WOODRUFF, S.C. – Friday evening marked the start of the "second season" as the Chapman Panthers opened Region III-3A play with a road game against the Woodruff Wolverines.
On this night, it was DJ Black and the high-powered Chapman offense who commanded the spotlight, as the Panthers picked up a 54-35 victory over Woodruff. After falling behind 7-0 early, the Panthers quickly flew down the field as Drew Settle threw a frozen rope to Shawn Cunningham for a 32 yard reception and on the next play, found DJ Black for a 14 yard touchdown, tying the game at seven. On the next series, Chapman faced a fourth down at the Woodruff 28. Settle went up top to Black, who caught the pass at the seven yard line, eluded a trio of defenders, and tiptoed along the sideline to pay dirt, putting Chapman ahead 14-7. “Find DJ and get him the ball,” Chapman head coach Harry Cabaniss said with a grin. “It’s never a bad idea. Drew just kept finding him. Give it up to Coach (Jonathan) Rollins, Coach (Jonathan) Dailey, and our offensive staff who found some different ways to get him the ball. DJ is a great kid, too. Throughout the week, he’s a leader for us and it carries over on Friday nights.” Later in the second quarter, Chapman’s Josh Wellmon pounced on a Woodruff fumble at the Wolverines’ 32. Settle found Walt Waddell on a 31 yard pass, followed by a one yard Derrick Miller touchdown run - his first score of the season - which created a 21-7 Panther advantage. Chapman continued the flurry with a 50 yard touchdown pass from Settle to Black, a safety on a failed Woodruff punt, and an eight yard touchdown run by Black, which was set up by a Devin Roe interception return. To close out the first half, the Panther defense forced a turnover on downs deep in their own territory with less than 20 seconds left. That added up to a 37-14 Chapman lead at intermission. Woodruff pulled within two scores of Chapman, 47-35, with 6:14 to play, but the Panthers put the game away with a 13 yard Settle to Black touchdown pass with just under four minutes remaining. “That's a really good team over there,” Cabaniss stated. “We're excited that we came over here and got this win. It’s always good to come to Woodruff and get a win. The hardest step is the first step and we took that tonight.” It was a record-breaking night for Black, as he reeled in 12 passes for 270 yards to go with his five touchdown receptions and one rushing touchdown. His five scores through the air came on passes of 14, 28, 50, 51, and 13 yards, respectively. Black’s 270 yards broke the individual single-game receiving yards record that had been previously held by Deebo Samuel, who racked up 266 yards in a 49-48 win over Woodruff on October 12th, 2012. Samuel is now in his third season with the San Francisco 49ers. Black now owns three of the top-five single game receiving yard performances in program history. He tallied 259 yards in a road win over Broome on October 24th, 2020. He also compiled 253 yards earlier this year against Brookland-Cayce. The senior receiver notched a share of the individual single game receiving touchdown record (5), set by Richard Tucker in a 77-61 first round victory over Camden on November 18th, 2016. The Panthers finished the game with 601 total yards of offense as quarterback Drew Settle finished the game going 22 of 31 for 398 yards with five touchdowns through the air while running back Derrick Miller led the way on the ground with 167 yards on twenty-six carries with a touchdown. Chapman (3-2, 1-0 Region 3-3A) now turns their attention to a home region game next week against the Emerald Vikings. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 PM. -Justin Mathis (With special thanks to Britt Wilkerson for information used in story) Comments are closed.
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