Chandler’s Lions shook off what ailed them a week ago and beat Luther, 37-20, Friday in a game that didn’t feel that close.
It was the regular-season finale and left the Lions with an 8-2 record and in second place in District 2A-2.
The Lions racked up 425 yards of total offense and handed the ball 30 times to senior running back Carson Clagg, who punished Luther for 203 yards and a touchdown.
Officials called the game with just under a minute to play after a Luther player was ejected and another took a swing at Chandler’s Javarious Wade after the following play..
It was a solid performance for the Lions, who looked lethargic a week earlier while beating Star-Spencer.
“There was a lot more energy and they were a lot more fired up,” said head coach Jack Gray. “We got a week of practice in with a new quarterback and he looked a lot more comfortable.”
Last week’s Star-Spencer game was the first as a starting quarterback for Braxton Estes, who replaced injured two-year starter Alec Jackson.
With only three days of practice, the Lions used a limited playbook against Star-Spencer, but added several new offensive looks against Luther.
They went old school several times, lining up in an I formation to take advantage of Clagg’s power running, and they used the wide receivers several times on running plays.
“We used the I several times,” Gray said. “It’s nothing new - it’s kind of what we’re based off of.
“We’ll get into the I any time we think we have an advantage with our offensive line over their D line. And it moves Carson around and gets him in that fullback spot where he’s quick hitter.”
As to the wide receiver jet sweeps, Gray said that was a part of the game plan to give the Lions extra flexibility.
“We call it a fly,” Gray said. “That was the game plan coming in.
“It was something we couldn’t do last week because we hadn’t repped it enough. That’s the kind of thing we’ve always had. It gets other athletes involved, it gets the quarterback involved with the jet and gives us some diversity.”
Chandler scored first, when quarterback Braxton Estes hit Caleb Sawatski with a 6-yard touchdown pass with 5:11 left in the third quarter.
They had another touchdown called back later in the quarter when Estes rolled out and found Cruz Jackson on what would have been a 62-yard scoring catch-and-run.
The Lions were called for holding, negating the score, but Estes and Jackson got it back in the second period, when Estes rolled out and found Jackson along the sideline. Jackson was well-covered, but he grabbed the ball, ducked away from the defender and scored, making it 12-0 with 8:39 left in the first half. Luther got its first score two minutes later, when Ruben Vega picked up his own fumble and sprinted 69 yards for a touchdown.
Estes ran for a touchdown with 1:56 remaining before halt and hit Jackson with a conversion pass, making the score 20-6 at the half.
Vega went 60 yards to score on the first play of the second half, but Estes hit Sawatski again to set up a 4-yard touchdown run, making it 27-12 after three periods.
Vega’s two scoring runs accounted for 129 of Luther’s 239 total yards.
Corbin Hollon scored on a 28-yard run with less than two minutes expired in the fourth quarter and Landon Miller booted a 35-yard field goal with 2:56 to play, making it 37-12.
Luther added another touchdown to account for the