Rankin pleased with first spring practice as Laurence Manning football head coach

           Manning – The Laurence Manning Academy football team has a lot of experience returning from a 6-5 squad. The Swampcats have eight starters back on offense and seven on defense.

           However, they are going to be with a new head coach for the fourth straight season. Veteran SCISA head coach David Rankin is in charge and he likes what he has seen through spring practice and the early part of the summer.

           “The kids have bought in good so far,” said Rankin, who came to LMA from Carolina Academy after Jimmy Noonan stepped down. “The participation has been great over the summer. Things have been going well, but we haven’t played a game yet.

           “We’re trying to get our guys in shape and get them familiar with the way we do things so when we get to July 23 (the first day of fall practice) we can roll, not standing out there wasting time. We just want to get that kind of stuff in. We’ll start pushing harder when we get back after July 4. We want to get in some kind of condition, be in the weightroom trying to get stronger.”

           While the perception of Rankin’s offensive teams is one of toughness and being run-heavy, he insists he has no issue putting the ball in the air if he has a quarterback who can chunk it. And Rankin thinks he has inherited a good one.

           “We feel like in Grainger Powell we’ve got a very good quarterback,” Rankin said of the rising senior 3-year starter. ‘He can throw it and we’ve got people who can catch it. When we won the first time at Lee (Academy in 2015), we had Bryce Barrett at quarterback and we did about 60 (percent) run, 40 pass. You’ll see it  somewhere in there.

 “We’ll be glad to take what the other team gives us. I don’t think teams will be able to load up the box on us. We can throw.”

Powell completed 140 of 223 passes for 1.948 yards and 13 touchdowns while tossing just three interceptions. He also ran for four scores.

 Powell’s favorite target, junior Scoop Dennis, is back. A SCISA AAAA All-State selection, he led LMA in receptions with 32, receiving yards with 582 and touchdown catches with six. He had 16 punt returns for 243 yards and one touchdown.  

 Rankin likes his receiving corps as a whole in Asher Sanders, the second leading receiver who had 30 catches for 380 yards and one touchdown, junior Rob Briggs, senior Eli Gamble and senior Connor Carter.

 Rankin is very happy with the coaching staff he has in place at the moment. He has another veteran SCISA head coach in Brock Miller, Cedric Bennett and Patrick Anderson, who served as the interim head coach for the second half of the 2024 season. Rankin is still looking to add two more coaches to the staff.

 The Swampcats have had 7-on-7 evens against Colleton Prep Academy, Thomas Sumter Academy, Holly Hill Academy and Carolina.

 Laurence Manning will have a 3-team scrimmage with Orangeburg Prep and Beaufort Academy as well as scrimmages with Florence Christian School and Green Sea Floyds High School. It will face Carvers Bay in the FTC Jamboree at Manning High on August 14.

 The Swampcats will open the regular season on August 21 on the road against defending SCISA Class A state champion Williamsburg Academy. They will then play their home opener on August 28 against East Clarendon.

           HODGE, PRICKELMYER, WELCH, NISWONGER ALL-STATE PICKS

           Senior Lyza Prickelmyer, senior Ashley Rae Hodge and senior Caroline Welch of the 3-time defending state champion Laurence Manning softball team were named to the SCISA All-State team, while senior Josh Niswonger was chosen to the All-State baseball team.

 Prickelmyer primarily played first base and had a .581 batting average and an on-base percentage of .610, both team highs for the Lady ‘Cats. She also had 11 doubles, four triples and two home runs, including a 2-run shot in the top of the eighth inning in an 8-7 win over Pinewood Prep that gave LMA a sweep of the best-of-3 AAAA state championship series.

She also had 28 runs batted in and scored 38 runs to go with 13 stolen bases.

Hodge, the shortstop, had a .429 average with an OBP of .458. She had 11 doubles, one triple, one homer, 32 RBI and 26 runs.

Welch was one of Laurence Manning’s pitchers. She had a 6-2 win-loss record in 58 2/3 innings pitched. She had 27 strikeouts to 27 walks while posting an earned run average of 2.88.

At the plate, Welch had a .375 average to go with an OBP of .394. She had eight doubles, two triples, 19 RBI and 18 runs.

Niswonger was the Swampcats’ top baseball pitcher, working 50 innings and posting a 3.36 ERA. He had 69 strikeouts to 41 walks. Niswonger had a .294 batting average, but owned an on-base percentage of over .490. He led the team in home runs with three and runs batted in with 17 to go with 10 runs scored.

           WELLBORN, BEARD PLACE SECOND IN EVENTS IN STATE MEET

           Senior Lily Wellborn finished second in the javelin throw in the girls portion of the SCISA Division I track and field state meet, while sophomore Drew Beard was second in the 1,600-meter run in the boys portion of the event, which was held on May 2 at Ben Lippen School in Columbia.

           Wellborn grabbed the runner-up spot with a throw of 100 feet, 3 inches. Junior Gracie Lyles finished fifth in the event and the 4x100-meter relay team finished eighth for Laurence Manning’s other point. The Swampcats finished with 13 points.

           Beard finished the 1,600 in a time of 4 minutes, 32.01 seconds. Others who scored points for Laurence Manning, which finished with 11, were the 4x100 relay team with a seventh-place finish, and Eli Gamble, who was eighth in the discus.