Chandler’s season came to an abrupt halt Friday night at the hands of the visiting Alva Gold Bugs, who took a 16-6 victory back to Northwest Oklahoma.
The loss eliminated the Lions from the Class 2A playoffs and put their record at 8-3.
Neither team scored in the first half until the Gold Bugs got a field goal just before the horn.
Chandler got its score in the third quarter when Carson Clagg ran for a first down to set up a 46yard run by Braxton Estes with 5:21 left in the period. Alva blocked the extra-point kick, leaving it 6-3.
The score stayed that way until the first play of the fourth quarter, when Alva’s Daylon Malone skirted the right side for a touchdown.
The conversion point made it 10-6, but it didn’t stay that way long.
Alva quarterback Cambell Gaisford pulled the ball down and sprinted 55 yards for a touchdown with 8:10 to play to make the score 16-6.
The Lions mounted drives later in the period, but one ended when a fourth-down play came up short and one ended on an interception.
“Mentally showing up to play, preparation-wise - it just wasn’t there tonight,” coach Jack Gray said. “It wasn’t a good time for it to happen.
“They did a lot of good things, moved their defense around and did a lot of things to try and confuse us, but mostly it was just us.”
Alva had 255 yards of total offense to the Lions’ 223. Chandler ran for 175 yards and threw for 48.
The seniors on this year’s team closed out their careers with a 3415 record, made four straight appearances in the playoffs and won three straight against ancient rival Stroud.
As freshmen in the COVID year of 2020, they went 9-4 and had an 8-4 record in 2021 and a 9-4 mark last year.
“When I got here, these guys were the junior high kids and they’ve done a lot to turn the program around,: Gray said.
“It was a good season, with all the injuries we had.”