Chargers punch ticket to State in Bogert's 100th

The Heritage Hall Charger football team took down the Verdigris Cardinals in the State semifinals, marking Coach Brett Bogert's 100th win as the head coach of Charger football.

Heritage Hall was able to secure a dominating 41-20 win over Verdigris. The last time the Chargers beat the Cardinals was a 21-7 win in the 2020 quarterfinals. Most of the Verdigris players on that 2020 team returned as seniors in this showdown. The 2022 victory was not only a big statement win for the Chargers, but their semifinal struggles ended after three straight heartbreaking losses in previous years for the Chargers.

The Chargers received the kickoff to begin the game. After a long 68 yard run on the return by Jordyn Harris, The Hall started their opening drive already in the red zone. Cooper Cookson hauled in a 9 yard catch from Andy Bass to cap off the first possession of the game with a touchdown. The ensuing extra point was blocked by Verdigris.

The Cardinals answered with a touchdown of their own, but missed the extra point wide to knot it up at 6 each.

Andy Bass was able to find Jordyn Harris for two more first quarter touchdowns, from 30 yards and 26 yards away, as the Chargers continued lighting up the scoreboard.

With 1:50 left in the second quarter, Heritage Hall held a 20-14 lead. Bass took the field and led the Chargers down the field with a quick-paced, but grueling, 18-play drive. The junior quarterback eventually carried the ball across the goal line on a 2 yard power run off tackle to extend the halftime lead to 27-14.

In the second half, the Charger defense stepped up and only allowed one more Cardinals touchdown. The offense kept momentum and added two more touchdowns to capture the dominating 21 point victory.

The Heritage Hall offense had an outstanding night, racking up 470 total yards with 226 through the air and 244 on the ground.

Bass led the air raid by completing 19 of 33 pass attempts for four touchdowns. The signal caller also rushed for 96 yards on 13 carries. River Falkner fueled the ground game with 146 yards on 18 carries, including a 58 yard touchdown run. Harris scored on two of his three receptions for the Chargers, leading the way with 63 receiving yards. Orie Walker and Liam Burton moved the chains consistently, grabbing 5 passes each including several clutch third down conversions.

The defense had another strong night, especially facing the highly-touted Verdigris run game. The tackles were spread across the board. Cookson, Walker, Zach Fetrow, and Charlie Ghaniabadi each tallied 9 tackles. Jordyn Harris snagged another interception, his sixth of the season. Burton fell on a fumble to keep the Chargers on the positive side of the turnover battle.

While this was a very big and exciting win for the Chargers, their mission is unfinished. Everything comes down to one more game, this time against a pass-happy, unbeaten Metro Christian Patriots team at UCO's Chad Richison Stadium on Thursday night at 7pm. Tickets are $11.50 online or $13 cash at the gate. The game will be live streamed by an OSSAA crew on the NFHS Network (the ChargerVision crew is not permitted to stream due to OSSAA media contracts with NFHSN).

The only thing that would be sweeter than 100 wins for Coach Bogert would be 101 – and the Gold Ball that comes along with it!

Written by Carter Knowles '25
Photos by Dawn Freeman & Candid Color

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