Anadarko came from behind in the fourth quarter to hand Chandler its first district loss of the season Friday night.
The Lions were up, 23-13, with about four minutes to play in the third quarter, but Anadarko ran a kickoff back for a touchdown and scored what proved to be the winning touchdown when Farris Sutteer plowed across with 4:48 left in the game.
Chandler had taken the quickest possible lead when Jordan Denson ran the opening kickoff back for a touchdown and had leads of 16-13 and 22-13 in the second half, but injuries and turnovers took their toll.
The loss leaves the Lions, Lindsay and Anadarko tied for second place in District 2A-1-2. All are 2-1 and trail district leader Washington. The Lions are back in action Thursday, hosting Casady at Joe Telford Field.
“We started off fast on the opening kickoff and I felt that made us complacent,” coach Jack Gray said. “We were complacent through the whole first half and let them hang in the game. While we were trying to get back on top, adversity starting hitting with injuries.
“It turned into a nightmare of a game halfway through, where we don’t have our personnel, don’t have certain people on defense, don’t have our backup players, don’t have a running back in this personnel, a receiver in this personnel.”
“It’s not good. Going forward we have to figure out where we are and where guys are going to be, health-wise, and when we’re getting them back, if we are getting them back.”
Casady comes into the game with a 1-5 season record, with the victory coming over Crossings Christian. The Cyclones are 0-3 in district.
The game is on Thursday because of fall break, which Gray said is a break for the Lions.
“If we were healthy, I’d rather get back on the field fast, but it’s going to be a lot of moving parts now,” he said. “We have a quarterback possibly down, running back out, fullback out, one of our tight ends out, one of our guards out. I’d rather have another day of reps.”
The Lions started with a bang against Anadarko. The Warriors started the game with a short kickoff, which Denson fielded and took up the Chandler sideline to the end zone. The kick was blocked, leaving it 6-0.
Chandler’s next drive was curtailed by a lost fumble in Anadarko territory and Anadarko converted it into a touchdown pass to Noah Guy with 1:56 left in the first quarter.
Denson was back in the end zone early in the second quarter on a 16-yard run, then a 27-yard field goal from Levi Becktol made it 16-7 with 35 seconds left in the first half. Sutteer returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown, but Chandler blocked the kick, leaving it 1613 at intermission.
Chandler defensive back Karson Wilson intercepted a pass at the Chandler 24-yard line and Denson ran 76 yards on the next play for his third touchdown of the game. Becktol’s kick made it 22-13 with 3:59 left in the third quarter.
Anadarko came back with a 26-yard pass for a touchdown to Adrian Callueng a minute and a half later.
The Warriors took the lead when Chandler had to punt and KeWayne Tillis returned the ball to the Lions’ 17-yard line. Sutteer ran three straight times, finally plowing into the end zone with 4:48 to play The Lions had one final chance to take the lead. They began the drive on their own 33 and faced a fourth-and-13 from their own 42 with a 1:53 to play. Quarterback Clayton Ritchie hit Darius Wade over the middle and he carried it to the Anadarko 42 for a first down.
The Warriors intercepted a pass on the next play to lock up the win.
“It was a nightmare of a game,” Gray said. “Everything went wrong that could go wrong. Nothing was going right for us, and they kept punching, kept going. Hats off to them. They saw our weakness and turned it on.
“That’s something we didn’t want to do with these guys. I told our guys that we haven’t played in this district and a lot of our guys don’t know anything about Anadarko. They are a traditional good team and they know how to win.
“If you let them hang around, you’re going to give them a lot of momentum to come thump your butts. That’s something we didn’t want to do.”