Best-selling author H. Jackson Brown, Jr., once remarked, "In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins – not through strength, but by perseverance." In this case the rock was a football team in Perkins – and the stream was actually a River.

The Demons tried to catch the Chargers off guard with an onside kick to open the game, but sure-handed Caden Taylor aggressively secured the bouncing ball to give The Hall great field position. However, a miscommunication on the next play resulted in a Perkins-Tryon interception of Will Paque's pass and a long return into the Charger red zone. A few plays later, Tre Stevenson punched in the first touchdown of the game and the Demons held a 7-0 lead.

The teams traded blows with the defenses winning out, then the Chargers broke through midway through the second quarter when River Faulkner battled through multiple defenders and busted into the end zone for six points. On the ensuing extra point attempt, Demon defender Tre Stevenson got a mitt on Luke Butler's kick to keep the home team on top by a point.

Perkins-Tryon responded with a 65 yard drive, capped off when Gunnar Thrash connected with Cutter Greene from 25 yards out to extend the lead to 14-6 heading into the halftime locker room.

While the Chargers struggled to get any offensive momentum, the Demons came out of the break and drove to another touchdown, this one from Thrash to tight end Gannon McCutcheon, to stretch their advantage to 20-6. Perkins-Tyron coaches made an interesting decision to try for two points, and Nick Keith broke up the pass. The drive ate up a lot of clock and put the Chargers into a crunch time situation.

With a lot of nervous fans in the visitors' stands, the Charger offense kept grinding. Coach Brett Bogert '05 turned to his offensive line and tailback to execute an impressive comeback. Faulkner pounded the ground on repeated carries, scoring four more touchdowns behind a persistent offensive line.

In between Faulkner scores, the Charger defense rose to the challenge, bringing the pressure on Thrash and stifling Stevenson to keep the Demons from doing any more damage. After falling behind 20-6, the Chargers scored 29 unanswered points to secure the 35-20 road win.

Faulkner carried the ball 26 times for 233 yards and five touchdowns (tied for 2nd most in a single game); he also caught a 13 yard pass. Paque finished the game 13 of 24 for 184 yards, with the rare interception on the first play; he also rushed 7 times for 55 yards. His go-to receivers made crucial catches throughout the game – Orie Walker hauled in 6 passes for 78 yards, while Gavin Freeman made 5 receptions for 81 yards.

Defensively, multiple Chargers had monster statistics. Brigham Evans led the way with 17 tackles, 3 solo, and one of those for loss. Mike linebacker Cooper Cookson registered 15 tackles, while Nick Keith (14) and Mason Georgia (10) also had double digit takedowns. Georgia recorded the Chargers' lone sack of the game. Gavin Wilson made 9 tackles and Faulkner was equally tough on the other side of the ball with 9 tackles, 2 of them for losses, of his own.

The victory put the Chargers in the driver's seat for the District title race, with future opponent Kingfisher riding shotgun for the time being. Perkins-Tryon slipped to 4th place behind the Mount Saint Mary Rockets. It's a short Week 6 for Heritage Hall as the Chargers will host cellar-dweller Bridge Creek on Thursday night before Fall Break. The upset-minded Bobcats hope to pounce on the Chargers, but if things go as expected, Coach Bogert will play a lot of reserves in the second half of this contest.

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Written by Luke Steelman '93
Photos by Dawn Freeman