Lauren e Manning beats East Clarendon 24-6 to end crazy start of football season

            Manning – It was quite a start to the season for the Laurence Manning Academy football team, and it had nothing to do with the Swampcats beating East Clarendon High School 24-6 in the season opener on Thursday, August 27, at LMA’s Joey Chitwood Field.

           First, the season didn’t start on time. Laurence Manning 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, Swampcats head coach David Rankin, in his first season at the school, was placed in the hospital with a major medical scare involving sepsis in a hip that would require several surgeries.

           The game against East Clarendon 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.

Yet, when all was said and done, the Swampcats had put together an 18-point victory against a team that opened its season with a 21-14 victory over Scott’s Branch the week before.

           “It was really a weird two weeks of practice,” said interim head coach Brock Miller. “We only had one full practice because of the wet bulb (protocol, which says when it’s safe for a team to be able to be active on the field). We were able to get in just one practice on special teams.

“We had to spend a lot of time in the gyms, and because of the number of teams that we have, there wasn’t a lot of room to do things. We mainly just did drills in shorts, but we went out and played well. I’m very proud of them.”

One thing that worked in the Swampcats’ favor was having a 4-year starter Grainger Powell lining up at quarterback with a standout wide receiver to get the ball to in junior Scoop Dennis. The duo combined for many big plays.

           The first of significance that withstood the penalty flags from the officials came early in the second quarter. Powell connected with Dennis, and he took the ball to the Wolverines 11-yard line. Laurence Manning was unable to get into the end zone, but the strong-legged placekicker Daniel Vargas booted a 28-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead with 9:14 remaining in the second quarter.

           The next time Laurence Manning got the football it put it in the end zone for a touchdown. After starting at the East Clarendon 43, Dennis took a quick touch pass and went 36 yards for the score. Vargas’ extra point made it 10-0 with 5:25 left in the first half.

The normally sure-footed Vargas missed on field goals of 36 and 30 yards, respectively, in the third quarter. The score was still 10-0 going into the fourth quarter when the Swampcats put the game away.

           A 22-yard run by running back Pierson Gamble and then a 34-yard gain on a screen pass following a couple of penalties had Laurence Manning set up at the East Clarendon 30.

           Powell completed passes to wide receiver Rob Briggs, Dennis and tight end Asher Sanders. After an 11-yard pass to Dennis moved the ball to the 8, Powell connected with Sanders for a touchdown to make it 17-0 with 9:14 to go in the game.

The Swampcats’ final touchdown came on their next possession. Gamble took a screen pass and shot pass the East Clarendon defenders for a 50-yard touchdown.

           Miller said Dennis, Gamble, Powell and Sanders all bring different aspects to the offense, but they complement each other very well.

           “We’ve got some talented players,” said Miller, a longtime head coach in SCISA like Rankin. “Scoop has a chance to make a big play every time he touches the ball. Pierson just gives you all he has. He had a lot of carries, and he’s just going full bore all the time.

“Asher is so talented. He would be the top playmaker on just about any other team. Then you have Grainger, who knows how to run the offense, who to get the ball to and when they need to get it. He’s just a great leader.”

           Rankin had a chance to talk to his team before the game from his hospital room at MUSC in Florence. While he may not have been there physically, Miller believes Rankin had a lot to do with how the Swampcats performed in their opener.

           “I told the guys after the game that I believe Coach Rankin’s spirit played a big role in how they played,” said Miller, who was an assistant at Atlantic Collegiate Academy last season. “It’s amazing what Coach Rankin has done with these young men in the short time he has been here. They are all in on what he has been telling them.

“When he got here, he sat down with each of the players and talked about everything but football. He talked about their likes and dislikes and other things going on in their lives. I think that’s where he got them. They found out he was worried about more than just football, even though that is the main job.”

Miller is hoping Rankin will be able to return to work in the next couple of weeks, but in the meantime, the season marches on. Up next for the Swampcats is perennial power Hammond, which for the first time in several years isn’t the defending state champion.

           Miller is paying no attention to that fact. Instead, he still sees the Skyhawks as the measuring stick for SCISA AAAA.

“The way I see it is this is a non-region game for us, but if we’re going to win a state championship we’ll probably have to go through them again,” Miller said. “We get to play them and see how we stack up against them. This will definitely tell us what we need to do to win a state championship.”