Lee Academy's Tomlinson powers Cavaliers' trip back to state championship

Lee Academy's Eli Tomlinson knows a thing or two about winning in the playoffs.

The Cavalier offensive and defensive lineman has played in the last two SCISA 1A state championship games. On Saturday, he'll extend that streak to three. Tomlinson's performance in the trenches last Saturday is one of the biggest reasons.

Offensively, Tomlinson and the Lee offensive line opened the door for various runners to carry the ball for nearly 400 yards. Defensively, he racked up 10 tackles as Lee shut out the other Cavaliers from St. John's Christian 28-0 in the state semifinals.

Along with a trip back to Charleston Southern for the 1A title game, Tomlinson's performance was enough to win Hines Furniture Athlete of the Week honors.

"I've always felt like our school is so small that everybody supports everybody," Tomlinson said of support from the Cavalier community. "They all get behind somebody when they're up for something no matter who it is."

Tomlinson and the Cavs knew they would have a battle on their hands last Saturday night. Lee survived a second-half comeback against St. John's in their first matchup for a 49-36 victory and have plenty of playoff history against the opposing Cavaliers. Lee knocked St. John's out of the playoffs in the SCISA 1A semifinals in each of the last two seasons before running that number to three on Saturday.

"We knew all week that we were going to get their best shot," Tomlinson said. "When you knock someone out two years in a row, they're going to come with that fire. We game planned for what we've seen out of them all year and executed really well."

Defensively, Lee shut down a St. John's offense that scored 36 points in one half in their previous matchup. That starts with Tomlinson and his fellow defensive linemen gumming up any rushing lanes.

"We run three defensive linemen, and all three were coming off the ball hard and just shutting them down at the line of scrimmage," Tomlinson said. "Us shutting down the run game sent them to the passing game, which our defensive backs shut down very well.

"It felt really good to show that our defense was playing and executing better. It showed that when we play together as a team, we can do really well."

While Tomlinson was closing rushing lanes on the defensive side of the ball, he was opening them on offense. Turnovers kept Lee from putting more points on the board, but running backs Hampton Gaskins, Deshon Hadden and Bryson Muldrow, along with quarterback Jesse Bowers, had more than enough room to run as Lee nearly eclipsed 400 yards.

"They stacked the box on us all night long, just like we thought they would. We just came off the ball hard, all five linemen plus our tight ends, just pushing them off the ball as hard as we could," Tomlinson said. "We only completed one pass for 10 yards, so that shows how dominant our rushing attack can be when we get going. It really set the tone for the whole night."

Tomlinson has been consistent all season long. Head coach David Rankin has cherished that reliability in the trenches.

"He's a special player," Rankin said of Tomlinson. "He's been starting for four years and just knows what he's doing on the offensive line and can tell everyone else what to do. He's our glue that holds us together. We've got to have him."

Now Tomlinson and the Cavs prepare to face Thomas Heyward for the SCISA 1A title for the third straight season on Saturday. He's hoping this trip ends with hardware.

"We plan on doing what we do every week, starting the game with the run and hopefully getting that going and building off that," the senior said. "Hopefully we have a defensive performance like we did last week, and we can keep things rolling. I think we have a shot; we just need to execute like I know we can."