Chargers come up big at Chopticon
Middleton throws two touchdowns, runs in two more in Lackey win
Lackey didn’t expect to come out the victor against an almost evenly matched team with a similar record. But when the Chargers senior quarterback Robert Middleton threw the ball for almost 250 yards and rushed for nearly 100 more, helping his team to four touchdowns against Chopticon, there wasn’t much the Braves could do about it.
Friday night, the visiting Chargers beat the Braves 39-21 in an intense Southern Maryland Athletic Conference nondivision match-up.
“It went great,” Middleton said. “We went out there and we executed. We did what we had to do. There was a quarterback sweep to the left. I just ran and dove for it at the end. I’m trying to finish the season out strong. We have four games left, and after this one we have three more to go.”
Lackey (4-3 overall) struck first just over 3 1/2 minutes into the contest as senior Jayson Wilmer scored from 4 yards out. The extra point was blocked, leaving the score at 6-0.
“I thought we started slow,” Lackey head coach John Lush said. “We made some big plays which went up early, but it may have been a little misleading because it was just a couple big plays. It’s not like we were dominating the scoreboard. I give credit to Chopticon. They kept fighting and challenged us at the half to be able to run the ball more effectively. I felt like if we could do that, we could take the game over and control the clock.
“The kids accepted the challenge and had a really good second half. Jonathan Bridgett had probably over 100 yards receiving. Jaquan Cobey had a couple big catches and at the end of the game there, Wilmer became the bell cow and really led that last drive. I think we took six or seven minutes off the clock at the point, so he kind of iced it for us.”
The Chargers scored again with just less than two minutes left in the period as senior quarterback Robert Middleton hit senior wide receiver Jonathan Bridgett for an 86-yard touchdown pass. Wilmer ran in the 2-point conversion and the visitors led 14-0.
Lackey went long again to start the scoring in the second quarter. This time, Middleton hit junior wide receiver Jaquan Cobey with an 87-yard pass and the Chargers led 21-0.
Chopticon (2-5) got on the board as it recovered a fumble and two plays later sophomore running back Devyn Vukovich scored from 7 yards out. Vukovich added a second touchdown with 16 seconds left in the half and the Braves went to the locker room trailing just 21-14.
Middleton had touchdowns runs of 2 and 18 yards in the third to extend the Lackey lead to 33-14.
Midway through the fourth, Lackey scored once more on a Wilmer 15-yard run. With just under two minutes left to play, Chopticon capped the scoring when junior quarterback Dominic Crampton hit senior Austin Brown with a pass for 46 yards and a touchdown.
“It was good, I stepped up,” Braves senior linebacker Jonathan Edelen said. “I did what the coaches wanted me to do. I normally play cornerback. I just did my thing. Thanks for the O-line. If it wasn’t for them I couldn’t have gotten half my tackles and sacks. I just got in there, read the snap and did my thing. We can win, we just have to step up the brotherhood to be honest. We could have won that game, but we were arguing and stuff, but we’re going to come back harder the next game.”
Chopticon will next play Huntingtown at home at 6 p.m. Friday. The Hurricanes (6-1) shut out Great Mills in Week 7, 21-0.
“There were some good things that we did out there, but we didn’t do enough consistently,” Chopticon head coach Anthony Lisanti said. “Mistakes killed us. We came out in the third quarter and made a good defensive stand, down seven points and we fumble the ball. Or we have them deep fourth-andlong and we let a ball go over our heads. All three facets, we did not execute. Lackey played well. They made the plays they had to and they deserve the victory. It’s just one game at a time. We just have to keep practicing and getting better.”
Lackey is scheduled to be at Thomas Stone at 7 p.m. The Cougars (4-3) edged La Plata in Week 6, 27-20.
“It’s a step, but we haven’t been able to do anything in succession this year,” Lush said. “We win one and lose and repeat. We have a couple left, so the challenge is to win and to finish the season strong.”