ARCADIA — North Montgomery used a time-consuming offense and a stingy defense to defeat Hamilton Heights 28-14 for their first win of the young season.
The Chargers were able to stop the Huskies on the first possession of the game and showed what fans could expect the rest of the game.
Charger Coach Josh Thompson said he saw a much better effort from his squad than last week.
“I am very pleased, I thought our team played a better overall game than we did last week,” Thompson said. “The kids listened and did what we asked of them.”
North Montgomery (1-1) took the ball over on their own 36 yard line with 9:27 on the first quarter clock. A methodical drive that covered 64 yards behind yeoman senior running back Zach Waldon’s 34 yards, the Chargers scored their first touchdown. Charger senior Keifer Carmean hauled in his first of two touchdown passes from classmate Jaron Bradford making the score 6-0 early.
After the Huskie offense turned the ball over on downs early in the second quarter, the Chargers 19-play drive that took nearly six minutes to take a 14-0 lead
The Chargers dominated the first half until the Huskies went 56 yards on nine plays. Sophomore Nate Hulen hauled in a five-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Guy Griffey. After a successful extra point, the Huskies had cut the lead to 14-7 with 1:53 left in the first half.
The game suddenly looked like a repeat of last week’s game against North Putnam when North Montgomery’s dominating first half was curtailed when North Putnam scored at the end of the half propelling the Cougars to a come-from-behind win. This time the Chargers were able answer the late second quarter score.
North Montgomery marched the ball 73 yards in eight plays. The big strike came when Bradford found Walden down the middle of the field for a 40-yard scoring strike. The answer gave the Chargers a 22-6 lead at the half.
“We responded much better than last week,” Thompson said. “We tell our kids the most important thing is how you respond when things go wrong. I thought we handled it well.”
The second half played out the same as the first half. Taking the second half kickoff, the Chargers went on a 16-play drive that ate 8:26 off the clock. Carmean's second 8-yard reception put North up 28-7.
Chargers Offense Efficient
North Montgomery’s offense kept the Huskies offense off the field. The Chargers ran 76 plays compared to Hamilton Height’s 25 plays. The Chargers had 360 yards of offense. The Huskies did pile up a total of 225 yards. However three pass receptions equated to 130 yards in the fourth quarter.
Griffey Shines For Heights
Hamilton Heights quarterback Guy Griffey had a good game. Although the Chargers sacked him three times, Griffey was able to throw for 183 yards by completing 10 out of 19 passes. Charger quarterback Jaron Bradford threw for 140 yards on 12-of-20 passes and had three touchdown passes.
Carmean Steps Up For Chargers
Charger senior Kiefer Carmean had a good game. He had two touchdown receptions out of his five receptions for a total of 57 yards. He also recorded two sacks.
North Montgomery 28, Hamilton Heights 14
North Montgomery 6 16 6 0 – 28
Hamilton Heights 0 7 0 7 – 14
NM HH
Rushing yards 59/220 15/42
Passing yards 12/20/140 10/19/183
Total yards 360 225
Fumbles/lost 0/0 0/0
Penalties 4/25 5/40
Rushing: NM Zach Walden 20/83, Jaron Bradford 14/51, Kade Kobel 11/24, Zak Searle 11/24, Jake Braun 3/11, Keifer Carmen 1/5. HH Logan Kelly 6/6, Blake Webel 4/16, Guy Griffey 2/(-16), Camron Knott 1/13, Nate Hulen 2/11.
Passing: NM Bradford 12/20/140/3 HH Griffey 10/19/183/2
Receiving: NM Carmean 5/54, Wallace 2/16, Waldon 1/40, Kai Warren 2/17, Kobel 1/13
HH Lane Dildine Isaac Tuma 2/14, Camron Knott 2/18, Nate Hulen 3/138, Brent Pennington 1/6, DeShawn King 1/7,
