Muschamp leads second-half surge as Hammond routs Ben Lippen

Hammond got off to a slow start, but the typical look of the fast-paced Skyhawks appeared in the third quarter at Ben Lippen.

Quarterback Jackson Muschamp led Hammond on three straight scoring drives in the third quarter to jump to a 35-7 lead. A late fumble recovery and TD return by Bradley Dunn closed out a 42-7 victory over the Falcons.

“The first half was really sloppy, a lot of penalties,” Hammond coach Erik Kimrey said. “When you come out that sloppy, there’s one of two ways you can come out and respond, You can panic and get frustrated or you can just calm down and do your job.”

The Skyhawks (3-0), responded the latter way after going into halftime with a 14-7 lead.

Muschamp completed a 42-yard pass to Andre Wilson before finding Cleo Canty in the end zone for a touchdown on the first drive of the third quarter.

Muschamp then fired TD strikes of 72 yards to Hal Crosswell and 12 yards to Wilson in the third quarter to put Hammond in command.

“He did nice job,” Kimrey said. “We’ve just got to do a better job as an offense of understanding the rhythm. But he made some great throws and we were able to uncork him a little bit in the running game as well.”

Hammond got started in typical fashion, driving the length of the field on its opening possession and scoring on a 17-yard Jordan Burch touchdown run.

The Skyhawks couldn’t build on that lead in spite of four long possessions in the first half.

Add to that a costly fumble when Hammond was in the red zone early in the second quarter. On third down inside Ben Lippen 13-yard line, Will Taylor picked up a loose ball and was off to the races for an 87-yard fumble return.

Taylor’s score tied the game at 7. Only a late drive from Hammond put the Skyhawks in the lead 14-7 at halftime.

THREE THINGS WE LEARNED

1. Since Corbett Glick and Lucas Prickett have moved on, Hammond football is looking to keep steady. The Skyhawks lost their top passer (Glick) and top receiver (Prickett), and quarterback Jackson Muschamp and running back Jordan Burch are working on providing some punch.

2. Will Taylor has some rockets for the Falcons. Early in the second quarter, the Ben Lippen defender, listed as ATH on the roster, picked up a fumble and easily outran the Skyhawk pursuers, with a cushion of at least 10 yards.

3. The Falcons (1-2) were the last team to beat Hammond, back on Nov. 11, 2016. Ben Lippen won the SCISA 3A state championship a week later with a 27-21 win over Porter-Gaud.

HOW THEY SCORED

1st Quarter

H – Jordan Burch 17 run (Lake Barrett kick) 9:50

2nd Quarter

B – Will Taylor 87 fumble return (Davis Holt kick) 9:51

H – Jackson Muschamp 4 run (Barrett kick) :04

3rd Quarter

H – Cleo Canty 36 pass from Muschamp (Barrett kick) 8:36

H – Hall Crosswell 72 pass from Muschamp (Barrett kick) 4:21

H – Andre Wilson 12 pass from Muschamp (Barrett kick) 3:13

4th Quarter

H – Bradley Dunn 45 fumble return (Barrett kick) 5:28

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing: H: Jordan Burch 7-31, Andre Wilson 2-6, Jackson Muschamp 8-42, Hal Crosswell 9-35. BL: Rico Dorsey 3-9, Rob Gordon 9-36, Jalil Borelli 3-15, Ryan Fleming 5-27, Sam Stockman 4-5.

Passing: H: Jackson Muschamp 12-17-1-247. BL: Rob Gordon 5-14-3-27.

Receiving: H: Jordan Burch 1-18, Andre Wilson 6-88, Hal Crosswell 3-95, Cleo Canty 1-36, Rutherford Fawcett 1-2. BL: Will Taylor 1-15, Benjamin Satcher 2-6, Ryan Fleming 1-5.

This story was originally published August 31, 2018 at 11:23 PM.