20-0 win ensures home field for first round
Chandler’s defense scored its second straight shutout and the offense got all the points it needed in a 30-second stretch in the second quarter Thursday night at Luther.
The result was a 20-0 win that gave Chandler a home-field berth in the first round of the playoffs.
Chandler, Luther and Crossings Christian finished with 5-2 records in District 2A-2, but Chandler gets the second-place position by virtue of tiebreaker points.
That puts the Lions playing the Hennessey Eagles at 7 p.m. Friday night at Joe Telford Stadium.
Chandler had two touchdowns called back due to penalties in the first half, but finally broke through with a touchdown pass from Alec Jackson to Crus Jackson with 2:56 left before the half.
The extra point by Landon Miller made it 7-0.
Chaden Sullivan intercepted a pass on Luther’s first play after the kickoff, then Casmen Hill broke a 33-yard touchdown run on Chandler’s first snap.
Another kick by Miller and it was 14-0, enough of a winning margin, if they could hold it, to give Chandler home field for the first round.
“District points were where we were trying to hang in there,” said Chandler coach Jack Gray. “They were super athletic and could score a bunch of times, so it was a nailbiting situation. Chandler kept Luther out of the end zone in the second half, thanks in part to fourth-quarter interceptions by Stefaun Mackey and Brayden Nation, and got the clincher when Alec Jackson sprinted 35 yards for a touchdown with 1:14 left in the game.
“We were ahead by 13 points, so we felt pretty solid and just wanted to keep the ball out of their hands,” Gray said. “Just keep the ball on the ground keep Cas running.
“The defense played awesome - we did a lot of good stuff. We had some called back, got down in the red zone and had a fumble, shot ourselves in the foot and had a couple of drops early in the game, but the defense held us up.
For Friday’s game, both teams will come in with 7-3 records.
They have one common opponent - Crossings Christian, which beat Hennessey, 38-13, and Chandler, 16-6.
Passing Name Comp Att Yds Totals 8 17 58 Alec Jackson (Jr) 8 17 58 Rushing Name Car Yds Avg Totals 46 320 7.0 Cruz Jackson (So) 6 20 3.3 Alec Jackson (Jr) 11 37 3.4 Stefaun Mackey (Sr) 1 20 20.0 Casmen Hill (Sr) 28 243 8.7 Receiving Name Rec Yds Avg Totals 7 58 8.3 Cruz Jackson (So) 2 25 12.5 Brayden Nation (Sr) 1 4 4.0 Stefaun Mackey (Sr) 2 7 3.5 Casmen Hill (Sr) 1 8 8.0 J. Galbraith (Sr) 1 14 14.0 Tackles Name Solo Asst Tot Totals 9 24 33 Stefaun Mackey (Sr) 1 2 3 Blake Rickner (Sr) 1 1 2 Casmen Hill (Sr) 1 2 3 Ty Garver (So) 2 1 3 Zion Ward (Sr) 2 1 3 Kodey Pittman (Sr) 0 1 1 J. Galbraith (Sr) 6 6 12 Hunner Robinson (So) 0 3 3 Stran Messer (Jr) 2 2 4 Chaden Sullivan (Jr) 0 1 1 Ethan Manning (Sr) 0 4 4