Laurence Manning off to 5-1 start despite head coach Rankin being hospitalized twice

  Manning – The Laurence Manning Academy football team has practiced and played under some extenuating circumstances this season.

           The Swampcats had their season opener cancelled and another game postponed, but that’s not even the crazy part. First-head coach David Rankin had to undergo surgery on a hip and missed the first two games as he recovered.

He came back to practice and called plays from the press box for two games. Then, as LMA prepared for its game against Cardinal Newman on October 2, Rankin had to go to the emergency room and was again admitted into the hospital. Yet when all was said and done, the Swampcats came away with a 42-7 victory to improve to 4-1 on the season.

        AFter staying in the hospital for a few days, Rankin was back in the press box for LMA's road game against Porter-Gaud. The Swampcats came away with a 10-7 victory in their Region 4-AA opener to improve to 5-1 on the season.

Rankin was pleased with how the Swampcats were playing going into the Cardinal Newman game. It’s hard to imagine his opinion changed after that performance in which a running clock was used in the second half.

“I think we can be in the thick of things at the end of the year,” Rankin said. “You want to play your best ball in November, and we’re getting better every week.”

           The season didn’t start on time for LMA. It was scheduled to open the year on August 21 against Williamsburg Academy. Two bad weather days led to the cancellation of the game.

           While this was going on, Rankin was placed in the hospital with a major medical scare involving sepsis in a hip that would require several surgeries.

           The next game against East Clarendon High School was moved up a day, again because of the threat of inclement weather. Leading up to that, Laurence Manning seldom got to actually practice football because of the brutal heat and humility leading up to the game.

           Rankin watched LMA’s 24-6 win from his hospital bed. He was released and got to see a 44-0 loss to Hammond from his home.

           LMA then had a game against John Paul iI scheduled for September 11 postponed due to inclement weather.

           Rankin made his return to – not the sidelines – the press box for Laurence Manning’s game against archrival Wilson Hall at Billy Chitwood Memorial Field on September 18. Rankin donned a headset and was calling offensive plays in the 45-21 victory.

           He did the same in a 55-23 win over Augusta Christian School before entering the hospital again the day before the Cardinal Newman game.

           That means Brock Miller, another veteran SCISA head coach who was hired by Rankin, is now 2-1 as the interim coach.

In the win over Wilson Hall, quarterback Grainger Powell connected with wide receiver Scoop Dennis for a 39-yard touchdown pass just four minutes into the game. That set the tone for the remainder of the game. Powell completed 11 of 17 passes for 174 yards with Dennis hauling in six of them for 108 yards and the touchdown.

Rankin knows he was fortunate to inherit such a pair.

‘Our quarterback is good,” Rankin said of Powell, who is in his fourth year as a starter. “He can play.

“With Scoop, you’ve got to get the ball in his hands. Jet sweep, running reverses. We’re going to end up hiking it to him in the Wildcat before it’s over. He needs to touch the ball 12-15 times a game. If he doesn’t, I’m not doing my job.”

The Swampcats had a balanced rushing attack led by Jordan Hicks with 63 yards on eight carries. AJ Dennis had 10 carries for 55 yards, Pierson Gamble had 54 yards on 12 carries, and Scoop Dennis had three carries for 27 yards.

“We’ve got three guys running the ball 8-10 times a game, and they’ve all done a good job,” Rankin said.

LMA made it 14-0 on a 1-yard scoring run by AJ Dennis. It pushed the lead to 21-0 on an 8-yard touchdown run by Gamble just before halftime.

   LMA received the second-half kickoff and Scoop Dennis scored on a 21-yard run to make it 28-7. AJ Dennis’ 12-yard run made it 35-7. Hicks scored the other touchdown and Daniel Vargas closed the scoring with a 29-yard field goal.

           Rankin thinks the Swampcats will only get better offensively.

“We’re a little behind still, but we’ve got a little bit more stuff in,” he said. “We’re getting better fundamentally. We’re not a bad football team right now and offensively we’re clicking.

“The line has gotten a lot better. From the first of the year to now, it really has gotten better.”

Junior guard Blandyn Miller and senior tackle Tristen White are the leaders of the offensive front.