Chandler overpowered Little Axe, 55-13, Friday night to make coach Jack Gray the winningest head coach in Lions’ football history.
The win was his 64th as Chandler head coach, putting him one ahead of Shelby Wyatt, who coached the Lions from 1947 to 1956 and went 54-48.
“It means a lot,” Gray said. “It’s so cool to be put in the history. “I’m from here and I heard about all these All-State players and coaches from the past. I heard about all those guys growing up and it was a big deal, so it’s great to be up there.”
A 2009 Chandler graduate who led the Lions to an appearance in the state finals as a player, Gray has never had a losing record as head coach. He coached the Lions to a 5-5 record in 2018, his first season as head coach, and since then has taken them to the playoffs every season.
“Putting wins up for Chandler, that’s my main thing,” he said. “I want this town to have a winning team. It’s great to be up there with those guys, and being on the all-time list is pretty cool.”
There was little suspense to his record-breaking win. The Lions scored on two of their first three offensive snaps and three of their first six. In the second half, they scored 14 straights points without ever snapping the ball.
“Watching film, we knew what kind of game this could be,” Gray said. “We talked to the guys and said ‘We want to see you step it up. No matter who you’re playing, who you’re going against, have the intensity and toughness at the start of the game.’
“That was our focus this week: the toughness factor. We don’t let up on someone, no matter who they are, if it’s a Washington or Jones or if it’s Little Axe. We want to play the same all the time.
“We set the tone and we set the speed. Our guys who came in at the middle of the game hadn’t had a lot of reps and they played with intensity and did some good things. I liked seeing that.”
Jordan Denson scored on the second play of the Lions’ first possession. Karson Wilson set up the second touchdown with an interception that he returned to the Indians’ 13-yard line. The next play, Darius Wade was in the end zone and the Lions led, 13-0, with 3:26 left in the period.
Quarterback Clayton Ritchie found Zaedyn Hankins with a 19yard scoring pass to make it 20-0 with less than a minute left in the quarter.
Boston Christy set up the next touchdown when he got a hand on a Little Axe punt early in the second quarter. The Lions took possession at the Indians’ 26 and Josiah Tillis ran it in from six yards out with 7:49 to go before halftime.
Ritchie recovered a Little Axe fumble on the ensuing kickoff and then hit Denson for a 66-yard touchdown pass on the following play. Levi Becktol’s extrapoint kick made it 34-0.
On Little Axe’s next series, Denson intercepted a pass and hauled it 35 yards for a score and Wade followed with a 32yard interception return for a touchdown on the Indians’ next possession.
Following that was a two-play Chandler drive that ended with Wade going over from two yards out. Becktol’s kick made it 55-0 with 2:52 left in the first half.
The Indians got in some celebrating of their own in the second half.
They had scored only one touchdown in their first four games, put up two in the second half to account for the final 5513 score.