The Cardinals had a tough start this season, but Landrum is hitting its stride. The Cardinals have won three consecutive games, and the wins couldn’t have come at a better time. All three games so far have been over Region I-2A opponents.
It was homecoming on Friday, Sept. 28, and a player whose new home is Landrum was all over the field in a 29-19 victory over Powdersville.
Chris Schulman, a transfer from Tampa, Fla., was all over the place on both sides of the ball. The senior had 40 yards receiving, including a 16-yard touchdown reception. Defensively, Schulman had two interceptions.
“It’s just practice,” Schulman said. “It’s doing what I’m taught to do and just making plays.”
The Cardinals made enough plays on Friday night in the ugly win over the winless Patriots. In the first quarter, quarterback T.J. Fincher dove in from four yards out for the Cardinals’ first score. That score was set up by a Schulman interception.
In the second quarter, Fincher tossed a touch pass towards Schulman in the front corner of the endzone for the second score of the game. With 51.3 seconds left in the first half, Fincher dropped back and threw a bullet down the right side to Peyton McCarter. The ball hit a Patriot defender and then fell into McCarter’s hands to give the Cardinals a 21-7 lead going into the half.
At the start of the second half, two key plays happened to determine the outcome of the game. First, the ball skipped into the back of the endzone on a Patriot bad snap to give the Cardinals two points on a safety. Then on the Cardinals’ next drive, the Patriots recovered a fumble and raced towards the endzone. Schulman ran the defender down and made a touchdown-saving tackle on the one-yard-line. The Cardinal defense forced the Patriots to attempt a field goal that missed wide left.
Two possessions later, Fincher punched in another touchdown from two yards out.
The game might have been closer than expected, but with Chesnee looming next week, the Cardinals remain undefeated in region play.
“They kept coming after it,” Landrum coach Russell Mahaffey said. “We had trouble establishing the run. We’re going to have to work hard on that next week. We’re just going to have to get after it next week.”