Symbolically speaking, the 'horse' arrived at the gates of Moses F. Miller Stadium for a Thursday night battle against the Trojans. However, unlike the Greek attack on Troy, it didn't take any trickery for Heritage Hall to come away from the skirmish victorious. The Chargers did it with brute force, striking early, often, and with great efficiency.

A minute into the game, senior signal-caller Will Paque floated a pass 40 yards downfield and Gavin Freeman dove, fully-extended to haul it in. Two plays later, Freeman lined up at quarterback, took the snap and followed lead blockers into the end zone for a rushing touchdown and a 7-0 Charger lead.

Douglass tried to answer on their next series, but Mason Georgia made a first down tackle for loss and followed that up with his 18th career sack. With that sack, Georgia passed Jack Ross '17 for sixth place on the all-time sack leader board. The Chargers went on to force a punt, which Zach Fetrow blocked into the end zone. An alert Caden Taylor pounced on the ball to score the second touchdown of the night for The Hall. After the Trojans were flagged for a unsportsmanlike penalty before the extra point attempt, Coach Bogert turned to River Faulkner to power in a two-point conversion run, good for a 15-0 lead.

After the defense continued to force Douglass three-and-outs, Paque went to the air and did so with precision. On three straight offensive drives, Paque delivered three touchdown passes – a 19 yard strike to Freeman, a 14 yard pass to Nick Keith out of the backfield, and a 36 yard toss to Freeman – to put the Chargers up 36-0 after one quarter.

Cooper Cookson capitalized on the defensive side of the ball as he jumped in front of a Douglass pass, picked it off, and rumbled down the sideline before trucking a defender at the goalline to open the scoring in the second quarter. A few minutes later, Paque found Jordyn Harris in the flat and the sophomore wideout made a couple of nifty moves to break free along the sideline and score his first touchdown of the season. After a Luke Butler extra point, the Chargers had "hung half a hundred on 'em" (to quote OU coaching legend Barry Switzer).

Before the half was over, though, The Hall would find paydirt again. This time, senior fullback Brigham Evans powered the ball on several runs that included a one-yard score to put the Chargers up 57-0 going into the locker room.

Douglass stopped the bleeding with a kickoff return for a touchdown to open the second half, and the Trojans would tack on another touchdown later in the third quarter. With the younger Chargers getting into the game, the teams struggled in a fourth quarter stalemate. When the final buzzer sounded, the Chargers sailed home with a 57-14 victory.

Paque led the passing attack, connecting on all 8 attempts for 182 yards and 4 touchdowns. Freshman quarterback Cal Welker played much of the second half and completed 2 of 4 passes for 20 yards. River Faulkner (8 carries, 48 yards, 2pt conversion) and Brigham Evans (7 carries, 70 yards, touchdown) paced the Charger ground attack. Freeman caught 4 passes for 120 yards and 2 touchdowns. Six other Chargers caught one pass in the game – Harris, Cookson, Boston Fuller, Keith, Faulkner, and Alexander Rosell.

Defensively, many Chargers saw action. Linebackers Cookson and Faulkner each had 4 tackles to lead the team on the night. Mason Georgia recorded 3 tackles and a sack. In addition to Cookson's pick six, Freeman also made a phenomenal leaping interception along the sideline. Liam Burton and Gavin Wilson each had 3 tackles on the night.

The Chargers advanced to 7-0 on the regular season heading into a road contest at Anadarko in Week 8. The Warriors will try to avenge a 39-27 loss at Heritage Hall last season, while the Chargers will try to secure a win that could securely buckle them into the proverbial driver's seat in the District race. Anadarko is a hostile environment, so the Chargers will need to bring a Championship mindset on the road with them to score a victory. The game will be carried live on ChargerVision via the NFHS Network.

Onward, Chargers!

Written by Luke Steelman '93
Photos by Dawn Freeman