CCS's Boo Carter makes a move to get by some defenders in the Chargers 33-16 win over Boyd Buchanan.
photo by Greg Davick
It was fourth down and five on the first drive of the game for Chattanooga Christian. Head coach Phil Massey and company decided that, even though it was early, they had a chance to convert at midfield and gain some momentum.
Boyd-Buchanan’s secondary had other ideas.
Quarterback Jordan Gile took the snap, looking to pass; he faced pressure, but dumped it in the flat to junior superstar Boo Carter. Carter did his best to reach the line to gain, but was swarmed by defenders and pushed out short of the marker.
As soon as the play was made, the Buccaneer student section derisively let it be known what they thought.
However, Boo Carter knows his worth.
Despite an early slugfest, the offenses of both Chattanooga Christian and Boyd-Buchanan came to life in the final twenty-four minutes. CCS was led to a 33-16 DII-AA East Region victory by the herculean efforts of Carter who found paydirt on four different occasions over the course of the contest.
Buccaneers’ running back Jaylen Sanderfer came ready to play at the start of the game. His gains on the ground pretty much were the Boyd Buchanan offense in the opening twelve minutes, but his team still failed to reach the end zone. Strong coverage from the CCS secondary along with a palpable pass rush kept the Bucs from finding much success through the air.
Carter was able to punch it into the end zone from one yard out to give his team a six point lead in the second, but the Buccaneers had a chance to answer before the end of the half.
Successful execution on the defensive end helped force CCS into a three and out, resulting in a punt from their own end zone. The Bucs capitalized on this and started their last drive of the second only thirty-four yards away from the end zone. A crucial unsportsmanlike conduct on the Chargers and a dazzling screen and run from Sanderfer got them to the one yard line with only a handful of seconds left before halftime.
With 1.6 seconds to go, Boyd-Buchanan tossed it outside to Sanderfer, who seemingly sprinted into the end zone to knot things up at six. Pandemonium ensued on the Bucs’ crowd, but the play was ultimately for naught as a holding penalty took away the score.
Instead of ending the half on the penalty, the officials allowed the Buccaneers one last play to end the half. They elected to cut the lead in half with an Ethan Lane field goal.
The second half could not have looked different for both teams. The Charger offense finally built some momentum while the Bucs came out of the locker room powerfully, but limped to the finish.
Two huge contributors to this change were CCS defensive lineman Davoris Havis and Landon Newton. The pair combined for seven and a half tackles for loss and owned the line of scrimmage in the second half. Whether it was stuffing Jaylen Sanderfer in the backfield or forcing Jacob Hutchinson to throw a ball faster than he wanted to, the pair made a significant impact.
A blocked Charger punt set Boyd-Buchan up on their opponents’ ten yard line early in the third. They took possession of the lead on a drag route from Caden Johnson where he caught a bullet from Hutchinson.
Though the Buccaneers appeared to have momentum swinging in their favor, this was soon to change. On the Chargers’ following possession Jordan Gile threw his most impressive pass of the game. AJ Wallace ran a go route down the left sideline and was hit forty-one yards down the field on a beautifully tight spiral from Gile. This set his team up to score in one of their most comfortable ways: a jet sweep in the hands of Boo Carter.
From there, the Charger defense forced a turnover thanks to a pressure from Caden Johnson who was bearing down on Hutchinson and contributed to his interception. The pick was run back over fifty yards by Dre Martin who passed the original line of scrimmage on his return.
A steady diet of Carter and Havis helped the Chargers move the ball on a tiring Buccaneer defense and they quickly scored again despite a slight miscue at the line of scrimmage. Near the goal line, Carter ran into his quarterback on a designed draw play. This did not bother the young running back as he simply bounced outside the tackles to sprint untouched into the end zone.
With a 20-10 advantage, the Chargers had regained momentum and taken air out of the Boyd-Buchanan crowd. Javoris Havis found more success on the ground as the third quarter stretched on. He rattled off forty yards on the ground on eight carries and found paydirt on a pass to the flat from Gile.
Despite the sixteen point deficit that they faced for a large portion of the second half, the Bucs intercepted a deep ball from the Chargers, but were unable to capitalize on the turnover and gave it right back to their opponent on their turnover on downs that followed.
Another Charger miscue gave them the ball when Havis was lit up over midfield and coughed up the pigskin to Brons Donaldson. This time, the Boyd-Buchanan offense capitalized, scoring on a one yard dive to Sanderfer.
Unfortunately for the home crowd, it was too little too late. The Bucs failed to convert the two point conversion and ended up allowing one last touchdown to the athlete they called “overrated” in the opening series of the game.
The hard fought contest brings CCS’ record to 7-1 on the year with a spotless 5-0 record in the district. Boyd Buchanan takes their second loss of the season, falling to 5-2 and 1-2 in the district.
Next week the Chargers will face Grace Christian Academy while Boyd-Buchanan takes on Notre Dame
Scoring Summary:
BOYD-BUCHANAN 0 3 7 6 - 16
CHATTANOOGA CHRISTIAN 0 6 20 7 - 33
CCS - Boo Carter one yard run (Lane Travis kick blocked 10:12 2nd)
BBS - Ethan Lane twenty-eight yard field goal (0:00 2nd)
BBS - Jacob Hutchinson eleven yard pass to Caden Johnson (Ethan Lane Kick 8:19 3rd)
CCS - Boo Carter fourteen yard run (Lane Travis kick 6:53 3rd)
CCS - Boo Carter six yard run (Lane Travis kick 3:22 3rd)
CCS - Jordan Gile twenty-one yard pass to Javoris Havis (Lane Travis kick no good :37 3rd)
BBS - Jaylen Sanderfer one yard run (2pt. no good 4:19 4th)
CCS - Boo Carter fifty-six yard run (Lane Travis kick 1:36)
CCS STATS BBS
16 First Downs 15
42-222 Rushes/Yards 36-153
82 Passing Yards 153
304 Total Yards 187
7-14-1 Passing (Att-Comp-Int) 13-24-1
4-55 Penalties/Yards 2-20
3-18.7 Punts-Avg. 6-26.2
3-1 Fumbles-Lost 3-1
Individual Stats:
Rushing: Jaylen Sanderfer 20- 55 1 TD, Jatavious Davis 7-19, Jacob Hutchinson 9-(-40) (BBS); 15-163 4 TD, Javoris Havis 18-83, Jordan Gile 7-(-24) (CCS)
Passing: Jacob Hutchinson 12-20 148 Yds 1 TD 1 Int, Houston Hicks 1-4 5 Yds (BBS); Jordan Gile 7-14 82 Yds 1 TD 1 Int (CCS)
Receiving: Brons Donaldson 8-73, Caden Johnson 2-41 1 TD, Sebastian Jones 1-26, Jaylen Sanderfer 1-8, Jatavious Davis 1-5 (BBS); AJ Wallace 1-41, Javoris Havis 1-21 1 TD, Boo Carter 4-15, Da’Rell Brown 1-5