LINDEN — North Montgomery saw their season come to an end with a 38-22 loss to Indianapolis Brebeuf Jesuit Friday. The Braves used a dominating third quarter to end the hopes of any Charger comeback when they scored two touchdowns in 25 seconds after two Charger turnovers.
Trailing 17-6 at the half, North Montgomery (5-5) was in the game. However, any comeback would need to be guided by reserve quarterback and sophomore Drew Norman who replaced starter Donovan Haworth mid-way in the second quarter. Haworth left the field after what appeared to be a helmit-to-helmit tackle and the junior stayed in the locker room for the remainder of the game.
The Chargers’ received the second half kickoff, but a fumble gave the Braves the ball on the Charger 28-yard line. Brebeuf’s scored on a seven-play drive when Jeremiah Jackson scored from one yard out. The extra point made the score 24-6. North Montgomery started a drive on the 27 yard drive but gave the ball right back to the Braves on an interception. Brebeuf’s Will Dapp scored from 10-yards out and suddenly the Chargers were in a 31-6 hole.
North Montgomery played from behind the entire game. Early in the first quarter a fake punt led to Brebeuf’s first score. What made the fake punt hurt even more when a Charger slid into the Brave punter for a penalty. Instead of fourth down and eight yards to go, it was fourth down and three. A direct snap to offensive lineman Eli Neir kept the drive alive and Brebeuf scored four plays later.
“I thought we had a decent game plan coming into the game, but they picked up that first down and suddenly we were playing behind,” Charger Coach Josh Thompson said. We dug ourselves into a hole we were never able to get out of.”
North Montgomery did not pick up their initial first down of the game until the 7:04 mark of the second quarter. But, it seemed to breathe some life into the Charger offense as they went on a 12-play 78-yard drive. The big play of the drive was provided by Charger Logan Kelly who ran the ball 29 yards to the two-yard line with 3:52 left in the half.
Any momentum North Montgomery had was short-lived. On the next series, the Braves went 55 yards on just four plays that took only 1:31 off the clock.
In the fourth quarter the Chargers were able to two touchdowns to end the game.
Brebeuf was led offensively by quarterback Drake Hagerman who throw for 138 yards. Receiver Brandon Petrie had seven receptions for 76 yards. Jackson ended the game with 75 rushing yards on 14 carries.
The Chargers struggled offensively all night. Kelly did have 69 all-purpose yards.
The loss was the final game for eight seniors, which Thompson praised after the game.
“I am very proud of our seniors,” Thompson said. “Each one of them improved as leaders as the season went along. We had some injuries and each senior did their part to pick us up.”
The Charger seniors were Kelly, Kolton Scrimmager, Zak Searle, Jacob Braun, Dakota Punke, Alex Cooper, Nick Ebaugh and Joel Clouser.
