CLINTON, S.C. – It was a high stakes affair in the third round of the 3A football playoffs as the Chapman Panthers made the 50-minute trek down Interstate 26 to face off against the Clinton Red Devils in a rematch from earlier this season.
When the final horn sounded, the Panthers dropped a tough one to the Red Devils (13-0) by a 49-27 tally at Wilder Stadium. The Panther's defense hit the field first and forced a Red Devil turnover on downs at the Chapman 38-yard line before the offense took advantage of the opportunity with a fourth down pass from Coleman Gray to Shawn Cunningham for a 25-yard touchdown, staking the Panthers to an early 7-0 lead. Clinton tied the game at seven just a few seconds into the second quarter on a seven yard run by Mr. Football nominee Bryson James. Just over a minute later, Gray fired a 60 yard touchdown pass to Devin Roe for a 14-7 Panther lead with 10:18 remaining until halftime. But then, the Clinton offense began to find a groove. After a long pass completion deep into Panther territory, James found the end zone from 10 yards out, making it a 14-13 score midway through the frame. Clinton forced consecutive punts by Chapman and scored twice more on a 25-yard James run and a 76-yard Jayden Robinson run for a 26-14 lead at the break. The Clinton defense forced a Chapman turnover near midfield to open the second half & converted it into a 13-yard Jishun Copeland touchdown run, which made it a 32-14 advantage for the Red Devils at that juncture of the contest. Despite the deficit in the final stanza, the Panthers continued to battle. Chapman wide receiver Shawn Cunningham took a reverse 62 yards down the sideline for a score & later reeled in a 24-yard pass in the back of the end zone, which provided the final margin. Cunningham finished the contest with a team-high 70 yards rushing, along with seven receptions for 80 yards and two touchdown catches, while Roe had four catches for a team-high 119 yards and a touchdown. Gray completed 12 of 17 pass attempts for 218 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. As a team, Chapman compiled 330 yards of total offense. Chapman concludes the 2022 season with an 8-5 overall record, having won their sixth straight region championship on the gridiron & notching a season-high seven game win streak in the process. With the season’s end, the Panthers will see 13 seniors graduate from the program. Panthers Boys BasketballThe Chapman boys' basketball team is expecting some big things this year coming off a third-place finish in region last year, but it may be a little bit until the team is at full strength. While the community is very happy with the success of the Panther's football team, the boys' basketball team understands their success delays their team being at full strength. While they're waiting to be at full strength Chapman head boys' basketball coach Greg Wilson says he believes the senior leadership will help bring this team together quickly. "I expect strong leadership from seniors Dalton Mahaffey, Daniel Johnson, and Ryan Hunter," said Wilson. "We're planning on being an up-tempo team but a majority of our guys are still playing football so it may be mid-December before our full team is in place." Chapman will look to improve on a third-place finish in the region last year after a 12-12 overall record that saw them fall to Berea in the first round of the 3A playoffs. They will be joining a new region, Region III-3A, that will see them compete against Blue Ridge, Broome, Carolina, and Traveler's Rest. The Panthers will have three starters returning as Johnson and Mahaffey will be joined by junior Mathai Scott in the starting rotation for Chapman this year. Chapman will also look to get key contributions from newcomers Shawn Cunningham and Colt McAllister this season on the basketball court. Chapman will kick off their season at the Centurion Tip-Off from November 21st-22nd just prior to the Thanksgiving break. They will host their first home game of the season on December 6th when Blacksburg travels to Inman. Panthers Girls BasketballThe Chapman girls' basketball team is a young team with a lot of experience together and will look to improve this year as they continue to build on a tradition of excellence. Last season the Lady Panthers finished with a 12-14 overall record for a fourth-place finish in region before a first-round playoff loss to a strong Southside team. The Lady Panthers will look to improve on that as they strive to contend for a region championship in their new region. "The Lady Panthers are young but experienced, hardworking, and determined athletes who are striving to be a part of tradition," said Chapman girls' basketball head coach Leslie Boyd. "The tradition of excellence is what the team will continue in the program this year. We have returners who are eager to lead their teammates and the team in the right direction." The new region for the Panthers this season will consist of Blue Ridge, Broome, Carolina. and Traveler's Rest. They will be led by three returning starters in All-Region players senior Clara Gramling and sophomore Krislyn Wilder along with fellow senior Caroline Garner. They'll also look to get help from fellow returner, freshman Kara Twitty, who is in her second season on the team. Chapman will also look to get key contributions from newcomers in junior Adeline West and sophomore Rylan Ivey. "We have new additions who will contribute to our team in various ways," said Boyd. Boyd says that her team is excited heading into the new year and looking forward to building on the success they've already had in previous years. "Our coaching staff and athletes are excited about what is in store for our program," said Boyd. "We look forward to continuing to chase our goals and build on our sisterhood as we compete at a high-level." The Lady Panthers will kick off their season in the Lady Vikings tournament from November 21-22 to be held at both Spartanburg and Broome High Schools before hosting their first game of the year at home against Blacksburg on December 6th. Panthers WrestlingThe 2022-2023 version of the Chapman wrestling team will see some new faces along with the return of some key pieces from last year's team.
One major change Panthers fans will see this year is the change in leadership as Andrew Wagner takes over as the head coach of the wrestling team. He says that his goal this year is rebuilding the program while boosting their numbers and changing the culture. Last year the Panthers had three Upper State qualifiers in Hunter Kendall, Sylas Woodard, and Saber Woodard, as Saber Woodard won the state championship who graduated. The Panthers will see both sophomores Hunter Kendall (113) and Sylas Woodard (120) return to lead the team a young team this year as Woodard, an All-Region wrestler who qualified for the state tournament as a freshman last year. "Sylas is a wrestler to watch this year," said Chapman head coach Andrew Wagner. "He has been working hard all offseason and has been a great leader for us heading into the season. We're going to be a young team with a lot of freshmen and sophomores, but we have a lot of potential." Chapman will also look to get key contributions this year from freshmen Ray Crocker and Dawson Powell. The Panthers will kick off their new season in a quad match at Boiling Springs against Boiling Springs, Rock Hill, and Clover with the match set to begin at 5:00 PM. INMAN, SC - On a wet sloppy field, it was a strong rushing attack led by Chapman junior Mathai Scott that led the Panthers to a 57-29 victory over Seneca on Friday night to advance to the third round of the 3A playoffs.
"We talk about it that when it gets cold in the air you have to be able to run the football and stop the run," said Chapman head coach Harry Cabaniss. "Our guys have done that, and it started about seven weeks ago. Each week we have a new guy step up on both sides of the ball and that makes a tough team to stop." The Panthers rushed for 438 total yards on Friday night led by Scott with 256 yards on 20 carries and three touchdowns. "Mathai is a junior and he's a captain which tells you what kind of guy that he is," said Cabaniss. "Our kids think so much of him and is such an example of what you want a football player at Chapman High School to look like. For him and Alvin to step up like they did tonight it was just huge and a credit to the great work being done by Coach Settle and his group." Scott was quick to deflect his impressive performance away from himself and shine it on his offensive line. "Everyone doubted our offensive line early on, but they put in the work, and they have allowed Keanu Na, Alvin Lewis, and myself to do what we do," said Scott. "Those guys up front gives us the push and we just make it work." Chapman started the scoring on their first drive when they went seventy yards over five minutes before taking a 8-0 lead on an 11-yard touchdown run over the right side by senior Alvin Lewis, before Kole Brown added a two-point conversion run. Seneca cut the Panthers lead to 8-7 when the Wildcats quarterback Jaxon Burnette found wide receiver Zavean Poole on a 13-yard touchdown pass. With the Panthers leading 8-7 at the end of the first quarter, Chapman had a huge outburst in the second quarter as they outscored Seneca 35-10 in the quarter to take a 43-17 halftime lead. The second quarter run saw Chapman score on five straight drives with Mathai Scott scoring on touchdown runs of 50-yards and 10-yards followed up by a 65-yard touchdown run from Lewis. Shawn Cunningham added a 93-yard kickoff return before junior quarterback Coleman Gray found Scott for a 17-yard touchdown pass with forty-four seconds left in the half. Seneca was able to narrow the Chapman lead to fourteen points to start the second half after turnovers by the Panthers lead to touchdown runs of three yards and one yard by Wildcats running back Cade Eavenson, who finished the night with 155 yards on 30 carries and two touchdowns. Chapman stopped the Wildcats rally as they went on a four-minute drive that was capped by a King five-yard run up the middle to push their lead to 50-29 over Seneca. He added another score with just over three minutes to go in the fourth quarter on a 14-yard touchdown run over the right side for a 57-29 lead. The Panthers also had a strong night defensively as they held Seneca to 307 total yards on Friday night while forcing three turnovers with interceptions by Kaden Thompson and Dawson Walters along with a fumble recovery by Dalton Mahaffey. "There's a chip on our defense's shoulder and Coach Watson coaches them up each week," said Cabaniss. "We're tough on them all week and prepare them which allows them to come out and perform like they did tonight. The last four weeks on defense in practice have been intense but we know we'll play like this if we continue to do that." Chapman will now prepare to travel to Clinton for their third-round playoff matchup, who defeated BHP 28-13 on Friday night, and Cabaniss says this is a game his team has been looking forward to since their last matchup against the Red Devils. "This is the game we wanted back really bad," said Cabaniss. "It's the game that set the rest of this off for us. We've played them once already and now we get a chance to ride down there which you love getting to do during the playoffs. We're a different team than we were the last time we played them." |
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