The Hammond Varsity Football squad earned the school's seventh ever SCISA State Football Championship this past Friday, beating Augusta Christian 28-17 under the lights at SC State University's Football Stadium in Orangeburg.

Fans were kept in suspense during a scoreless first quarter but things began to 'heat-up' in the second quarter after a 15 yard touchdown pass from Punky DaSilva to Mac Felmly, followed by an extra point by Joseph Zemp.

The Skyhawks were down by 3 at the start of the fourth but were able to hold the Augusta Christian offense to zero points for the quarter and Jarry Kuilan ran it in for each of the squad's fourth quarter touchdowns.

"Our kids worked extremely hard all year long," said Hammond coach Erik Kimrey, whose squad finished 13-0.  "I'm very proud of them and extremely excited for them."

The 2006 state football championship marks the seventh in school history.  The '72 and '77 teams won championships in the old SCISAA and both teams were undefeated.  The '88, '91 and '92 teams won state titles in the old Palmetto Athletic Conference, in which the '91 team finished undefeated.  The 2006 team makes its own significant note on the school's history by finishing undefeated (13-0), ranked #1 throughout the entire season and winning the state title in the modern SCISA. 

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