On November 26, the Heritage Hall Chargers played the Lincoln Christian Bulldogs at Oklahoma Baptist University in a highly anticipated State Semifinal rematch. The Chargers qualified by beating the Berryhill Chiefs and the Bulldogs were fresh off a win over the Sulphur Bulldogs. 

The Chargers got on the scoreboard first when junior tailback and leading rusher River Faulkner charged his way into the end zone to punctuate a long, time-consuming drive. The ever-steady Luke Butler followed with a successful point-after try to make it 7-0. 

Lincoln Christian's offense was equally spectacular this season and they showed why on their first possession. After a long kickoff return, Bulldog quarterback Max Brown completed a pass to wide receiver Levi Connors for their first points of the game. Lincoln Christian's kicker, Caden Barton, tied the game at seven with the extra point kick. 

On the Chargers next possession, Faulkner fumbled the ball, which was recovered by the Bulldogs. However, as the quarters changed, the Chargers defense held and Lincoln Christian had to punt. 

After the Bulldogs stopped The Hall's next drive, Central Michigan commit Max Brown faked a screen pass to the left, ran to the right and found nobody on the edge to stop him. After the rushing touchdown, Lincoln missed the extra point though, and the score was 13-7. 

With the ball back midway through the second quarter, quarterback Will Paque found Orie Walker on a post route that put the Chargers inside the 10 yard line. Faulkner waited for his blocks to set up and then darted into the endzone untouched for his second touchdown of the game. Butler's extra point took back the lead 14-13. 

Both defenses kept the game in gridlock for the final 5 minutes of the half and The Hall went into the halftime locker room with a narrow lead.

A penalty brought an apparent Lincoln Christian 75 yard screen pass touchdown back, and the Charger defense forced a punt that gave them excellent field position for their first drive of the second half. However, Butler missed a 39 yard field goal attempt after a bobbled hold interfered with timing and the Bulldogs got the ball back.

Lincoln Christian running back Easton Rodgers exploded around the left side for a 50 yard gain, and a horse-collar penalty put the ball at the Heritage Hall 15 yard line. A few plays later, Rodgers finished the job, powering into the end zone from a yard out. The Bulldogs failed a two-point conversion, but held a 19-14 lead.

As time dwindled in the third quarter, the Chargers faced a fourth down and two from the 4 yards line. The snap came early to Gavin Freeman, who was lined up at quarterback, and the senior scooped the ball up, but couldn't turn the corner on the Bulldog defense and turned the ball over on downs.

Lincoln Christian went into clock-churning mode and ate up 5 minutes of the fourth quarter before the Charger defense could force a punt that went out at the Charger five yard line.

With 7 minutes left to score, the Chargers marched down the field methodically, converting several third downs. The drive ended in a fourth down roll-out by Paque who tossed a touchdown pass to a diving Gavin Freeman for a 20-19 lead. The Chargers went for a two-point conversion but the pass was overthrown by Paque. Only 49 seconds remained on the clock for the Bulldogs to answer.

On the ensuing kickoff, a strong south wind kept Butler from booting his customary touchback and the Bulldogs found a crease to break loose on the return. Griffin Dyer broke loose for 50 yards before being pushed out of bounds by Jaxon Carter at the Chargers' 25 yard line. Brown was sacked by Brigham Evans and Faulkner, but spiked the ball with 24 seconds left.

The game was essentially decided on the next play, with a very controversial targeting call on Gavin Freeman. Brown found Logan Farris over the middle at about the 10 yard line. Farris caught the pass, took three steps and met the stiff shoulder of Gavin Freeman. Farris dropped the ball and the Chargers recovered the fumble. Officials threw a slightly delayed flag, and then conferred a few minutes before making the penalty announcement. Ultimately, the ruling was a completed pass with targeting and the Bulldogs were awarded half-the-distance to the goal line.

On the next play, the Brown pulled in the option read and rushed untouched for the touchdown to go ahead 25-20 with 12 seconds remaining. The Bulldogs converted a two-point conversion and went on to win the game.

Will Paque completed 22 of 35 passes for 262 yards and a touchdown in his final game for The Hall; he also rushed 8 times for 44 yards. Paque threw for 2,889 yards on the season, the 2nd best campaign in Heritage Hall history and he became just the sixth Charger ever to amass more than 4,000 passing yards (4,450) in his career. 

Gavin Freeman led the receiving corps with 11 receptions for 101 yards and a score. His season was one of the best on record for a Heritage Hall receiver with totals of 73 receptions (2nd), 1,434 yards (tied for 2nd), and 18 touchdowns (tied for 3rd). The speedy senior moved past Sterling Shepard '12 into 3rd in the career receiving yardage, and eclipsed Wes Welker '00's 27 career receiving touchdowns with 30 to move into 3rd all-time. 

In the semifinal, Walker caught 2 for 60 yards, Burton 4 for 53 yards, and Cookson 3 for 35 yards. Faulkner rushed 28 times for 122 yards and two touchdowns.

Defensively, Cooper Cookson was a monster with 23 tackles (4th best in a single game ever for the Chargers) and 3 sacks. Faulkner added 15 tackles and a sack. Nick Keith also recorded double-digits in tackles with 11. Walker, Evans, Zavier Freeman, and Mason Georgia each recorded sacks. 

Mason Georgia finished his career with 25 sacks, good for 3rd all-time trailing only the McDaniel brothers; his 16 sacks this season was the 2nd best campaign ever at The Hall. Evans' 16 career sacks tied him with Andrew McDonald '16 at 8th all-time.

This was the Charger's first loss of the season and a very heartbreaking loss. This game will be remembered for many years by the Chargers. The Bulldogs move on to play the Holland Hall Dutch at UCO's Chad Richeson Stadium on December 3rd for the State Championship.

While the team didn't accomplish their final goal, the season was a huge success.  Only three other teams can say they made it to the State Semifinal game. This year's squad continued an impressive home win streak, pushing the program's total to 36 straight victories on Pop Murray Memorial Field. Head coach Brett Bogert '05 is now an astonishing 88-6 in his career. The Chargers will say farewell to a strong graduating class, but the core of this squad is ready to move onward and carry on a rich tradition of winning football at The Hall in 2022.

Charger Pride!

Written by Boston Fuller '25 & Luke Steelman '93
Photos by Dawn Freeman