Chandler finally got to play four quarters of football Friday night, beating Sperry, 39-12, in a district game and clinching a playoff spot.
It was a change of script from the Lions’ last three games, but a familiar plot.
The Lions won those three games, all of which were abbreviated either due to weather or the teams agreeing to a running clock in the second half,.
There was no need for any of that Friday. It was four quarters of football, as the Lions elevated their record to 6-3 for the season and 4-2 in district play.
“We got a little winded,” said Chandler coach Jack Gray. “We were a little worried about that.
“We only have about 14 guys on the sidelines, so people have to step up and make plays.”
The Lions close out their regular season with a road trip to Dewey on Friday. The Lions already have a spot in the playoffs, but the outcome of the Dewey game will determine if they finish third or fourth in the standing.
Win and they finish third, with a trip to Kiefer for the first round of the playoffs. If Dewey wins, the Lions will finish fourth and head to Kingston for the first round.
Dewey lost to Sperry by five points two weeks ago, which would seem to give Chandlertheedge,butGray said the Lions will have to tighten up a few things.
“Dewey is not the same team they were last year,” Gray said. “They went to a wing-T offense and we haven’t seen that since we played Stroud. It’s disciplined football and it’s hard to defend. The kind of misalignment stuff we had tonight, we have make sure that’s on point.”
“Our special teams have to get better. We gave up a lot of yards on kick returns and we let some punts roll on us.”
Overall, Gray seemed pleased with Chandler’s performance against Sperry.
“They took some things away from us, so we countered back,” he said. “We found ways to make our offense go.
“Our defense did really well. We lost two starters on offense and defense, so guys had to step up.
The Lions scored on their first and last plays of the first quarter.
Darius Wade scored following a blocked punt deep in Sperry’s end and Chace Buchanan scored on a three-yard on the last snap in the period.
Wade scored again in the second quarter when he caught a short pass, broke three tackles and took it 56 yards to the end zone, making the score 19-0 Buchanan hit Josiah Tillis for a 24-yard touchdown in the third quarter to make it 25-0 Then, late in the third period, the two teams combined for three touchdowns in 27 seconds.
Sperry started the scoring when Landon Brooks ran for a nine-yard touchdown. The first play after the kickoff, Buchanan ran 80 yards to the house. When Chandler kicked off, Sperry’s GideonWhittaker returned it for a touchdown.
That made the score 31-12.
Wadefinishedthescoring midway through the fourth quarter when he ran three yards for a touchdown and caught a conversion pass.