FOOTBALL: Chambersburg Cardinals pull away from D.C. Explosion, 56-24
Chambersburg,PA-Tough defense: The Chambersburg Cardinals’ defense, led....
It was the closest game of the season for the Chambersburg Cardinals on Saturday night at Trojan Stadium, but the home team overcame an early deficit and crushed the D.C. Explosion in the second half to remain undefeated in the Gridiron Developmental Football League.
The 56-24 score was closer than some expected, but Chambersburg head coach Eric Fauson knew it would be a battle.
"I fully expected them (the Explosion) to give us everything they had," he said. "We gave up 16 points on special teams, so they only would've scored eight on us if everything had worked out."
The Explosion came out strong, returning the opening kickoff for an 86-yard touchdown. Chambersburg answered quickly when Anthony Gardner used the height of Ottis Lewis to his advantage, lofting a touchdown pass over a defender's head for a score.
D.C. increased its lead in the second quarter when Paul Minus scooped up a blocked punt and took it 23 yards for a TD, making the score 16-6.
The Cardinals weren't fazed, however, as they put up three touchdowns before halftime.
Gardner connected with Garrien Johnson for a 31-yard score, Dustin Mowen ran the ball in from one yard out, and J.P. Marshall snagged an interception and took it to the house to make the lead 28-16.
"We started out a little slow," Johnson said, "but we got the ball rolling. Not to be cocky, but when I saw their coverage and nobody was playing on top of me, I knew I had them beat (on his two touchdowns). Their
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defense made our offense work today, but that's a good thing."
The second half opened with a bang for Chambersburg when Lewis reeled in a 41-yard pass from Gardner on the quarter's first play, which was followed by a 19-yard run by Craig Heyward Jr. for a score.
D.C.'s Larry Graham used his legs for a 26-yard touchdown run just before the quarter ended, but it was all Chambersburg for the remainder of the game.
Gardner connected with Johnson for their second touchdown of the night on a 49-yard bomb, and followed shortly after with a 25-yarder to Terrence McLatchey, who found his way into the end zone for the score.
With less than two minutes remaining, Gardner found Travis Smith with a 4-yard toss for his fifth TD pass of the night.
"It was a good game," Explosion coach Charles McGriff said. "There was great execution on the Cardinals' behalf. We had a lot of backups out there tonight and had some breakdowns and blown coverages; we did it to ourselves. The Cardinals are a great team and we expected a battle."
Fauson believes his team has even more to bring in the next four regular season games.
"Running the ball just isn't working for us right now," he said. "Teams can look at our film and read our sets, but we've gotta go to what we know we can do and throw the ball. We just need to put a complete game together ... all four quarters, which is something we haven't been able to do yet. It would be fun to see just how dangerous this team can be."
Chambersburg 56, D.C. 24
Chambersburg 6 22 8 20 -- 56
D.C. Explosion 8 8 8 0 -- 24
First Quarter
DC--Keith Alston kickoff return, (Mike McNeal run) 14:47
C--Ottis Lewis 25 pass from Anthony Gardner (pass failed) 12:34
Second Quarter
DC--Paul Minus blocked punt 23 return (McNeal run) 8:50
C--Garrien Johnson 31 pass from Gardner (run failed) 6:48
C--Dustin Mowen 1 run (Lewis pass from Gardner) 3:50
C--J.P. Marshall interception 27 return (Gardner run) 2:31
Third Quarter
C--Craig Heyward Jr. 19 run (Johnson pass from Gardner) 14:09
DC--Larry Graham 26 run (Graham run) 00:20
Fourth Quarter
C--Johnson 49 pass from Gardner (run failed) 14:53
C--Terrence McLatchey 25 pass from Gardner (Gardner run) 12:11
C--Travis Smith 4 pass from Gardner (run failed) 1:57
TEAM STATISTICS
DC Chbg
First downs 13 14
Rushes-yds. 21-139 30-108
Passing yds. 106 258
Total offense 245 366
Passing 7-28-5 15-25-0
Fumbles-lost 2-2 0-0
Punts-avg.4-33.5 3-34
Penalties-yds. 11-142 8-70
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING -- DC, Graham 12-76, Jelani Walker 4-27, McNeal 2-22, Ed Garnes 3-14. Chbg, Gardner 10-40, Hayward 5-21, Keon Lattimore 6-18, Andre McDonald 5-17, Mowen 4-12.
PASSING -- DC, Ed Garnes 7-28-5. Chbg, Gardner 15-25-0.
RECEIVING -- DC, James Boyd 5-71, John Thomas 1-28, Chris Lewis 1-7 . Chbg, Johnson 2-80, Lewis 2-66, Jerrell Jones 6-34, Ivan Randolph 1-38, McLatchey 2-30, Smith 2-10.
INTERCEPTIONS -- Michael Coles, Marshall, Louis Corum, Markkus Davis, Justine Buries.
Chambersburg 56, D.C. 24
Of note: The Explosion took a 16-6 lead in the second quarter, but the Cardinals scored 7 of the last 8 touchdowns to pull away
... Chambersburg QB Anthony Gardner threw for 5 TDs, including 2 to Garrien Johnson.
Records: The Cardinals (5-0) play at Lancaster on Saturday, 7 ... D.C. is 3-3.
No. 21 Jets Smash Chiefs 34-14, Remain Division Leader
Detronn Harris, Matthew Hardeman and Derrick Weems help Jets bounce back from loss
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Jets Media LLC
HAMPTON, GA - The No.21 ranked Georgia Jets overcame a sluggish start to power their way past the rival Chiefs (3-3) who were ranked as high as No. 12 earlier in the season, with a 34-14 onslaught. Detronn Harris had a hand in all five Jets touchdown, passing for three and rushing for two.
Harris found Cole Stevenson, Curtis Blake III and Nicholas Miller on his passing touchdowns while rushing 67 yards and 16 yards for touchdowns.
Matthew Hardeman headed a stellar defensive effort from the Jets that constantly kept the Chiefs behind the sticks most of the night. Derrick Weems is continuing to come into his own at the safety position replacing the injured Trae Hille who is out for the season with a rib injury.
The Chiefs scored their 14 points in the final 8 minutes of the game on back to back possessions after the Jets cleared their bench. The Jets now own a 2-1 All-Time series lead against the Chiefs winning the last two meetings.
The Jets will be home again at beautiful Twelve Oaks next week to face the Atlanta Lions, who fell 12-0 to the Georgia Knights. The Jets opened their season with a 35-14 win over the Lions.
Well THANK YOU for that information everyone can now get out of the heat and stop wasting all this damn practice time the tornados are going to come out of the POWERFUL GDFL and there isn't anybody else that can touch them or the others in this super league in fact the Colts might offer the stadium to the GDFL so that these players who walk on water can use that very nice facility for games.
Come on are we really to believe that the BCS rankings are BS
I would be willing to bet that if that league had a team at the top of the bcs they would be singing a different song.
I know I've watched my last game in Indianapolis that costs $10.00 to get in.
There are plenty of other good fights that cost half that much.
