Local football teams get final tuneup in FTC Jamboree

On Friday evening, the inaugural FTC Football Jamboree took place at Manning High School. Five area teams played, including Scott's Branch, East Clarendon, Laurence Manning, Lee Central and Manning. These final preseason tune-ups lasted two quarters each and allowed for each team to clean up a few more things in the coming practices before the season begins.

EAGLES FALL TO KINGSTREE

Scott's Branch lost to Kingstree 21-0 in the second scrimmage of the evening.

It wasn't the greatest of performances with a lot of penalties and negative plays, but there were also glimpses of potential shown by the rather inexperienced team.

"The main goal was just to play two quarters," head coach Randall State said. "We wanted to try to get better. We wanted to find the right guys and put them in place where they need to be.

"We've got a boatload of guys that are playing for the first time," State continued. "We had a good summer. We've just got to keep working and keep moving forward. These guys are going to fight. They've just got to know what to do and how to do it."

SWAMPCATS BEST THE WOLVERINES

Laurence Manning beat East Clarendon 7-0.

There weren't a lot of explosive plays. Laurence Manning started a drive with good field position and made the most of it, scoring a passing touchdown. The offensive line play was a point of emphasis from the Swampcats.

"Our offensive line was worlds better tonight than they were last Friday, that was a big focal point in practice," head coach Will Furse said. "I thought that those guys responded really well. The disappointing thing that we didn't improve on was penalties. I think we had four or five. We had nine in our scrimmage last week, so we did cut it in half, but to beat the teams we've got to beat this year, we can't have self-inflicted wounds like that. So that's something we've got to continue to work on."

East Clarendon had one big drive put together that featured a few explosive plays, but were stopped in the red zone. While the Wolverines weren't able to produce any points, head coach Scott Cook was happy with his team's effort, especially considering their youth.

"I thought we played hard,' Cook said." We've got a lot of young kids. We've got a bunch of freshmen, sophomores on the defensive and offensive front. We're just trying to get them used to playing football right now."

MONARCHS OUTLAST THE STALLIONS

Manning beat Lee Central 14-0.

Manning had a long first drive, recovered a fumble and scored another touchdown. The Monarchs also converted the 2-point conversion attempt.

"On a scale of one to 10, I'd say about an eight," head coach Reggie Kennedy said of the Monarchs' performance." One thing I wanted to see was some improvement. Over the last two scrimmages, I see we're getting better as a football team. We haven't peaked yet, but we're getting better and that's the key early."

There were a lot of penalties committed by both teams. The Stallions' head coach Justin Danner embraced the jamboree for what it was. He knows he has a young team and a lot of the penalties were a reflection of inexperience.

"It was a tough night for us," Danner admitted. We knew Manning was an older football team that had a lot of talent up front. It's kind of the polar opposite from us, we've got a little bit of inexperience up front and I think that showed tonight. It's a blessing to have a jamboree because we can coach that on film and say, this is what can't be done."