Charleston pulls away behind big 3rd quarter
CHARLESTON 40, CEDARVILLE 20
CEDARVILLE — Charleston couldn’t wrestle the ball away from Cedarville for most of the first half on Friday night.
The Tigers more than made up for it right before the half and then into the third quarter with a threescore flurry for a 40-20 win against Cedarville at Glen Wisely Field.
Charleston (5-0, 2-0 3A1) answered Cedarville’s long-scoring drive with a quick-strike possession. After recovering a squib kick, Brandon Scott hit Reese Merechka for 37 yards and scrambled for a yard before scoring on a 19yard run down the right sideline with 52 seconds left in the first half. Bryton Ketter kicked Charleston up 21-20 at the half.
The Tigers took the second half kickoff and reeled off a 12-play drive with Scott following Dale Smith into the end zone from a yard out with 6:34 left in the third quarter. The extra point kick was wide right, leaving Charleston with a 27-20 lead.
Daniel Hice then recovered an onside kick for Charleston, setting up the Tigers at the 49. Scott scored again on a 5-yard drive up the middle with 4:40 left in the quarter. Ketter’s extra point try put Charleston up, 34-20.
“It was there,” Charleston Coach Ricky May said. “We struggled stopping them the first half so we felt like that would help us maybe another score up on them if we could get that.”
Sebastian Gaona intercepted a pass for the Tigers four plays later, and Brevyn Ketter scored standing up from a yard out with 1:30 left for a 40-20 lead.
Charleston had just three possessions in the first half and ran 18 offensive plays, but did manage 188 yards and scored on all three.
Cedarville’s offense controlled the first half.
“I knew they’d be ready to go,” May said. “Cedarville’s always ready to go. The kids played well and stuck with it. We made a couple of little adjustments, and it paid off.”
The Pirates won the coin toss, took the opening kickoff and grabbed a 6-0 on Hayden Partain’s powering 24-yard scoring run with 9:02 left in the quarter.
Cedarville (4-1, 1-1) took a 12-7 lead on a 2-yard scoring run by Darryl Kattich with 56 seconds left in the opening quarter.
The Pirates also led 20-14 with a textbook 13-play drive that took seven minutes, 52 seconds off the clock with Cody Dicken’s scoring from a yard out. Kattich added the two-point run with 1:41 left before the half.
“The first half went perfectly for us,” Cedarville Coach Max Washausen said. “The momentum was with us. That third quarter, the score and then the onside and then the turnover, the momentum swung their way.”
Charleston answered each score, though.
Brevyn Ketter scored with 6:48 left in the first quarter, and Bryton Ketter kicked the extra point for a 7-6 lead.
Charleston went up, 14-12, six plays into the second quarter when Brevyn Ketter followed Bryton Ketter into the end zone to finish a 1-yard run.
Kattich led Cedarville with 110 yards on 20 carries but had 96 of that in the first half. Partain added 108 yards on 18 totes but 104 was in the first half when Cedarville had 36 offensive plays.
Scott threw for 121 yards and ran for 111. Brevyn Ketter added 77 yards on the ground.