Manning – Ten high school football teams had a dress rehearsal in
3rd Annual FTC Football Jamboree on Friday at
Manning High School’s Ramsey Stadium. For some it was a good night, for others… well.
Here is a look back at the five training games of the first half.
CARVERS BAY 0, MANNING 0
Both head coaches were obviously happy with their defense in this showdown. The offense? Not so much.
“I felt like we did really well on defense,” said head coach Manning
Reggie Kennedy. “We didn’t do very well offensively. And that was the opposite of our training game on Monday (with
Orangeburg-Wilkinson,
Lee Central
And
Clear Dot Charter School). We were really good offensively that day, but not so good defensively.”
Carver’s Bay
Head Coach
Matthew Richard
viewed his team’s draw against the Monarchs as a positive.
“A program like Manning, a coach like Reggie Kennedy, you can tie them anytime – a AA team that’s probably going to play for the state championship – we’ll take that anytime,” Richard said.
“We are still in development. We will take it day by day. We still have a lot of improvements to make, but we like a lot of what we have seen.”
Carvers Bay was able to get to the goal line late in the second quarter by fending off Manning on fourth down and at the 5-yard line. The Bears held the Monarchs’ 280-pound running back
Jaylinn Coard
from getting into the end zone.
“I’m proud of my guys for standing up and building a wall and never giving up,” said Richard, whose team ended its season against
Waccamaw.
Richard was particularly pleased with the play of the sophomore defensive end
Hannahwho had three quarterback sacks. “He really made me proud tonight,” Richard said.
Although Kennedy is disappointed with the offensive performance, he believes the Monarchs are headed for a good season.
“I have a good feeling about this team and where we are right now,” said Kennedy, whose team is hosting
Crestwood in the season opener. “I think this is the best team we’ve had at this point in my time with Manning. We just have to focus on getting ready for next week.”
LAURENCE MANNING 24, SCOTT’S BRANCH 6
This training game pitted an experienced head coach against each other, preparing for his first season in six years –
Robbie Briggs from Laurence Manning Academy – against a former player and first-year assistant coach Scott’s Branch Head Coach
Patrick Fleming.
The Swampcats, coached by Briggs for the second time, won 24-6, but both coaches felt positives were achieved.
“Everyone’s healthy, number one,” Briggs said. “Number two, I thought we used pretty much everyone on our team and I was happy with the guys. We’re so young, but we’re going to get it done.”
“We did some good things. I’m thankful to have come out of here with a good performance.”
Second-year quarterback
Grainger Powell
threw two touchdown passes, one to
Zy Dennis and the other to
BJ Balls,.
Peyton Brown ran for the other touchdown. Placekicker
Jason Vargas
also scored a 45-yard field goal, but without rushing.
“He is only a freshman,” said Briggs. “He and
Josh Gainey
do a good job with our kicking game.”
LMA opens its season on Thursday at John Paul II.
Fleming played for and coached with Briggs when Briggs was an assistant and head coach at Manning High. He was defensive coordinator for Kennedy at Manning before taking the reins at Scott’s Branch after the Eagles went 0-10 last season.
“I feel pretty good. It’s a building process,” Fleming said. “We didn’t have four starters on defense. I thought the substitutes came in and played well. We still have a long way to go.”
“We just teach the guys to keep going. A game is four quarters. It’s not defined by one play or one quarter.”
Scott’s Branch scored a late goal after a short run by the quarterback
Jaiven ConyersThe touchdown was scored by a long pass from Conyers to
Quintin Jackson.
8, East Clarendon 0
This competition included a
Lee Central team playing in Class A for the first time after being a AA school for the rest of its history. After being part of the state’s smallest class for all but two years of its long existence,
East Clarendon is back at AA this year.
The Stallions were able to score a point on the board with a touchdown pass from
JuJu Davis To
Damarion Morgan and with a safety in the 8-0 victory.
“I thought the kids played very hard,” said the longtime head coach of the LCHS
Justin Dannerwhose team opens the season at
Timberland. “The children will miss this week because of the weather (Tropical Storm Debby)it was tough for a lot of teams downstate. We’re seeing it right now. Everyone’s trying to work out their issues going into the first week of the season. I thought our guys played pretty tough. We still have a lot of things to get right, but I’m glad we found a way to come out on top at the end.
“I thought the defense played really tough. They found a way to force some (three) turnovers and get the game back on offense. I thought we got off to a really fast start offensively but stumbled in the red zone. Those are areas we want to improve, but those are teachable moments.”
East Clarendon prepares for its second year under head coach
Larry Cornelius after a 5-6 record last season and the first win in a state playoff game in several years. Although Cornelius is clearly not happy with the overall performance, he is taking things in his stride.
“We’re trying to get ready for the season opener,” Cornelius said of the road game against Scott’s Branch. “Our defense did well tonight considering we played against the Wing-T. To only allow one point in a half is pretty good. We need to improve a few things in our secondary. We made mistakes back there that we shouldn’t have made.”
“We have to play loosely on offense. We lost three ball possessions. We did some good things, but we weren’t consistent. Consistency is key on offense. We’ll get it done.”
WILLIAMSBURG 23, HEMINGWAY 0
Williamsburg Academy
has to adjust to the loss of several key players who helped it to a 34-2 record, a state championship and two runner-up finishes in the previous three seasons. It put on a strong performance in a 23-0 victory over
Hemingway.
Ty Tilton ran two touchdowns for the Stallions, while
TJ Bennett he scored the other one.
“It was a good performance, not too many penalties,” said WA head coach
Tyler Boyd. “I thought we played well. I was just hoping to do better than last week (in a practice game against Orangeburg Prep and
Colleton Preparation), and we have achieved that. We are in a little better shape than last Friday,”
The stallions open their season in
Thomas Sumter Academy.
Hemingway has struggled in recent years and is in his first season under head coach
Mike Donald. Considering that his 20-man squad was facing another program for the first time, Donald didn’t have much to complain about.
“We knew we were going to have some ups and downs, but we also saw some good things,” said Donald, the defensive coordinator at
Marion
last season. “We are not far from where I expected us to be now.
Defensively, we have to be able to tackle and finish our tackles while we’re there. Our goal is to be a lot more competitive and actually win some games. We have to start putting Hemingway (once a Class A power in a smaller state) back on the map.”
Donald was pleased with the wide receiver’s play
Jhaumauri Greene and run back
Romance Hanna.
Hemingway opens his season in
Mullins.
FAIRFIELD CENTRAL 26, ORANGEBURG-WILKINSON 0
While
Fairfield Central
scored the most points of any team with his 26-0 victory over
Orangebrug-WilkinsonHead coach of the Griffins
Demetrius Davis was really pleased with the defense’s performance.
“I felt like we played pretty well defensively,” he said. “We think defense is going to be our strength. The guys were flying around. They only had 20 total yards on offense, so that was a pretty good performance.”
Coach Davis was also quite satisfied with the offense. Fairfield switched
Ford Davis
and Kaden Diggs as quarterback. He said they will share time behind the center after the transfer of the 2-year starter
Cameron McMillon.
Tydarion Grier scored two goals for the Griffins, while
Jaden Boyd And
Jalen Mozie had a touchdown each.
“On offense, we were able to get the ball to the perimeter,” coach Davis said. “We’re not very big, so we try to take advantage of our speed.”
Fairfield Central hosts
View of the mountain ridge on Friday to open the season.
OW head coach
Chris Carter
was not satisfied with his team’s performance, as a long discussion after the training game before boarding the bus proves.
“I know our guys are much better,” Carter said. “I take my hat off to Fairfield Central. They did a great job. I think we’re better than that and we’re going to get better.”
“We need to work on our secondary, we need to get better at tackling. We need to get better at attacking, attacking the line of scrimmage and just building plays.”
Carter said he was pleased with the freshman quarterback’s play
Brenden Peopleswho took the lead late in the game, along with
Chris Darby,
James Ross
And
David Blanchard.
OW opens its season at home against
Anderson Cavaliers.
