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Two heavyweights out of Ohio and Florida stepped into the ring this afternoon at Chardon Memorial Field. Both teams went blow for blow up until the final play. Chardon would emerge severely battle-scarred but victorious, 31-24 in overtime.
It was an emotional game for both sides. Countless penalties for personal fouls, players going down riving in pain, fans getting upset with the referees, it was a typical exciting game of football. This one though, contained some incredible dramatics.
After a wire-to-wire throttling against Camden, a program out of New Jersey, another out-of-state challenger was up next for the Hilltoppers.
First Baptist Academy plays in the smallest division in Florida. The Lions are based in Naples and have some serious talent. A handful of them have offers from two of the power five conferences in the NCAA. Their starting quarterback has interest from Ole Miss and one receiver has the attention of Clemson, respectfully. However, arguably the brightest star on the Lions is stud running back Jaden Booker.
He transferred in this season and has racked up over 4,000 rushing yards in his high school career. Standing stout at 5’10 and weighing 210 pounds, Booker has loads of D-I schools that are reaching out to reel him in. Some of those names include Buffalo, Bethune-Cookman, Tennessee State, among others.
Booker torched their last foe, Neumann, for 143 yards and three touchdowns in a 43-0 rout.
While the Lions did not have the same type of success, they still gave Chardon fits and tested their emotional and mental strength.
FIRST HALF
Most of the first quarter was owned by First Baptist. Chardon had a rough go pushing the football down field. Rich Mellen intercepted Alex Henry around the 31 yard line. That propelled the Lions to capitalize on the Hilltoppers mistake with great support from a well-traveled crowd.
Tight end Olsen Henry hauled in a pass from Ethan Crossan. Henry used his massive frame to shrug off the one tackle gate keeping him from the endzone. He walked the rest of the way for a 34-yard score.
Chardon blocked the PAT attempt to keep the Lions to six points.
Eventually, the relentless rushing attack of the Hilltoppers got them back in business. Senior quarterback Alex Henry only completed three passes but his work on the ground shouldered the offense. He totaled 128 yards and two total touchdowns on the day. His first trip to the house was a 56-yard run with tons of daylight in front of him. Henry faked out the defense on a misdirection.
Great defense typically feeds off great offense and Chardon certainly continued that trend for the rest of the half. After going up 14-6 courtesy of a Heath Fetchik power run, the front seven bottled up Booker and Crossan.
A Crossan pick led to a 47-yard field goal by Joseph Evans and gave the Hilltoppers a 17-6 advantage heading into half number two.
Crossan was also sacked twice along with four more incompletions. Rock steady Booker was under lock and key. He averaged 2.4 yards per carry on 10 attempts.
It seemed to be another ho-hum showing from the Hilltoppers. A double digit deficit against this team is a near death wish. The Lions, though, were not caged one bit.
SECOND HALF
First Baptist took back control of the contest with more consistent passing from Crossan. He rattled off four straight completions of 12, 14, seven, and eight. Booker would polish off the 6:10 drive by punching it in from 14 yards out. The Lions went for two and were unsuccessful bringing the score to 12-17.
Even when Chardon’s offense struggled their otherworldly defensive unit kept the spirits of the team high. With 3:30 in the third, Andrew Bruce picked off Crossan for the second time. That great play got Henry and the offense right back on the field.
The Hilltoppers advanced the football down near the Lion goal line. With a fourth and two looming and the Lions waiting in the wings, the offense remained. It was a peculiar call and a turning point as Chardon could not convert.
Crossan and Henry were able to connect on two occasions on the ensuing possession. One went for 30 plus and the second a 37 yarder. The latter of which led to six and the lead for First Baptist.
It followed after a sack from senior Alex Kisley that went for a loss of 12. He tallied three in this contest and was a constant force.
Chardon’s offense faltered at the worst possible time. With 6:39 to go in the game they lost the handle and turned it over right at midfield. One thing that the Lions did extremely well was taking advantage of mistakes.
Sophomore Caleb Hewitt matched up with freshman Jayden Petit. Petit drew a crucial pass interference call that put the ball on Chardon’s 15. Moments later, Crossan targeted Hewitt again and it resulted in a touchdown. Petit came down with it and a wave of fear came over the Hilltopper faithful.
The offense did not make matters any better as they fumbled again with about three and a half to play. It appeared to be the final nail in the coffin and an end to a historic winning streak. But deep down, this team did not give up, especially Hewitt.
Henry dropped a dime to Hewitt for 35 yards down the left side line. That was just his second completion of the day. The Lions gifted the offense a pass interference one play later and that set up the Hilltoppers and Hewitt for the ultimate redemption. With just 17 ticks left, Henry found Hewitt again from yards away for the tie.
It nearly brought the house down and it will definitely go down as one of the best moments this season and possibly in Chardon football history.
However, the job was not finished just yet. In overtime each team gets a chance to score. If the first team is held to zero points, the next score wins. Chardon got the first crack at it. They went back to the run game and it paid dividends with Heath crossing the pylon to retake the lead, 31-24.
First Baptist had the chance to extend it further but Crossan’s pass would be snatched from Trey Liebhardt, the third interception for the highly touted gunslinger.
The Lion crowd fell silent as the passionate fans of Chardon cheered out of jubilance, relief, and shock at what their team was able to pull off. The Hilltopper sideline cleared the bench and stormed the field in a moment surely to never be forgotten.
UP NEXT
After a truly thrilling victory, Chardon improves to 3-0. They will take a short trip to Painesville to take on 2-1 Riverside next Friday to keep the win streak alive. First Baptist will look to regain their momentum when they head back to Florida. They will face 1-1 Cardinal Mooney out of Sarasota. The Lions too, sit at 1-1.
PLAYERS OF THE GAME
Chardon Hilltoppers:
Defense- Three INT (one game winning) and five sacks
Alex Henry- 128 rush yards, two total TD
First Baptist Academy Lions:
Olsen Henry- 100 plus receiving yards, two receiving TD
Defense- INT, two FUM recoveries, 27 completion percentage
Great story!