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."
Vince
11/12/2022 09:56:17 am
Seneca’s mascot is the Bobcats. Comments are closed.
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