The Strawberry Crest Chargers hosted the East Bay Indians in week one.
East Bay won the coin toss and deferred, so the Chargers got the ball first. Just like that, FOOTBALL IS BACK. The Chargers’ Jose Aponte took the opening kickoff for a touchdown in the first 11 seconds of the game, up 7-0 after the extra point. The Indians’ opening kickoff was a touchback, so they started at the 20-yard line. A Chargers offside penalty gave the Indians a free 5 yards to start. The Indians got a first down on a short drive route, but on the following play, the Chargers forced a fumble, tackling the Indians’ quarterback, and took over at the Indians’ 30-yard line. Zion Weems took the opening carry for the Chargers for a gain of three yards. Rowdy Tucker then ran up the middle for a first down.
Adam Eskew ran the ball for a 6-yard gain, putting the Chargers in the red zone. Another Chargers run brought up 3rd and 6. An Indian encroachment penalty moved the Chargers up, making it 3rd and 1. Chargers QB Sevin Bagnato ran it up the middle for a first down. Eskew took a handoff, making it 2nd and goal at the 9. After another run, the Chargers’ first pass of the game was incomplete, bringing up 4th and goal. They brought out the field goal unit, and they converted, making it 10-0 Chargers with 4:42 left in the first.
The Indians started their second possession with another touchback and on the first play had a 30-yard pass, putting them at midfield early on in the drive. Zayveon Springfield then had a huge tackle for the Chargers to put the momentum back in their favor. It was third and 11 after 2 short runs by the Indians, and they got the first down as the quarterback escaped the pocket and found an open receiver. After a timeout, the Indians had a nice run, making it second and short inside the Chargers 30-yard line. Aponte kept his big game going with an interception in the end zone for the Chargers, and he returned it to midfield with 1:43 left in the first. Bagnato had a nice play action pass to find Tre Feliciano wide open for the first down. Tucker had a nice carry up the middle for the Chargers for about 8 yards, and Weems had a short carry to end the first quarter with the Chargers up 10-0.
The Chargers started the second quarter with a third-and-short. Weems took the carry for a first down. It was first and 10 at the Indians 24-yard line. Weems took another carry, this time for 2 yards. Feliciano took a handoff for a couple of yards, bringing up third and short. An offsides on the Indians gave the Chargers a first down, making it first and goal at the 10-yard line. Weems ran for about 5 yards, and Eskew lost yards, bringing up 3rd and goal at the 8. A Chargers timeout was called with 7:31 left in the first half. The pass after the timeout was incomplete, so the Chargers kicked a field goal to extend their lead 13-0 with 7:25 left in the first half.
The Indians started their first drive of the second quarter at their own 11-yard line. After a run for no gain, the Chargers gave up some free yards on an encroachment. The Chargers almost picked it off, bringing up 3rd and long. A Chargers facemask penalty moved the Indians up 15 yards. An official’s timeout was called with 6:11 left in the half. Malachi Johnson had nice pressure, forcing the quarterback to throw a bad pass, setting up 2nd and 10 for the Indians. A short run brought up third and 5. The Indians had a small gain, making it 4th and 2, and the Indians lined up to go for it. They had a solid run on the right side of the field for a first down as they reached midfield. Aponte had a nice tackle for the Chargers, bringing up second and long. The Chargers forced a fumble with a big hit, taking over at their own 45 for their second fumble recovery of the first half.
Weems took a carry up the middle for a one-yard gain. The Chargers took their final timeout of the half with 2:12 left in the first. Bagnato stepped out of the pocket to find Aponte open for a first down. Weems had a short carry for the Chargers, putting them past midfield. Bagnato then found Hunter Hall on a curl route with some nice yards after the catch for a first down. The Chargers then attempted a deep pass, but it was incomplete. An injury timeout was called after the receiver was slow to get up with 8 seconds left in the half. Bagnato found Hall again on a similar route for a first down, and he got out of bounds with 3 seconds left. The Chargers attempted their third field goal of the half, and Brayden Echols made another one, a 42-yarder, making it 16-0 Chargers to end the first half.
East Bay got the ball to start the second half and had a nice kickoff return, but lost yards due to an unnecessary roughness call. The first carry of the half was for one yard. An injury timeout was called after a run, and it brought up 3rd and 2. Steven Diaz had a nice stop, clogging up the run lane, forcing the Indians to punt it on a 3 and out.
The Chargers fumbled the punt, and the Indians took over at the Chargers 46-yard line with 9:37 left in the third. Malachi Johnson got the momentum back for the Chargers on a sack, a 6-yard loss for the Indians. After a short run, it was third and long. An encroachment penalty on the Chargers made it third and 7 for the Indians. After an incomplete pass, the Indians went for it on 4th down and turned it over.
The Chargers started their first drive of the second half at their own 40-yard line. Trey Feliciano had a nice 7-yard carry to start the drive. Weems lost a yard on 2nd down, bringing up 3rd down for the Chargers. Another short run had them punt it on a 3-and-out possession.
The Indians started the drive at their own 12-yard line. A personal foul on the Chargers moved the Indians up to the 26-yard line with 5:08 left in the third. They started the drive with a short run up the middle, followed by a short pass, bringing up third and 5 for the Indians. They converted the first down on a nice slant route up the middle. Joe Borchard had a nice tackle for the Chargers, bringing up second and long. Right after his tackle, Borchard picked the ball off for the Chargers, and they took over at midfield with 3:12 left in the third. Weems had a small loss on first down for the Chargers, followed by a Chargers timeout with 2:07 left in the third. After another run by Weems, an injury timeout was called. It was third and 6 at the 50 for the Chargers, and Bagnato threw a short pass to Hunter Hall, who broke a tackle for a touchdown. After the extra point, it was 23-0 Chargers with 1:23 left in the third.
The Chargers picked it off again as Borchard got his second interception of the game. The Chargers took over in the Indians’ red zone with 1:10 left. Bagnato kept it and tried to run, but lost yards on the play. Feliciano had a nice carry to end the third quarter, with the Chargers up 23-0.
The Chargers started the 4th quarter with a third and long inside the Indians’ red zone. Weems had a nice carry, but it brought up a 4th and 4. The Chargers lined up to go for it, but a delay of game backed them up. Brayden Echols did it again, as he kicked his fourth field goal of the game to extend the lead 26-0 with 10:56 left.
A personal foul on the Chargers pushed them back 15 yards during the kickoff. The Indians got good field position, starting the drive at midfield. The quarterback kept it for a nice 5-yard run to start, followed by a direct snap, which got the Indians a first down. Malachi Johnson and Zayveon Springfield had a nice tackle, stopping the running back for a loss, followed by an incomplete shot deep. It was third and long for the Indians, and they did another direct snap, this time for a loss, bringing up 4th and 12. The Chargers forced a turnover on downs as their entire defensive line got to the quarterback for a sack.
The Chargers took over at midfield with 8:15 left in the game. Tucker had a nice run, followed by a run for Weems for a first down. The next run was for no gain, followed by a 4-yard run by Eskew. On third and 6, the Chargers forced the Indians’ encroachment, making it third and 1. The Chargers got the first down as Eskew ran it up the middle. Omari Brown got a couple of yards on his first carry of the game, followed by a run by the Chargers’ backup quarterback Zijohn Stallworth for another small gain. Stallworth had another small run, bringing up 4th down and 6. Stallworth was stopped, and the Chargers turned it over with 1:09 left in the game.
The Indians did pick up a last-minute touchdown but missed the extra point, making the final score 26-6.
Other Week 1 Scores:
Plant City 21 Vs Blake 20
Durant 23 Vs Lake Gibson 17
