R.E. Lee surrenders to Hammond
Story and photos by Mike Maddock mike@thecolumbiastar.com

Hammond's Cliff Ayers throws for one of his two touchdown passes.He was 5- for- 9 for 193 yards.

The Hammond Skyhawks rolled over an undermanned Robert E. Lee Cavalier squad 48- 6 at Hammond September 21, and it wasn't as close as the score indicated.
Robert E. Lee 6
Hammond 48

The Skyhawks took all of 27 seconds to score their first touchdown. Quarterback Cliff Ayers connected with A.D. Briggs for a 45- yard pass to the Cavlier six- yard line and Brad Meredith ran in nearly untouched to finish the two- play drive.

The next drive was eerily similar in that Ayers connected with Briggs again this time for 60 yards to theCavalier 24 yard line. Meredith then scampered in again nearly untouched for the touchdown.

By the end of the first quarter, Ayers added a 22- yard touchdown pass to Aaron Walters and 41- yard touchdown pass to Kyle George to put the Skyhawks up 27- 0. The Skyhawks racked up 32 yards rushing and 149 yards passing. Hammond's only mistake was a missed point after attempt.

By contrast, the Cavaliers managed just 16 net yards of offense, punted three times and turned the ball over on downs once.

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The second quarter started in much the same way with a Cavalier punt and a Hammond 73- yard drive finished with a Meredith three- yard touchdown run.

After Brooks Owens' two- yard touchdown run put the Skyhawks up 41- 0 with 1:20 remaining in the first half, the Hammond cheerleaders had to abandon their traditional push- ups for jump'in jacks just to save their arms.

With back- up quarterback Gus Inabinet in the game, the Skyhawks finally punted for the first time with 4:40 remaining in the third quarter, but the Cavaliers were flagged for an illegal formation giving Hammond the ball back at the Lee 43- yard line. Five plays later, Gavin Fawcett scored on a two- yard run to make the score 48- 0.

The Cavaliers mounted an 80- yard drive to finish the game with a Steven Lainey five- yard touchdown run, but the Cavaliers fumbled the two- point conversion attempt.

For Hammond, Meredith finished with 113 yards rushing and three touchdowns. Ayers was five- for- nine for 193 yards and two touchdowns. Briggs had two receptions for 104 yards. Linebacker Stone Pinckney had 11 tackles in two quarters of action.

The Skyhawks jump into region play next and travel to Cardinal Newman for a battle with the Cardinals September 28.