Chargers repel Redskins in District 3A-1 opener

The McLoud Redskins invaded Pop Murray Memorial Field for the District 3A-1 opener. The keys to victory for the Heritage Hall Chargers, set before the game, were to get out to a fast start, establish the run game, and don't look ahead. Arguably, the most important out of these keys was "don't look ahead." If the Chargers started thinking ahead to Week 5's bigger matchup at Perkins-Tryon, they might have fallen into a trap against McLoud.

To get out to a fast start is an understatement of what the Chargers did. River Faulkner was on fire for the first drive of the game; he was handed the ball three times ending with a touchdown run two minutes into the first quarter. Building momentum off the early touchdown, the Chargers ran a trick play onside kick that was recovered by Liam Burton on the McLoud 35 yard line. The Chargers just kept on rolling in the first quarter never letting off the gas. The first quarter ended with a score of 43-0 in favor of your Chargers.

The second quarter was played at a bit of a slower pace, as more reserves played and Coach Bogert let off the gas. The only points scored in this quarter came on a Luke Butler field goal from 25 yards out that led the Chargers into halftime leading 43-0.

Coming out of halftime with a huge lead, Heritage Hall started the third quarter off slow. That led to the Redskins putting 6 points up on the board. However, the Chargers didn't back down and played incredible defense for the rest of the quarter. The Redskins finally found a way to slow down the Chargers, too, and the third quarter ended with the score 46-6.

Entering the last quarter, the Chargers knew they were running away with this victory and started playing a lot of the underclassmen. These underclassmen are not to be taken advantage of though. They stopped the Redskins for most of the quarter, but eventually they could not hold and the Redskins scored the final touchdown of the game. It didn't matter – the Chargers celebrated another victory with a final score of 46-13.

Senior quarterback Will Paque was a perfect 5 for 5 with 80 passing yards and 3 touchdowns, including a monster 40 yard touchdown pass. Junior bruiser River Faulkner led the ground attack with 114 rushing yards and two touchdowns, breaking off a massive 35 yard run at one point. This was Faulkner's third 100-yard game of the young season. As usual, Gavin Freeman (51 yards, 2 touchdowns) and Orie Walker (61 Rec Yards, a remarkable 40-yard touchdown catch) led the Chargers in the receiving game.

Defensively, linebackers Brigham Evans (6 tackles, including an incredible tackle for a loss), Nick Keith (4 tackles and another pick-six interception), and Bladen Vogel (3 tackles, featuring a breath-taking tackle for a loss) led the charge. Gavin Freeman wasn't big on the stat sheet, but came up with an absolute bone crushing tackle to force a fumble and then recovered the loose ball.

Heritage Hall's next opponent #12 Perkins-Tryon (3-1, 1-0) is a powerhouse team that has a lot of depth on their roster. The Chargers travel to Demon territory on Friday, October 1, to battle them in their very own Homecoming game. The Demons' quarterback, Gunnar Thrash, is a player The Hall needs to stop on Friday to have any chance of winning. When Thrash gets hot, past history has shown that there's not much that can stop him. Expect Coach Bogert to turn to his experienced star players Freeman, Paque, Faulkner, and Walker to set the tone and lead the Chargers to victory on Friday. Go Chargers!

Written by Trenton Johnson '24

Photos by Dawn Freeman

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