See how your favorite high school football teams finish out the regular season.
Chattooga earns the Region 7-AA No. 2 seed with the win and will host a state playoff game next week.
While the Chattooga football team has made the playoffs all five seasons Charles Hammon has been at the helm, this year’s playoff appearance will be special to the team’s head coach.
“It’s at home,” he said. “We don’t have to get on a bus. It’ll be the first time in five years we don’t have to get on a bus.”
The Indians came away with a 19-7 win Friday night against Pepperell on Senior Night at Dragon Stadium, earning them the No. 2 seed in Region 7-AA and the right to host a Class AA state playoff game next week.
Chattooga will host Washington, the No. 3 seed out of Region 6-AA, and Pepperell will head out on the road to face No. 2 seed Douglass.
E.J. Lackey and Leshaun Lester led the Indians’ ground game, with Lackey finishing with 165 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries, while Lester had 63 yards and a score on 12 carries.
Chattooga (8-2, 6-1 7-AA) entered halftime of Friday’s contest against Pepperell tied 0-0, which was just fine with Hammon, who had confidence his team could pull out a win if they didn’t get behind.
“I told the kids, if we win or tie a quarter, we’re going to win,” Hammon said. “In the first quarter, win or tie, we’re winning this thing. Halftime, win or tie, we’re winning this thing. There were two good football teams here, and both teams played their guts out. No one deserved to lose, but I’m glad we won.”
Pepperell was hampered by injuries before and during the game, and the offense struggled to gain any momentum against the Indians.
Sophomore starting quarterback Gage Moses injured himself in the weightroom Thursday, in what head coach Rick Hurst said was hopefully just a pulled hamstring.
The quarterback situation worsened for Pepperell (6-4, 5-2) when Josh Ross, who started in place of Moses, injured his right ankle in the third quarter while trying to evade the Chattooga defense. Hurst said both players will be examined in the upcoming days, but it’s likely they won’t be available in the playoffs.
Hurst then looked to sophomore Landon Loyd, who stepped in while the score was still tied 0-0.
“I know that he didn’t bat an eye,” Hurst said. “He got some reps in during practice this week as he always does. I’m just super proud of them. I hate it for them. I hate that we’re in the situation we’re in, but that’s part of the game. We’ve been lucky and fortunate not to have those kinds of injuries here in the last couple of years, but we just got snake-bit at the wrong time.”
Loyd got the Dragons on the scoreboard with just over two minutes left in the game when he hit Payton Rhoades on a 47-yard touchdown pass to make the final 19-7.
The Indians broke open the tie in the third quarter when Lester scored on a 6-yard run for a 6-0 score. Lackey’s touchdown came in the fourth quarter with 10:24 left to play when he broke loose for a 74-yard run for a 12-0 score. Chattooga quarterback Clayton Johnson put the game away with 2:25 left when he scored from 4 yards out to put the Indians up 19-0.