Lavoris Lucas leads Pinewood Prep to big second half as Panthers rally to beat Laurence Manning 35-28

Manning – Lavoris Lucas had one offensive touch for Pinewood Prep in the first half of its football game with Laurence Manning Academy on Friday at Billy Chitwood Memorial Field, a reception for seven yards. The Panthers trailed 10-7 at halftime.

On PP’s first possession of the second half, Lucas had one touch, a 15-yard catch. Pinewood was unable to produce any points, and the next time it got the ball it was trailing 18-7.

Panthers head coach DeVonte Holloman didn’t waste anymore time trying to get Lucas involved through the air. When the PP offense retook the field, Lucas was lined up next to quarterback Silas Brawner in the backfield. And that turned the game around quickly and completely.

Lucas had 14 carries for 170 yards and two touchdowns in the second half as Pinewood rallied for a 35-28 victory.

The victory improved the Panthers, third in the High School Sports Report SCISA AAAA rankings, to 8-1 on the season and 2-1 in SCISA Region 2. The Swampcats, ranked fourth, dropped to 6-2 and 2-1.

Lucas came into the contest with 35 catches for 822 yards, a 23.5-yards-per-catch average, and 14 touchdowns. He only had two rushes, albeit for 90 yards and a touchdown.

“We just needed a spark, and we know what kind of playmaker he is,” Holloman said why the decision was made to move Lucas into the backfield. “Good things happen when you give him the ball. We made it simple.”

“They were getting the best athlete the ball,” LMA head coach David Rankin said of Lucas. “That’s what we were doing (with Scoop Dennis). They were having trouble getting it to him in the screen game, so they put him in the backfield. That’s smart coaching.

“He can absolutely run liked a scalded dog. We had a couple of missed tackles, and he was gone.”

PP put together a 14-play, 80-yard scoring drive that included seven carries by Lucas for 62 yards. Senior Grayson Salego had the final three carries of the drive, the last one coming from one yard out on fourth down and goal. Freshman placekicker Kai Remmer added the extra point to make it 18-14 with 1:12 remaining in the third quarter.

That drive and two LMA turnovers on its ensuing possessions completely shifted the game’s momentum.

On second and 12 from the Laurence Manning 18, Rankin called a reverse to AJ Dennis. Trying to get to the corner, Dennis lost the ball and Pinewood recovered at the 3. Brawner tossed a scoring pass to wide receiver Tre Green on the next play, and the Panthers took a 21-18 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Swampcats were driving on the ensuing possession, getting a first down at the PP 36 on a 5-yard run by Scoop Dennis out of the Wildcat. On the next play, running back Pierson Gamble was going around the left corner for a nice pickup when he was stripped of the ball with Pinewood recovering at the 29.

The Panthers were back in the end zone six plays later with Lucas doing the honors on a 27-yard run. That made it 28-18 with 8:19 left in the game.

“Words can’t describe how proud I am of the team right now, facing adversity and responding to it,” said Holloman, whose team is playing AAAA this year after claiming the AAA title last season. “Everything went wrong in the first half. We could have easily cashed it in. In the third quarter it was kind of a point where we could have cashed it in, but our boys responded, and coming off a bye week, that’s all you can ask.

“I expected a slow start, but our boys picked it up.”

LMA did not go away quietly. Quarterback Grainger Powell connected with Scoop Dennis on a deep route for a 44-yard TD pass, and placekicker Daniel Vargas added the PAT to make it 28-25 with 5:35 to go.

Scoop Dennis had a tremendous game with 243 yards of total offense. He had 11 carries for 148 yards and two touchdowns while catching six passes for 95 yards and the other score.

“He was Mr. Everything for us,” Rankin said. “They knew he was going to get the ball and they still didn’t stop him. Scoop had a fantastic game. We put him in the backfield at Wildcat, and he ran hard.”

Any momentum Laurence Manning hoped to gather from the big play was quickly whisked away by an even bigger play from Lucas. On second down, Lucas went off right tackle, broke a tackle and into the open back toward the middle of the field before finally cutting back to the right sideline for a 61-yard TD run with 4:47 remaining.

Behind the passing of Powell and three catches by wide receiver Rob Briggs for 38 yards, the Swampcats got as close as the PP 9 before stalling. Vargas booted a 35-yard field goal to make it 35-28 with 2:34 still left.

LMA forced a 3-downs-and-out series, taking over at its 32 following a Pinewood punt with 1:18 to go. Facing fourth and 12, Powell hooked up with Briggs for a 16-yard gain and a first down at the 46. Powell then found Connor Carter for a 13-yard to the Panther 41.

That was as close as LMA would get though as the PP defense came up with a couple of quarterback sacks.

“We just couldn’t finish it,” Rankin said. “We got tired in the fourth quarter. We’ve got nine guys playing both ways, they’ve got like three. That’s not an excuse. You’ve got to suck it up and go.

“We played hard. The two turnovers really hurt us.”

Holloman thought his offensive and defensive lines showed a toughness factor in the second half.\

“Hats off to the backs and the O line,” he said. “We got pushed around in the first half. The O line and D line both responded in the second half, and I can’t say enough about how they finished in the fourth quarter.”

Brawner. who came into the game averaging 316.5 passing yards a game with 33 touchdown passes, had an off night. He completed just 7 of 23 passes for 105 yards with one TD and one interception.

Holloman is not concerned about Brawner’s struggles.

“You can’t throw for 200 or 300 yards every game,” Holloman said. “He did a great job leading the team.”

Sophomore Jeremey Kendall just missed rushing for 100 yards, finishing with 98 yards and a score on 17 carries, the majority of it coming in the first half with 85 yards on 14 rushes. Salego had 34 yards on seven totes.

The defense was led by senior Jacob Sweet and junior Gavin Spell, both ends, Sweet had eight tackles, 4 ½ tackles for loss and a sack. Spell had three tackles, but each was a sack.

Sophomore middle linebacker Nathan Good led in tackles with 14 to go with 1 ½ TFLs. Junior outside linebacker Mason Summers had five tackles, 1 ½ TFLs and a sack. Sophomore Tyler Harper caused and recovered a fumble, senior Dana Moberg recovered a fumble, and Sweet and junior Teddy Carman both caused one.

Powell completed 19 of 37 passes for 240 yards and a touchdown. Briggs finished with five catches for 63 yards, tight end Asher Sanders had two catches for 47 yards, and Carter finished with two receptions for 24 yards.

Gamble had a solid game running the football, picking up 78 yards on 13 carries.

The first points of the came after Laurence Manning turned Pinewood away on fourth and seven at the LMA 22 on the first play of the second quarter. The Swampcats put together a 12-play drive, aided by three 15-yard penalties against the Panthers, that ended with a 1-yard run by Scoop Dennis. Vargas’ PAT made it 7-0 with 6:30 left in the first half.

PP went 63 yards in eight plays with Kendall scoring on a 4-yard run to tie the game 7-7 with 4:05 to go.

An interception ended a Pinewood drive at the Swampcat 30 with just over a minute remaining in the first half. LMA drove to a first and goal at the 7 thanks to a 31-yard completion to Sanders. It couldn’t get in the end zone though and settled for a 24-yard field goal from Vargas with five seconds left to make the halftime score 10-7.

The Panthers drove to a first down at the Laurence Manning 21 on its first possession of the second half before turning it over on downs. On third and 13, LMA ran a reverse to Scoop Dennis, and he got to the corner and turned it into an electrifying 81-yard scoring run. AJ Dennis ran for the 2-point conversion to make it 18-7 with 9:51 to go in the third quarter.

Both LMA and the Panthers are in the hunt for the region title along with defending AAAA state champion Northwood Academy. The Chargers are ranked second in AAAA with a 7-2 overall record and a 3-0 region following a 21-20 win over Porter-Gaud.

The Swampcats will play at Northwood on Friday, while Pinewood will play host to Porter-Gaud. LMA can win the region outright with a win over NA and a Panther loss. Pinewood is looking for a victory for itself and a Swampcat win to force a 3-way tie for first. The SCISA tiebreaker rule would then come into effect to determine seeding for the playoffs.