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Courtland's Matt Taylor (3) and Chancellor's Deamante Kelly (19) fight for the ball. Courtland's Aaron Harper (9) drags a Chancellor defender across the goal line for a first-half touchdown in last night's Battlefield District game at Chancellor. |
BY ADAM HIMMELSBACH
A few minutes after their 14-12 victory over Chancellor was complete, Courtland's Ryan Sutherland and Chris Ragonesi kneeled on the soggy grass.
Before their teammates joined them for the post-game celebration, Sutherland and Ragonesi had a quick chat about Chancellor's bruising running back, Dominique Wallace.
"We couldn't really grab him," said Ragonesi, a defensive end. "He was too wet."
Sutherland shook his head.
"That's no excuse," he said.
Ragonesi smiled.
"Oh, whatever. We won!"
And Sutherland could not argue with that. Like most teams that came before them, Courtland could not stop Wallace, who ran for 165 yards and a touchdown.
But the Cougars stuffed the powerful junior when it mattered.
The first time came on a two-point conversion that could have tied the game with 11 minutes, 31 seconds remaining.
With a misty rain coming down, Wallace ran up the middle and Sutherland ran into Wallace.
The second time came on Chancellor's final drive of the game.
Wallace took a handoff on third-and-14 from the 45-yard line and was stopped for no gain. On fourth down, freshman quarterback Micah Cunningham's pass fell incomplete, and Courtland had its victory.
For the Cougars, it was a return to the bone-crunching defense that lacked its teeth the previous two weeks, when it allowed 27 and 41 points.
"That wasn't Courtland defense," Cougars coach J.C. Hall said of the last two games. "It was a pride thing for us, and tonight, we swarmed."
The Cougars were a string of smiles after the game. They charged at Hall with a cooler full of ice water. They smiled and yelled.
Then word filtered through their huddle that Caroline--Courtland's opponent next Friday--had defeated previously unbeaten James Monroe.
The players nudged each other. Some opened their eyes wide.
"We know it's gonna be a big one," said running back Aaron Harper. "We can't wait."
For a time last night, it looked like the Cougars would roll to an easy victory.
On their first drive, they got a 31-yard touchdown pass from Luke Sellers to Brandon Banks.
With 9:28 left in the second quarter, Harper took a handoff and pushed down the middle for an 8-yard touchdown.
"That hole just opened up wide," Harper said. "Things like that make it much easier for me."
For the first few minutes of halftime, Cunningham was on the field because he was a part of the homecoming court of the freshman class.
When the ceremony stalled a bit, one of Chancellor's assistant coaches hurried Cunningham to the locker room.
But at the start of the third quarter, Cunningham showed he'd had enough time to digest the game plan.
On first down, he hit Sean Murray for a 57-yard gain. On the next play, he fired a screen pass to Roderick Spruel for a 10-yard touchdown. The extra-point try was unsuccessful, however.
With 11:31 left in the game, a four-yard touchdown from Wallace made it 14-12. But the ensuing two-point conversion attempt was one of the few times Wallace was unable to find any room to run.
Chancellor had other opportunities in the final period, as it blocked a 22-yard field goal and also intercepted a Sellers pass.
But the Chargers were undone by three penalties on their final drive, leaving Wallace with too much ground to make up.
"When it's like third-and-16," Sutherland said, "it's just awesome."
Courtland | 6 | 8 | 0 | 0 | -- | 14 |
Chancellor | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 | -- | 12 |
First Quarter
Ct--B. Banks 31-yard pass from L. Sellers (kick failed).
Second Quarter
Ct--A. Harper 8-yard run (M. Taylor pass from L. Sellers).
Third Quarter
Ch--R. Spruel 10-yard pass from M. Cunningham (kick failed).
Fourth Quarter
Ch--D. Wallace 4-yard run (run failed).
TEAMSTATISTICS
Ct | Ch |
First downs9 | 15 |
Rushing yardage31-151 | 43-176 |
Passing yardage42 | 106 |
Passes2-6-1 | 5-13-0 |
Punts-Avg.2-29 | 2-33.5 |
Fumbles-lost1-0 | 0-0 |
Penalties-yards 4-30 | 6-40 |
INDIVIDUALSTATISTICS
Rushing: Chancellor--Dominique Wallace 29-165, TD; Roderick Spruel 2-5; Cameron Lawson 2-5; Micah Cunningham 9-1; Sean Murray 1-0. Courtland--Matt Taylor 7-95; Aaron Harper 7-37, TD; Tajh Pendleton 7-22; De'onte Jones 10-(-3).Passing: Chancellor--Micah Cunningham 5-13-0 106, TD. Courtland--Luke Sellers 2-6-1 42, TD.
Receiving: Chancellor--Sean Murray 2-61; Darian Talley 1-24; Scott Powers 1-11; Roderick Spruel 1-10, TD. Courtland--Brandon Banks 1-31, TD; Jay Madison 1-11.
Adam Himmelsbach: 540/374-5442| COURTLAND 14 CHANCELLOR 12 |
