by Ravenna, Ohio – Chardon utilized the Wing-T offense and an outstanding defense Friday night to top Dover, 31-3, at Portage Community Bank Stadium Friday night.
The game was (if not a sellout) close to it, as both teams had fans that traveled quite a bit of ways.
In the first quarter, Mitchell Martin returned the kickoff to midfield, giving the Crimson Tornadoes great field position.
Not too long after, TC Molk found Joey Farthing for a long gainer, but Trey Liebhardt chased him down inside the ten-yard line.
This play would turn out to be the difference-maker, as you’ll find out later.
Chardon managed to hold Dover out of the end zone, and Lucas Lane kicked a 24-yard field goal. This put the Crimson Tornadoes on top, 3-0, early in the first.
Liebhardt would also have a long kickoff return to put the Toppers in Dover territory. They would respond accordingly, capping the drive with a ten-yard touchdown run from quarterback Alex Henry.
Chardon also has a pretty impressive defense, too.
Sophomore Leo Colombi, who had a pick-six in a Week 2 victory at Akron Buchtel, came up with a huge pass-breakup on the first series. He would also come up with an interception to bring an end to a Dover drive.
His fellow classmate Andrew Bruce took it in from 19 yards out. This increased the lead to 14-3 with 2:01 left in the first.
In the second quarter, Dover looked to cut into their deficit.
Senior quarterback Ayden Hall completed a couple passes (including one on fourth down) to Jacob Jones. The Crimson Tornadoes were in the red zone at one point in the drive.
However, a holding penalty took them out of the red zone and out of field goal range, forcing them to punt.
Chardon marched down the field, and got a 39-yard field goal from Nathan Tager. This made their margin 17-3 going into the half.
In the second half, the two teams traded fourth-down stops. After Chardon’s most recent stop, they ate up 5 1/2 minutes of the third quarter clock. They capped the drive with a three-yard touchdown run from Sean Carr.
They increased their lead to 24-3 with :39.4 remaining in the game.
Junior linebacker Alex Kisley came up with a pair of sacks in the fourth quarter, to the delight of the Hilltopper crowd.
Chardon would eat up more clock, capping another drive with a two-yard run from Sean Carr for the final margin.
Ethan Gaspar came up with one more interception for the Chardon defense to cap off the night.
Despite losing several starters to graduation, the Toppers were undaunted, and have kept on rolling thus far in the playoffs.
They advance to a state semifinal matchup next Friday night with West Holmes, who defeated Holy Name, 31-21.
Dover’s season ends at 12-1.
Check out extended highlights below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYUoBBuw4qc
