yard field goal that would have cut the deficit to 10-6.

However, the officials ruled the play had been stopped, due to a Hammond player not having his mouth- piece in, but it appeared the ball was snapped before the linesman waved his arms to stop action.

“When I asked for an explanation why the kick was not good, the white hat told me that they had warned this same player, two other times in the game, about not having his mouthpiece in, so they stopped the play to get him off the field, but my center had already snapped the ball for the field goal attempt,” said Coach Waters. “I asked the top official why they didn’t throw a flag, after the one-time courtesy warning, but I did not receive the explanation I was looking for.”   

Things got even worse for the Chargers on the re-kick. There was a bad snap resulting in a partial block by star LB Jackson Ross of Hammond resulting in the Sky Hawks defender recovering the ball at around the five yard line and returning it to 50-yard line. Five plays later, Mitchell Lanier got loose on a 28 yard inside reverse run that carried down to the two-yard line and two plays soph quarterback Cade Amell scored from the one-yard line and the PAT now gave Hammond a 17-3 lead with 5:47 left in the third period after the PAT.

On the Chargers’ next possession, they went 80 yards in 10 plays highlighted by a 44-yard pass completion to 200-meter spring champion Drew Wolfe from quarterback Kevin Johnson that gave NW a first down at the 15-yard line. Three plays later, Johnson tossed an 8-yard touchdown pass to Wolfe and Parrott’s PAT closed out the score at 17-10.

The score was tied at the half 3-3. The Chargers took a 3-0 lead with 8:40 to go in the first period when their opening possession resulted in a 37-yard field goal by Elliott Parrott. Hammond came back on their first possession of the game and tied the score on a 43-yard field goal by Matthew Bellow.

On Hammond’s opening drive of the third period Charger defender Antuan Faison partially blocked a Sky Hawk punt and the Chargers took possession at the 26-yard line. Nine plays later they had a fourth down at the three-yard line when an incomplete pass into the end zone gave the ball back to Hammond.

After the game, the HSSR talked with Hammond LB and South Carolina football commitment Jackson Ross (6-3, 230) who was all over the field on both sides of the football during the game. “During my freshman and sophomore years I kind of peaked out as a basketball player, but starting my junior season I just fell in love with playing football more and more, and I just have a passion for the game,” said Ross. “I just think the world of Coach White (Clayton), and the coaches at South Carolina. Also, getting to stay home and play in the SEC is a dream come true.

“Right now, I am totally focused on doing everything I can to help my team win a state football championship this season,” said Ross. “This being my senior year this is my priority right now.”  

Against Hammond, Johnson completed 8-of-19 passes for 95 yards and one TD. Polite led all rushers in the game   Northwood won the stats battle in the game. The Chargers amassed 293 yards of offense while their defense gave up 193 yards to Hammond.

Johnson completed 9-of-16 passes for 133 yards and one TD. Polite led all rushers with 92 yards on 16 carries. Johnson added 24 rushing yards on three carries. Faison added 51 yards on 8 carries.

The top receivers against Hammond were Aiden Rutledge with four catches for 25 yards and while Wolfe caught two passes for 52 yards and one TD.

Hammond was led in rushing by Blaze Barnes who had 42 yards on 15 carries while Caden Young contributed 44 yards on five carries. Hammond TE Wham Walker (6-4, 215) had three catches for 39 yards, Caden Young added two receptions for 24 yards, and Ross had two catches for 49 yards. Amell completed seven passes during the game for 110 yards.

Northwood was led on defense tackle index by Brooks Arnold (8) while Tristan Simmons (6) and Mari Brown contributed (6) six hits each.

Tackle stats were not available for Hammond, but Ross led the attack from his LB position along with highly regarded freshman DL Kingston Washington (6-1, 222) who played beyond his years up-front for Hammond.

This week Hammond will host Wilson Hall while