After destroying the Douglass Trojans in Week 6, the Chargers were hoping a road trip to Dickson would give them a more competitive game. The Comets featured a strong run game and were expected to be much improved since last year's 38-point loss in their trip to The Hall.

Freshman Beau Butler kicked off the game by booting the football deep into Dickson territory and Ben Showalter set the tone by hammering the return man at the 20 yard line.

On the first two plays, the Comets had trouble moving the ball. On third down, senior safety Jordyn Harris intercepted a pass attempt and nearly scored before being taken down at the five yard line.

On just the Chargers' first offensive play of the game, junior tailback Barrett Travis took the handoff and with two parasitic Comets' defenders latched onto him as he powered his way to a forceful touchdown. Head coach Brett Bogert '05 fed the monster in the backfield as Travis followed up the touchdown with a two-point conversion, turning the Dickson defensive line into jelly for an early 8-point lead.

With 8:30 on the clock in the 1st quarter, star quarterback Andy Bass passed the ball to Travis in the flat. Drawing away the defense's attention, the tailback tossed it back to Bass on the other side of the field and the speedy quarterback bolted at the speed of light through everybody for a 71-yard touchdown.

Graham Murphy took a jet sweep handoff around the edge for the 2-point conversion, seemingly unnoticed by the Dickson defense; the Comets needed a literal map and a pair of binoculars to locate that man. The Charger lead was 16-0.

On their next possession, the Comets gained a decent amount of yardage, but Rashaud Smith intercepted the pass; unfortunately the runback was negated by a blocking penalty against the Chargers.

The teams traded possessions as Dickson's defense began to play better.

With the first quarter drawing to a close, Bass broke the boredom with an absolute dime to Smith, who hauled it in and executed an amazing spin move to get the defender off of his back and clear a path to the end zone for a 67-yard Charger touchdown. Cal Welker tacked on the extra point for a 23-0 lead heading into the second quarter.

The Comets will then get bullied and barely gain yardage until the 1st quarter ends.

Starting off the second quarter, the Comets began to build some momentum. They managed to pick up first downs, despite deep passing attempts being thwarted by Harris and cornerback Carter Counts.

Midway through the quarter, Bass scooped up a short snap and cleverly handed it off to Travis, who blasted through the line untouched and raced to a 55-yard score. After a missed extra point attempt and a few more traded unproductive possessions by each team, The Hall held a 29-0 halftime lead.

On their first play of the second half, Bass handed off to Travis and in the blink of an eye he was in the end zone for the third time on the night. Looking like Christian McCaffrey using a Madden cheat code, Travis was making a serious case for the Seth Wadley Power Promise Player of the Game. Welker tacked on the extra point for a dominating 36-0 Charger lead.

After a three-and-out highlighted by a monster hit from Graham Murphy, the Comets punted it back to the Chargers.

Facing a fourth down into the wind, Bogert had a decision to make – either go for it or kick the ball against the wind. Bass threw a bullet to Smith to pick up a clutch first down.

A few plays later, Bass faked a handoff to Travis, spun around into a bootleg run and followed an amazing downfield block by Smith to break into the red zone. Bass returned the favor on a short bullet pass to Smith, who followed a tsunami of blocks from the line and receivers, and executed an extravagant spin move to score the Chargers sixth touchdown and his second of the night. Welker's extra point made it 43-0 in favor of The Hall.

After getting bullied into the passing game by the Chargers' run defense, the Comets showed some fighting spirit on fake a punt for a first down. Eventually, the Comets turned the ball over on downs.

Travis continued to dissolve the Dickson defense like a Thanos snap, as he raced untouched for another long touchdown of 57-yards. The scoring machine was rolling as the Chargers had half-a-hundred by the middle of the third quarter.

Holding a secure 50-0 lead, Bogert began to sub in more and more of his younger players.

With 2 minutes left in the third quarter, the Comets running back finally broke loose. Seemingly en route to a long touchdown run after trucking a tackler, he looked back and watched as Counts turned on the afterburners and tracked him down at the five yard line to prevent the score. With some words being exchanged between the two players after the tackle, Counts walked away and pointed at the scoreboard. The home team was, however, able to punch the ball in one play later for their first score of the contest.

Almost right after the Comets' touchdown, the mighty Chargers responded. Backup tailback Bladen Vogel did his best Barrett Travis impression, busting through the line untouched and racing 60-yards – without looking back – into the end zone. Welker's extra point sailed through the uprights and gave The Hall a commanding 57-7 lead as the third quarter closed.

Nothing eventful really happened in the fourth quarter as the Charger reserves got some playing time and calmly kept the scoreboard frozen until the final seconds ticked away on another Heritage Hall victory.

Bass completed 6 of 12 passing attempts for 113 yards and two touchdowns, but it was the Chargers' ground attack that did the most damage. In an epic performance, Travis carried 5 times for 172 yards and 4 touchdowns. Vogel (65) and Harris (44) each had one carry for big yardage, and Bass added 33 yards rushing  on 2 carries. Smith was the top target for Bass on the night, catching 4 passes for 105 yards and 2 scores. Bass caught his first career touchdown pass from Travis.

Defensive end Zavier Freeman racked up 9 tackles to crush the Comets ground game. Several Chargers tallied 7 tackles each – Charlie Ghaniabadi, David Griffin, Hillman Browne, Walker Wedel, Ben Showalter, and Vogel.

Up next for Bogert's squad is a similar road trip down I-35 south to face a tougher opponent in #14 Plainview. It's the Indians' senior night and they'd like nothing more than to spoil the Chargers' bid for an undefeated season. The final three games ramp up in competition level as the Chargers tackle Plainview, then host currently undefeated district foes #6 Sulphur and #3 Marlow to close out the 2023 regular season.

Written by Adam Albirini '26
Photos by Ben Thomas '25