Late score lifts Hammond to 8th straight title
North Charleston - In the immortal words of former wrestling superstar Ric Flair, “To be the man, you have to beat the man.”
Porter-Gaud took on Hammond School in the SCISA Class AAAA state championship game on Friday night, looking to snap Hammond’s seven-year run as the state champion. After four quarters of football, Hammond is still “the man.” But not without a fight.
With the game tied at 21, the Skyhawks put together a game-winning 80-yard touchdown drive, scoring on Andrew Turner’s 23-yard pass to Michael Tyler with :45 seconds remaining in the game to win, 28-21.Turner threw three touchdown passes, two on fourth down. Hi finished with 150 yards passing on five completions.
Hammond used 12 plays on the winning drive and Turner’s pass came on fourth down and six yards to go for a first down.
“Just so proud of this group, their resilience, their fight,” Hammond head coach Jon Wheeler said. “We’ve been down at halftime in three of our last four state championship games. This team is battle-tested and they rise to the occasion.”
Hammond’s winning drive came after the Skyhawks defense came up with a huge defensive stop. Porter-Gaud recovered a bad snap on Hammond’s 17-yard line earlier in the quarter but was unable to score. The Cyclones had a touchdown pass negated by a holding penalty on third down from the 15 and ended up punting from the 38-yard line after two penalties and two plays for negative yardage.
“Obviously that was huge for us,” Wheeler said. “To keep them from scoring and keep it tied, it gave us a chance,”
Porter-Gaud running back JJ Fludd finished the game with 129 yards rushing and the Cyclones topped 200 yards on the ground for the game.
Hammond looked every bit the part of a seven-time defending state champion on the opening drive of the game. The Skyhawks went 66 yards on 10 plays, scoring on Immanuel Johnson’s eight-yard touchdown run with 7:02 remaining in the first quarter. Johnson rushed for 63 yards in the game. Kinson Holland added 98 yards on the ground.
Porter-Gaud did what they do best on their first possession, running the football. On their third offensive snap, Fludd went 83 yards on an option pitch to tie the game at 7-7/
After forcing a punt, the Cyclones’ offense went back to work with the ground game. Fludd and Tony Brown shouldered the load on a 14-play, 81-yard drive that ended with Fludd’s three-yard run with 8:04 left in the second quarter.
The Skyhawks answered with an 11-play drive on their next possession. Facing a fourth-and-10 from the Porter-Gaud 23-yard line, Turner hit Jack Croft across the middle in the end zone for a game-tying touchdown with 2:56 left in the half.
Hammond finished the first half with 175 total yards while Porter-Gaud totaled 169 yards, all on the ground. Fludd rushed for 108 yards in the first two quarters.
Hammond grabbed the lead on their first possession of the third quarter. On third-and-nine from their own 31, Turner hit Johnson on a screen pass that Johnson turned into a 69-yard touchdown for a 21-14 lead.
Porter-Gaud again had an answer, using 15 run plays on a 51-yard drive with Brown scoring on a one-yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter. Brown had nine carries on the drive.
The Cyclones had another answer, however, using up eight minutes of the clock to drive 51 yards on 15 plays with Brown doing the honors on a one-yard scoring run. Brown had nine carries on the drive.
Porter-Gaud was playing in their first title game since 2015.
“I said it last week, until someone beats them they are the team,” Porter-Gaud head coach Brad Bowles said. “They are a good football team. We had a good football team. I am so proud of the kids. They gave it all they hard and they deserved to be here. But we didn’t come here to play a good game. We came to win so we’re obviously disappointed.”
