The Marlow Outlaws stampeded Charger Stadium in the hopes of a good 'ol fashioned wild west shootout with the Chargers, but the home team was locked and loaded and ousted the invaders with a barrage of scoring in the first half.

Sophomore quarterback Jackson Jobe came out guns a' blazing as he hit Conner Carey, Preston Nelson, Will Dunn, and then Billy Ross on consecutive pass plays to put the Hall up 7-0. Ross did most of the work on the drive-capping touchdown reception, hauling in a screen pass on the far sideline, juking a couple of would-be tacklers before cutting across the field and evading a shoestring tackle, stiff-arming a linebacker, and slicing past the nearside pylon for a long 38 yard score.

On Marlow's first drive, Nelson teamed up with Phillip Smitherman on 3rd and long to blitz the Outlaws' quarterback into an intentional grounding penalty. Marlow punted out of its own end zone and the Chargers took over at the visitors' 38 yard line.

Jobe connected with Ross to get into the red zone, and then found a streaking Smitherman wide open in the back of the end zone to stretch the lead on a 19-yard strike.

After back-to-back Marlow first downs put them in Charger territory,  the Outlaws shot themselves in the foot on a holding penalty and Jayden Williams made a third-down sack to force another punt.

On the first play from scrimmage, Ross showed off his State Champion speed darting behind blocks by Carey and Dunn, cutting back behind a Smitherman block, and bursting down the sideline 90 yards to a 21-0 Charger lead with 5:03 to play in the first quarter.

Motivated by Ross' lightning strike, Carey brought the thunder on a power run from the 8 yard line to extend the lead to 28 midway through the second.

Meanwhile, the defense kept the Outlaw offense lassoed. Hardy Bowers wrangled a Marlow runner for a loss on first down, and Jaden McDaniel hurried the quarterback into an incompletion on third down to force another punt.

Jobe connected with Smitherman over the middle to put The Hall back in the red zone, and then the duo hooked up again for a score when Smitherman's defended fell down on his own.

Marlow couldn't stop the bleeding as the Charger defense forced another 3-and-out. Coach Brett Bogert turned to his senior fullback and let Carey grind down the clock on multiple punishing runs that culminated in another touchdown and a 42-0 halftime lead.

With many of the reserves seeing action against Marlow's starters in the second half, the Hall maintained it's shutout lead until play was halted early after a concerning injury to Mason Georgia resulted in an ambulance call. During the wait, Marlow's coaches offered to concede and the game was called off with 6:22 remaining.

Jobe would finish the game 9 of 15 passing for 194 yards and 3 touchdowns – his second consecutive game approaching the 200-yard mark. Carey led the Chargers in rushing with 10 carries for 100 yards and 3 scores, while Ross rushed just once on the 90-yard touchdown. Ross also caught 3 passes for a team-high 96 yards and a touchdown. Smitherman logged 3 receptions for 61 yards and 2 touchdowns. Defensively, Hardy Bowers paced The Hall with 10 tackles, including two for loss. Connor Keith tallied 9 takedowns of his own, with one for loss.

With the victory, the Chargers move onward to host a tough Stigler Panthers squad coming off a dominating 33-7 road win at Locust Grove. The winner will move on to tackle the Lincoln Christian-Plainview winner. On the other side of the playoff bracket, favorites Sulphur, Idabel, Berryhill, and Kingfisher all advanced.

The Stigler-Heritage Hall game will air live on ChargerVision at 7pm on Friday night.

Written by Luke Steelman '93
Photos by Kirsten Griffin