3...2...1...BLAST OFF!

That's exactly what Billy Ross, Jr., did with the opening kickoff as he caught the ball at his own 6 yard line and launched through the first line of Rocket coverage before kicking on the afterburners en route to a 94-yard touchdown. After several slow starts this season, Ross' second career kickoff return gave the Chargers an early 7-0 lead.

The Charger defense stuffed The Mount on three straight plays to force a punt. Robert Mbroh marched the Hall all the way down to the Rockets' 2-yard line, but the Chargers couldn't punch it in to stretch the lead and turned the ball over on downs.

Bringing the heat off the edges with Will Dunn and Jaden McDaniel, the defense was able to keep Mount Saint Mary deep in their own territory and force another punt that set the Charger offense up with great field position.

Mbroh slung a bubble screen out to Conner Carey and the senior speedster boosted his way 32 yards to paydirt. After holder Colby Lewis scrambled and threw a goalline interception on the two-point conversion, the Chargers held a 13-point lead with less than a minute to go in the 1st quarter.

Facing a stout Heritage defense, Mount Saint Mary seemed unable to break the gravitational pull of their own goalline. After a roughing the punter called on Jaden McDaniel, the senior sack-monster redeemed his earlier mistake by ripping the ball away from the MSM tailback, and Phillip Smitherman recovered it to stall the Rockets at midfield.

A couple of Ross runs later, the senior halfback followed a field of blockers to the pylon and scored his second touchdown of the night to stretch the Charger lead to 20-0.

After another MSM punt from their own end zone went out of bounds at the 22 yard line, Carey scored his second touchdown one play later on a dart up the middle to give The Hall a decisive 27-0 advantage.

Another Rockets' 3-and-out later, Ross took a handoff from Dunn and raced 45 yards to his third touchdown of the evening and a 34-0 halftime lead for the hometown heroes. With three touchdowns on the evening, Ross moved into 12th place on the school's all-time scoring leader board, passing Chase Holland '00.

As the Charger starters cheered them onward, the reserves stepped in and stalemated the Rockets for nearly the entire second half. Only an errant punt snap that Jagger Ables secured in the end zone busted The Hall's bid for a shutout as the Chargers cruised to a 34-2 victory in the district opener.

Mbroh finished the game a very efficient 10 of 12 passing for 138 yards and a touchdown. The Chargers were equally efficient on the ground as Ross needed just 10 carries to gain 88 yards, Jayden Williams racked up 57 yards on 7 rushes, and Carey earned 28 yards on 2 carries to go along with 6 receptions for 93 yards and the score.

Defensively, Hardy Bowers continues to demolish opposing ball carriers as he racked up a team-leading 15 tackles. McDaniel tallied 12 takedowns, while linebacker Conner Keith made 11 tackles in his season debut after returning from injury. Dunn finished the game with 8 tackles, with 2 of those coming on huge hits resulting in lost yardage for the Rockets. As a unit, the Charger defense allowed just one Mount Saint Mary first down all night.

The Hall's competition gets much more fierce in Week 5 as the Chargers tussle with the undefeated #2 John Marshall Bears in what is technically a road-contest at the familiar confines of Taft Stadium. The Bears graduated stud running back Devonte Lee, who scored a touchdown in Nevada's season opening win over Portland State. But Coach Rashaun Woods returns a solid corp of players led by senior shotcaller Jarod Leviston.

You won't want to miss the 3A Game of the Year, so tune in to ChargerVision to catch all the hard-hitting action at 7pm on Friday. Onward, Chargers!

Written by Luke Steelman '93
Photos by Cindy Ritchie / more at crpics.com