The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1422416
B-4 Wednesday, October 27, 2021 The Press-Dispatch SECTIONAL Continued from page 1 touchdown of the game, fol- lowed by a good kick for the extra point, making the score 7-6. Brown County contin- ued this with two more touch- downs and good kicks, putting the score at 21-6, Eagles' lead, with 2:47 on the scoreboard. During that last touchdown, before the kick, junior Braden Howald got injured and was bleeding on the field. Howald left the field, bleeding from the head, but that did not stop him. He got bandaged up, put his helmet back on and hit the field to help his team, show- ing the real warrior spirit of the Chargers' team. At the beginning of the second quarter, the Eagles scored another touchdown off of a 27-yard pass, but were de- nied the extra points by junior Isaac Marchino, who jumped up and blocked the kick as it whizzed through the air. The Eagles followed this up with another touchdown off of a 15 -yard pass and a good kick. With 6:01 on the scoreboard and the score 34-6, the Char- gers suffered a forced fumble that was taken over by Brown County, who in turn took it and scored a touchdown off of an 8 -yard run in. Howev- er, they were denied the ex- tra points for the second time by a blocked kick, this time by Howald, with 5:20 on the scoreboard. The Chargers kept fighting, but the Eagles took another touchdown with 15 seconds left in the second quarter, followed by a good kick for the extra point, leav- ing the score at 47-6 as half- time began. The Chargers hit the field in the third quarter more deter- mined than ever, and held the Brown County Eagles score- less for the entire quarter. When the fourth quarter be- gan, you could see the fight and drive in the Chargers. Unfortunately, they were now fighting a running clock. At 5:57 on the clock, junior Jagar Dent picked up a fumble by the Eagles and ran it in for a 32-yard touchdown. Senior Sammy Coleman followed this up with a good kick for the ex- tra points, making the score 47-13. With the game coming to an end with seconds left on the scoreboard, Charger freshman quarterback Mat- thew Meadows threw a pass to Howald, who ran the ball in for the touchdown, mak- ing the score 47-20, with the Eagles held in place through the second half of the game. The Chargers may have lost, but the fight and determina- tion they showed throughout the game shows promise for next season. Head Coach Kelly Brashear said, "This football game didn't go like we anticipated it would. I thought Brown Coun- ty was a lot better tonight than we saw on film. We felt like we matched up really good with them up front. Football games are won and lost up front, and that was part of the case to- night. We had a hard time with their blitzes defensively, pick- ing them up from the offen- sive line. We had a hard time up front getting off blocks de- fensively. You know whoever wins the line of scrimmage is usually the team that wins the football game, and that was the case tonight." "But with that being said, I want to take my responsibili- ty for some really bad offen- sive calls tonight. I've been coaching for 21 years now and 12 years as a head coach, and this was probably my worst of- fensive play calling game that I've had in my career. A couple of calls that I made that were mistakes, really turned the momentum, and anybody that knows football that was watch- ing the game tonight knows what I'm talking about. That really turned the momentum to Brown County and kind of put us behind a ball and kind of snowballed from there. We come out and score six noth- ing, then we're down seven to six, and I made a couple criti- cal errors. The next thing you know they're up 35. So yeah, it kind of snowballed from there." Coach Brashear wrapped up the Chargers' football season saying, "I mean no one likes winning more than I do, win- ning one game was not what we envisioned, but the one game that we did win against Washington was a great win. We were competitive with teams in the second half, es- pecially, but I told the kids to- night to watch sometime this weekend, watch the first game of the season, and then watch these last two, you're going to see a big difference. You're go- ing to see a lot of growth, a lot of maturity. Part of that was learning our system, what we want and learning the game of football, and I thought we came a long way." "Next year is going to be even better because we're go- ing to have a full offseason with these kids to get in the weight room, and get stron- ger and bigger and faster. At the same time, we want all of our kids, if you're a basket- ball player, go play basketball. That makes you a better foot- ball player. If you're a wres- tler, go wrestle; if you swim, whatever it is they need to go do. Because they're not going to get these times back, and they're going to realize, when they're older and have to get out into the world and work ev- ery day, that these were the greatest years of their lives." INDIVIDUAL STATS Passing: Jagar Dent 1-1 for a total of -1 yards and Matthew Meadows 8 -13 for a total of 100 yards. Rushing: Jagar Dent had 11 carries for 22 yards, Ju- lian Gish had three carries for 32 yards, Braden Howald had seven carries for seven yards, Wyatt Frasure had six carries for 12 yards and Mat- thew Meadows had three car- ries for -9 yards. Receiving: Julian Gish had four for 50 yards with one touchdown, Braden Howald was four for 42 yards with one touchdown and Conner Love- less had one for seven yards. Above: Sammy Coleman, Charger senior, kicks off the ball for the Chargers to the Eagles during the Charger football sectional game against Brown Coun- ty on Friday, October 22 at Pike Central. Right: Charger sophomore Julian Gish and senior Wyatt Frasure attempt to stop the Eagles ball carri- er from crossing into the endzone during the Char- ger football sectional game on Friday, October 22 at Pike Central. Chargers came together with their spirits still up, after losing the sectional game to the Eagles Saturday, October 22, and broke it down, shouting "family" at the end, with their helmets in the air. Above: Charger senior Sammy Coleman takes down the Eagles ball carrier during the Charger football sectional game on Friday, October 22 at Pike Central. Right: Jagar Dent, Charger junior, serves off a punt on a Pike Central fourth down during the Charger football sectional game on Friday, October 22 at Pike Central. Charger junior Jagar Dent rushes to stop the Ea- gles' ball carrier from gaining anymore yards, as ju- nior Gorey Goeppner stops an Eagles' player from as- sisting the ball carrier during the Charger football sectional game against Brown County on Friday, Oc- tober 22 at Pike Central. Charger senior Wyatt Frasure dives to tackle the Eagles' ball carrier, as junior Braden Howald stands ready to take him the rest of the way to the ground during the Charger football sectional game against Brown County on Friday, October 22 at Pike Central.