Chambersburg breezes to playoff win over Virginia Cougars
By CHRISTINA METHNER For Public Opinion
The Chambersburg Cardinals' season continues.
While playing host to the Virginia Cougars on Saturday night at Trojan Stadium, the Cardinals put up another dominating performance, winning 48-20, and will continue their undefeated season into the next round of the playoffs.
"Everybody knew that the pressure was on tonight," Chambersburg coach Chad Fauson said. "The guys realized that this game meant something. We knew we needed to jump on them early and fast and that's what we planned to do in practice this week. It was nice to see something that we had drawn up go according to plan."
The Cardinals' plan went into action during their first possession. Just over one minute into the game, Keon Lattimore found a hole and broke outside for a 62-yard run that left Virginia defenders trailing in his path.
"The week leading up to the game we heard that (Virginia) was talking trash, so we had it out for them," Lattimore said. "As soon as I got the ball I was thinking touchdown. I got good blocking up front and I think that play helped set the tone for the rest of the night."
Chambersburg got on the board again when Ronald Frazier scooped up a loose ball and ran it 75 yards for a score.
The Cardinals' scoring effort continued into the second quarter. Stephen Link nailed field goals from 29 and 25 yards, and Ottis Lewis used his height to extend above a defender in the end zone to grab 15-yard pass from Anthony Gardner to give Chambersburg a 27-0 lead at halftime.
Virginia came out fighting in the third period when Zach Terrell connected with Richard Carter, who broke free for a 76-yard score. However, Gardner answered with a 10-yard toss to Ronald Dawkins, who was standing open in the end zone, and Craig Heyward Jr. added to the lead with a seven-yard run.
A Cougars' interception return added seven more points before the start of the fourth quarter, and another touchdown was later scored by Virginia on a QB keeper from one yard out.
Chambersburg had the final word, however. Atcheson Conway found a gap and ran 36 yards to close the scoring efforts for the victorious Cardinals.
"I'm proud of these guys and am pretty happy with how we played in all phases of the game," Lattimore said. "I have to take my hat off to the defense and give credit to the coaching staff for their calls tonight. The fans were great, too. It was a good crowd. We're going to watch film this week and hopefully take what we learned tonight and add onto it."
Fauson agreed.
"This was our most complete game of the season," he said. "We need to keep improving each round as long as we get a chance to keep playing in the playoffs. This is the first game we really got into a rhythm.
"The beautiful thing is that we have the personnel to run two types of offense. We can run a power football game or run a finesse game and air it out and spread the field. And our defense is just solid. I wouldn't want to play against them."
It's unlikely that any opponents will want to, either.
Chambersburg 48, Va. Cougars 20
Virginia 0 0 14 6 -- 20
Chambersburg 14 13 14 7 -- 48
First Quarter
C -- Keon Lattimore 62 run (Stephen Link kick), 13:56
C -- Ronald Frazier 75 fumble recovery return (Link kick), 10:34
Second Quarter
C -- Link 29 field goal, 9:45
C -- Link 25 field goal, 2:45
C -- Ottis Lewis 15 pass from Anthony Gardner (Link kick), 1:21
Third Quarter
V -- Richard Carter 76 pass from Zach Terrell (Mark Miller kick), 14:04
C -- Ronald Dawkins 1 pass from Gardner (Link kick), 8:17
C -- Craig Heyward Jr. 7 run (Link kick), 4:35
V -- Lawerance Robinson 61 interception return (Miller kick), 2:14
Fourth Quarter
V -- Terrell 1 run (kick blocked), 11:59
C -- Atcheson Conway 36 run (Link kick), 9:58
TEAM STATISTICS
Va. Chbg
First downs 10 12
Rushes-yds. 28-110 27-210
Passing yds. 209 85
Total offense 319 295
Passing 12-23-1 11-20-1
Fumbles-lost 3-2 2-2
Punts-avg. 3-29.3 1-45
Penalties-yds. 16-145 11-115
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING -- Va., Miller 19-83, Michael Roberts 6-29, Detric Murray 1-1, Jeff Overton 2-(-3). Chbg, Lattimore 11-105, Conway 6-78, Heyward 2-18, Dustin Mowen 5-17, Joshua Finafrock 1-(-2), Jerell Jones 1-(-3), Gardner 1-(-3).
PASSING -- Va., Terrell 11-18-200-1, Jesus Ruiz 1-5-9-0. Chbg, Gardner 11-16-85-0, Finafrock 0-4-0-1.
RECEIVING -- Va., Carter 7-142, A.C. Fitchett 1-47, Jeff Overton 2-14, Detric Murray 2-6. Chbg, Jones 7-57, Lewis 1-15, Dawkins 2-10, Garrien Johnson 1-5.
INTERCEPTIONS -- Chbg, James Rockymore, Robinson.
VIRGINIA BEACH, Virginia – Football is the ultimate team game and in order to win games, the team must perform well. Consequently, despite how the well or bad a team performs, some outstanding individual achievements deserve plenty of accolades. Third year veteran DE James Pollard Jr.’s 9 sack performance deserves plenty of praise. Despite the superior play of Pollard, the South Jersey Lynx (6-4) could not overcome the 10-point deficit at the hands of the Hampton Roads Hurricanes (10-1).