By Katie McElvy
The first kickoff of the fall football season is always surrounded by anticipation, but when the Chambers Academy Rebels visited the Lee-Scott Warriors on Thursday, the excitement quickly turned to anguish as the Warriors ran the opening kickoff back for a touchdown. However, the Rebels did not let that play define the game.
Both teams posted three and outs on their first drives. Then, the Rebels started to string together a promising series. In a hurry-up offense, Luke Tarver, Koreen Henry, and Jacob Norgard were able to move the ball into Lee-Scott territory. Kole Baker connected with Henry for a first down pass, and the Rebels seemed to have found their footing, but a false start followed by a sack for a loss of 13 yards killed the once promising drive.
The Warriors answered with a long drive of their own to start the second quarter. The Chambers defense stepped up to make plays with Ryan Smith getting a tackle for a loss and Kyle Hand breaking up a pass to stop the Warriors.
Chambers’ next drive included two good runs by Norgard, first down passes to Aiden Anglin and Henry, and a gain of 8 by Ryan Smith, but once again, back-to-back penalties forced the Rebels to punt.
As the clock was winding down on the first half, Lee-Scott was able to find the endzone, and Chambers headed to the locker room trailing 0-14.
With the ball in hand to start the second half, Chambers charged down the field with big plays by Norgard and Tarver. Just as the Rebels were preparing to cross into the redzone, a high snap cost them 25 yards causing them to end the drive in a punt.
With less than four minutes to go in the game, the Rebels started their final drive. Baker found Henry for a twenty yard pickup and then threw to Kyle Hand for a first down into Warrior territory. Norgard then took over, ending the drive with a 7 yard touchdown run. The PAT was no good, but the Rebels were on the board 6-14.
Chambers attempted an onside kick, but it was recovered by Lee-Scott, allowing the Warriors to finish the game in victory formation.
“ I thought our kids played really hard, but we just kept shooting ourselves in the foot. It was discouraging to let them run back the opening kickoff, but we settled in and started playing after that,” commented Head Coach Jason Allen.
He continued, “Defensively, I thought we played really well and gave ourselves a great chance to win. Offensively, we moved the ball well at times but just couldn’t sustain drives due to turnover and penalties.”
The Rebels will now turn their attention to The Heritage School out of Newnan, GA. The two programs have never met up, but the Rebels are excited for their home opener.
“Next week is our first home game, and we are looking forward to that,” said Allen. “We will go back to working on ourselves and correct the mistakes we made. I feel like we have a chance to have a good team. We just have to clean up some things.”
Kickoff is set for 7:00 at Torbert-Allen Field.