Pirates are known for pillaging entire towns, leaving a brutal trail of destruction. But when the Mannford Pirates breached the shores of Pop Murray Memorial Field, the Chargers weren't about to let the invaders spoil Senior Night and another stellar regular season.

Phillip Smitherman set the tone early with a 41 yard kickoff return into Mannford territory. Sophomore quarterback Jackson Jobe converted a third down pass to Billy Ross, Jr., for 16 yards into the red zone to keep the drive alive. A few plays later, the duo connected again on a 13 yard pass that threaded the needle between two pirate defenders. After a penalty moved the ball back on the extra point attempt, the Chargers were unable to convert on a double reverse to Smitherman and took an early 6-0 lead.

The Pirates unleashed a brute out of the backfield in Jaden Welden, a bruising fullback, and sustained their first drive for almost four minutes before being forced to throw deep on third and long. Jobe read the play perfectly and extended fully to snare the ball away from the Pirate receiver and haul in an interception along the sideline at the Charger 27.

The Hall wasted no time getting into the end zone again. A few plays later, out of the wildcat formation, Ross took a quarterback draw up the middle and busted it outside before outrunning the Mannford defense en route to a 55 yard touchdown scamper. The Chargers went for two points again, but the reverse pass slipped out of Preston Nelson hands on the throw and fell short of Gavin Freeman in the end zone.

Defense reigned supreme for the remainder of the first quarter as the teams played to a stalemate.

With the Pirates threatening to score early in the second, Ross picked off a 4th down pass in the end zone to give the ball back to the Chargers. Coach Bogert mixed up the attack as Conner Carey pounded the ground and Jobe spread the ball to four different receivers to put The Hall in scoring position midway through the quarter. Carey hauled in a pass out of the backfield and followed great downfield blocks from Nelson and Smitherman to put the Chargers up 19-0 after a Parker Kays extra point kick.

After a Mannford 3-and-out, Coach Bogert turned over the offense to sophomore quarterback Robert Mbroh, who rambled on back to back first down runs and then connected with Jobe for a first and goal. However, the Pirates sniffed out the "Tebow" pass and intercepted Nelson's attempt to find Jaden McDaniel in the end zone.

The Hall's defense kept the Pirates pinned deep and Coach Bogert used three timeouts to force Mannford to punt before they could escape to halftime. With 40 seconds remaining in the half, Jobe hit Nelson who darted out of bounds on a short gain to stop the clock. On the next play, Jobe placed a perfect pass into the near corner of the end zone and Ross turned over his shoulder to haul it in and stretch the lead to 26-0 at the half.

Mannford was unable to gain any momentum on their first drive, and the Charger offensive remained relentless. Carey took the home team's first snap of the half 65 yards untouched to extend the lead to 33-0. The senior speedster continued to enjoy his breakout season, churning up the yards and the clock on the Chargers' next drive en route to a 14 yard score, capping off 40 unanswered points.

Mannford would add two scores before the 3rd quarter expired and the two teams would stalemate to arrive at a 40-13 final score that closed out a 9-1 regular season for the Chargers.

Jackson Jobe led the way passing for The Hall, completing 14 of 21 attempts for 197 yards and 3 touchdowns. Conner Carey racked up 114 yards and 2 touchdowns on just 10 carries. Ross had just one rush for 55 yards, but led the team in receiving with 5 catches for 78 yards and two touchdowns. Charger quarterbacks spread the ball to 8 different receivers, including starting center Jack Griffin who hauled in an 18 yard pass on a trick play.

An opportunistic defense tallied a season-high 4 takeways – interceptions by Ross, Jobe, Carey, and Joe Washington – to stymie the Pirates. Middle linebacker Hardy Bowers notched 15 tackles to lead the Chargers, followed by Connor Keith with 12 and Nelson with 10. The defense also wrecked the Pirates with 15 tackles behind the line of scrimmage.

With the decisive victory, the Chargers move onward to host the Marlow Outlaws in the first round of the 2018 OSSAA Class 3A Playoffs. Marlow is coming off a narrow Week 10 defeat against the Purcell Dragons that ended their regular season at 5-5 in 4th place in District 3. Despite their subpar record, the Outlaws have several playmaking athletes that the Charger defense will have to corral if they want to advance to a Round 2 matchup against the Stigler-Locust Grove winner.

Onward, Chargers!

Written by Luke Steelman '93
Photos by Jake Steelman '19