Laurence Manning holds on to beat Lake City 21-20
Swampcats use balanced offense, strong defense to pull out victory
Manning – It was far from the cleanest game ever played, but it was definitely high school football so that made the overflow crowd at Laurence Manning Academy’s Billy Chitwood Field quite happy. And so did the final score as the Swampcats pulled out a 21-20 victory over Lake City High School on Friday in a matchup between defending SCISA AAAA runner-up Laurence Manning and SCHSL AAA school Lake City.
“It's a big win, but we weren't necessarily expecting to lose,” said LMA head coach Will Furse, who saw his team avenge a loss to the Panthers in the season opener last year in what was his first game as head coach. “|It's a big win because anytime you win a game against a AAA public school you're happy about it.”
LCHS played its first game with Jamison Estep as the head of the program. A longtime Lake City assistant, Estep is the acting head coach as head coach Ronnie Baker remains hospitalized in an intensive care unit after being involved in a serious automobile accident in July.
“Sloppy, sloppy,” said Estep when asked what he thought about his team’s performance. “We couldn't get our rhythm going offensively. When we'd have a good play, we'd have a holding call or a block in the back. We'll clean it up though.
“We have a young quarterback (in sophomore Amari Hanna). This was the first game he's ever started as a quarterback. He’ll mature quickly. We've just got to get better.”
The Panthers had just 26 yards of total offense as Laurence Manning finished with 13 tackles for loss as well as an interception. The two passes Hanna completed each went for minus four yards.
Treshon Burgess was the reason LCHS made it a close game. The junior returned a punt 66 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter and took a kickoff back 75 yards for a score in the fourth quarter.
“Treshon Burgess was the man tonight,” Estep said, “Two touchdowns, both returns, one kickoff, one punt. He played both sides of the ball. I can't say enough about him.”
Laurence Manning got the first points of the night on a punt return as well. After Lake City had to punt following its first possession, the Swampcats’ Thomas Sumpter caught the ball on the run at the LMA 19-yard line. He broke down the visitor’s sideline and took it in for the score. Placekicker Mills Lee added the extra point to make it 7-0 with 8:21 left in the first quarter.
Neither team had much success offensively in the early going, each punting following its first three possessions. Burgess’ punt return touchdown came following LMA’s third punt. He fielded the ball at the LCHS 34 and took it 66 yards for the score. Lake City tried to run for the 2-point conversion but failed, leaving the score at 7-6 with 9:29 left in the second quarter.
The Panthers looked as though they were grabbing the momentum when they recovered a fumble at the LMA 35. However, the Laurence Manning defense rose to the occasion, dropping running back Jeffrey McFadden in the backfield on fourth down and one yard to go at the 26.
“Defensively we played good for the most part,” Furse said. “Overall I was really proud of our defense. At halftime they had just 13 yards. There's a couple of things we need to clean up on that end, but we played well."
After the stop, the Swampcats followed with the only sustained scoring drive. They went on a 9-play, 73-yard drive that took over four minutes off the clock. They did this despite having three holding calls go against them during the drive.
The drive ended with Tyler June, who split time between quarterback and wide receiver, scoring from 11 yards out on a QB sweep around right end. Lee added the extra point with 1:18 left to make the halftime score 14-6.
Laurence Manning finished with 358 yards of total offense,. Furse said his offensive line faced a difficult challenge against the LCHS defensive front led by 6-foot-2-inch, 295-pound senior defensive tackle Lorenzo McFadden-Pressley.
“Offensively, we did some good things, but I don't know if we'll see a better front than that all year,” Furse said. “No. 75 (McFadden-Pressley) for them is one of the best I've seen. We had a hard time blocking him all night. We tried to block him. We stepped the right way. We didn't shy away from him. Sometimes you run into somebody who's got it going on and that was him tonight.”
LCHS received the second-half kickoff and Burgess almost broke it for a touchdown before being pulled down at the LMA 42. A pair of 18-yard runs – one by McFadden, the other by running back Torrance Wilson – set Lake City up for a first down and goal at the 10. Wilson ran five yards before fumbling on the next play, but LCHS wide receiver Dallas Baker picked up the ball and went into the end zone for the touchdown. The run on the 2-point conversion failed, leaving the score at 14-12 with 10:17 left in the third quarter.
The defenses clamped down on the opposing offenses for most of the second half. LMA’s final touchdown was set up by an interception by defensive back Josiah Burson at the Lake City 30 which he returned to the 18. A 4-yard run by quarterback Grainger Powell followed by a 9-yard run by running back Ian Harris set up a 5-yard scoring run by Harris. Lee’s extra point made it 21-12 with 1:57 remaining in the game.
The game seemed to be out of reach for Lake City, but Burgess returned the ensuing kickoff 75 yards for a touchdown. Jeffrey McFadden ran for two points to make it 21-20.
The Panthers tried an onside kick, but Laurence Manning recovered and ran out the clock for the win.
Powell completed 15 of 20 passes for 140 yards with June having four of the catches for 30 yards. June also completed 5 of 8 passes for 52 yards and had 71 yards on nine carries.
Harris picked up 51 yards on 14 carries with the touchdown. Sumpter had five carries for 54 yards. Burson had four catches for 29 yards, and Jackson Brunson had three catches for 37 yards.
“Offensively we were able to do enough,” Furse said. “We were able to keep the defense off the field at times in the second half. Grainger had his moments, Tyler had his moments. He affects the game in a lot of different ways. Ian and Thomas ran the ball good. It was a group effort on offense for sure.”
McFadden-Pressley led Lake City with 12 tackles, five tackles for loss, one quarterback sack and three quarterback pressures.
“He's a full-grown man playing high school football,” Estep said of McFadden-Pressley, who is also an All-American wrestler. “He doesn't come off the field, playing left tackle for us. He probably played 100 snaps tonight.”
Burgess had 200 return yards and also had a sack on defense.
Defensively for LMA, Burson had six tackles to go with the pick, linebacker Bryson Smith had seven tackles, one sack and two TFLS, linebacker Jeremiah Burson had four tackles, three sacks and a forced fumble, linebacker Drew Ferriel had three tackles and two sacks, defensive lineman Nate Hawthorne had five tackles and two TFLs, and defensive lineman Bryson Hodge had four tackles, three TFLS and one sack.
Furse mentioned the situation surrounding Baker in his postgame interview.
“He's been weighing on my heart for a while every since we found out about it,” Furse said, “Jamison Este[ is doing a great job over there. I didn't really know him before this week but he's a great guy. I think they're going to have a good year, I really do.”
Estep said his understanding of Baker’s recovery is that he is making “small, small improvements.”
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