Friday Rewind: Hammond handles Cardinal Newman challenge. White Knoll downs Dutch Fork

Hammond isn’t ready to give up its grip on SCISA football.

The Skyhawks used a physical brand of football and strong running game to defeat Cardinal Newman, 35-20, on Friday at Edens Stadium.

The win extends Hammond’s winning streak over Cardinal Newman to 23 straight games.

But for the first time in a while the Cards (6-1) came in with their best shot to knock off the Skyhawks, who have won six straight S.C. Independent School Association state titles.

“I’m proud of our guys for staying even keel,” Hammond coach Jon Wheeler said. “We knew they would come at us. They are a heck of a football team with great coaches.”

Running backs Manny Johnson and Kinson Holland were a 1-2 punch on the ground for Hammond. Johnson rushed for 150 yards and three touchdowns and Holland added 118. The two combined for four touchdowns.

Will McQueen was the star of Hammond’s defense with five sacks in helping the Skyhawks to hold the Cardinals to a season-low in points.

“We heard their names all season, so we were preparing for this game,” McQueen said. “We had some tough matchups early in the season so we came out ready to play. They are a great team but I couldn’t be more proud of this team.”

Hammond set the tone early with a 14-play, 76-yard drive that lasted more than eight minutes and was capped off by quarterback Robert Malanuk’s 1-yard run.

The Skyhawks added to the lead on Johnson’s run to make it 14-0.

But Cardinal Newman fought back as QB Duncan Skehan hit Amarri King on a 15-yard pass to cut the lead to 14-7 with 46 seconds left in the first half.

The Cardinals tied it at 14-14 on their first drive of the second half on Skehan’s 18-yard run.

But Hammond answered with touchdowns on its next two possessions — runs by Johnson and Vinson Holland — to go up 28-14 with 2:23 left in the third.

Hammond looked to put it away but fumbled on its next possession. Skehan then hit Tyler Wilson on a 48-yard touchdown to cut it to 28-20 with 1:23 left in the third quarter.

But Johnson broke loose on a 39-yard run early in the fourth to make it 35-20.

Cardinal Newman got inside the Hammond 20 later in the quarter and turned it over on downs.

White Knoll makes statement

White Knoll (7-0, 2-0) is proving that it’s a legit championship contender in Class 5A. On Friday, the Timberwolves did something not many teams have done in the last decade — hand Dutch Fork a region loss.

Landon Sharpe threw two touchdown passes as White Knoll defeated Dutch Fork, 17-14. It was the Timberwolves’ first win over Dutch Fork (2-5, 0-1) since 2009 and the Silver Foxes’ first region loss since 2015 (when they lost to Ridge View).

White Knoll held Dutch Fork to 38 yards of offense in the first half and led 10-0.

But Dutch Fork’s Marcus Anderson returned the opening kickoff of the second half to cut the lead to 10-7. The Silver Foxes took the lead on Jon Hunt’s 8-yard pass to Ron DiPietro to make it 14-10 late in the third quarter.

Sharpe put the Wolves up 17-14 on a 25-yard pass to freshman Tiyon Fanning. White Knoll’s defense came up with a pair of turnovers in the fourth quarter to seal the win.

Irmo, Gilbert stay perfect

Irmo and Gilbert stayed perfect on the season with a pair of region wins.

▪ Irmo scored 31 points in the first half to defeat Ridge View, 38-6. Quarterback AJ Brand threw three touchdown passes and ran for one. The Yellow Jackets’ defense was strong, not allowing a touchdown until late in the fourth quarter.

▪ Gilbert moved to 7-0 with a 60-0 win over Swansea. Quarterback Drake Braddock threw for 237 yards and three touchdowns and Trevon Williamson rushed for 101 yards and three scores.

Richland Northeast wins wild one

Richland Northeast set a school-record for points in defeating A.C. Flora, 73-58, in a Region 5-4A contest.

The 73 points broke the record of 55 set in 2016 in a win over Swansea.

Around the Midlands

Lexington 35, River Bluff 21: The Wildcats rallied from an early 14-0 deficit to defeat their rivals. Christian Sexton rushed for a pair of touchdowns as the Wildcats rushed for more than 300 yards and got touchdowns from four different players in the win.

Camden 41, Darlington 6: Grayson White threw four touchdown passes, three to Ja Mayrant as Brian Rimpf won his 100th game as a coach. It also was the Bulldogs’ 20th straight region win.

Strom Thurmond 48, Saluda 3: Quan Edmond threw six touchdown passes, three to Tennessee commit Braylon Staley, in the region win.

Ben Lippen 22, Trinity Collegiate 18: Taevion Copney rushed for two scores and Jayvon Gilmore had a TD pass to Buzz Buxton in the Falcons’ come-from behind win.

CA Johnson 52, Great Falls 6: Caleb Pearson five total touchdowns and an interception for the Green Hornets.

Lugoff-Elgin 14, Westwood 6: Aiden Fitzgerald had a TD pass and Ryikeez Brown rushed for a score in the Demons’ first region win.

Clearwater Academy (Fla.) 34, Gray Collegiate 27: Zion Job and Jamarious Lockett each had TD catches in the loss for the War Eagles. Caleb Ford also had a TD run.

Pelion 21, Fox Creek 3: Luke New threw a pair of touchdown passes and Michael Cottrell had a TD run in the win for the Panthers.

Brookland-Cayce 42, Lower Richland 19: The Bearcats shook off a slow start in defeating the Diamond Hornets.

Nation Ford 34, Blythewood 28: Kaleb White scored on an 18-yard run with 42 seconds left to help the Falcons (3-4, 1-1) to a region win over the Bengals (3-4, 1-1) on Thursday. Blythewood had a chance to tie and appeared to do so as Harrison Collins hit Trent Lewis on a TD pass on the final play of the game. But the Bengals were called for an ineligible receiver down field. Blythewood got one more play but Collins’ pass was incomplete. Collins finished with two TD passes to Kaleb Kelly and also ran for two scores. Nation Ford quarterback Kaden Burnett had three TD passes to Josh Ameo.