GETTYSBURG — Admittedly, the Chambersburg defense was tired. It had already faced Gettysburg’s relentless offense for 33 plays in the second half and the Warriors had been piling up first downs right and left.
But just when the Trojans needed it — with the game tied and the clock under 4 minutes — the defense summoned up enough effort to stop Gettysburg not once, but twice.
Jason Chambers
The offense converted its big chance in between those two series and that enabled the Trojans to take home an exciting 24-17 non-league victory in their season opener Friday night at Warrior Stadium.
“We just dialed in,” Chambersburg linebacker Stanley Lozius said. “We knew we had one job — stop their quarterback, so we dialed it up and stopped him.”
Gettysburg had put together an energy-sapping, 16-play drive of 89 yards that included six first downs to tie the game 17-17 with 7:08 left. The Trojans got one first down on their next possession before punting the ball away.
The Warriors then faced a third-and-1 at the Chambersburg 48. They had been killing the Trojans with Heiser’s shifty running and his short passes from the second period on. But this time, the Trojans blitzed and knocked Heiser down for no gain. On fourth down, Heiser tried it again, and once more the linebackers broke through to stop him short and turn the ball over with 3:39 left.
Three runs netted a first down. The next play was a wheel route to Trever Luther and it worked to perfection, with QB Ceagan Truett finding him down the left sideline for a gain of 38 yards to the Warrior 2.
Luther said, “When I heard them call that play, I knew it would work. We had it set up.”
“We ran it once before, but Trev started to cramp up when he ran it,” Chambersburg coach Mark Luther said. “But we knew it was there. He ran a great route and when the corner came up, he ran right past him.”
Luther nearly scored (“I should have dove in,” he said), but that actually helped the Trojans. Two running plays were stuffed for losses, but Gettysburg had to use two timeouts. On third down, a handoff to Antonio Harrison paid off — the line gave him a nice hole and he scored from 6 yards out to give Chambersburg a 24-17 lead with 2;10 left.
Imari Watson
Mark Luther said, “Losing yardage on those two plays is not how we had it drown up. But on third we caught them guessing wrong. They probably thought we were going to pass — I would have thought that, too — but Harrison ran in through a big hole.”
Gettysburg had its best starting position of the entire game, its own 40, and quickly rolled to a pair of first downs, both runs by Heiser, On second down, Heiser’s pass was incomplete, ending a streak of 8 consecutive completions. On third-and-6, another pass misfired.
On fourth down at the Trojan 31 with 49 seconds left, Heiser tried to throw over the middle, but the connection wasn’t made as safety Jason Chambers was right there to bump the receiver and prevent the connection.
“They had run that play all night,” Chambers said. “I told the linebackers and cornerbacks to sit ont he outside passes and I’d take the slant. They believed in me. We were pretty tired on defense — it was annoying that they kept coming up with those first downs. But we did it when the pressure was on.”
Lozius said, “We played our base defense (at the end) and everybody did their assignments. That quarterback is a heck of a player and we knew we had to stop him.”
Heiser ended up with 27 carries for 130 yards and a TD, and completed 20 of 32 passes for 166 yards and a score.
“Heiser is a tough kid and he got into a rhythm after the first quarter,” coach Luther said.
Chambersburg’s offense got some good blocking up front, giving Harrison (13 carries, 48 yards) and Imari Watson (17-103) some room to run. Watson had a 13-yard touchdown in the first half and Truett ran in from 19 yards out in the third quarter.
Coach Luther said, “That sure was an exciting way to start the season. I thought it might go to overtime because both teams were tired. It was huge that our defense got us the ball back with that stop.”
NOTES: The game had no turnovers … Truett accounted for 108 yards in his first start at QB, and Luther caught 4 balls for 66 yards … Luther also ran 16 yards on a fake punt for a first down … Next Friday’s game vs. CD East was scheduled to be an East home game, but a new scoreboard is not fully installed yet, so the game will be played at Trojan Stadium.
Chambersburg 24, Gettysburg 17
Chambersburg 7 3 7 7 — 24
Gettysburg 0 7 3 7 — 17
First Quarter
C — Imari Watson 13 run (Trever Luther kick), 3:23
Second Quarter
C — Luther 26 field goal, 4:01
G — Logan Baker 16 pass from Heiser (Connor Hazel kick), 1:02
Third Quarter
C — Ceagan Truett 19 run (Luther kick), 7:31
G — Hazel 26 field goal, 2:34
Fourth Quarter
G — Brady Heiser 5 run (Hazel kick), 7:08
C — Antonio Harrison 6 run (Luther kick), 2:10
Team Statistics
Chbg Gett
First downs 12 19
Rushing-yards 40-202 43-167
Passing 8-19-0 20-32-0
Passing yards 73 166
Total offense 275 333
Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0
Punts-average 4-39-8 3-33.8
Penalties-yards 7-65 4-30
Individual Statistics
Rushing — Chbg, Watson 17-103, Harrison 13-48, Truett 9-35, Luther 1-16. Gett, Heiser 27-130, Preston Burnett 13-28, Jackson Stanton 1-4, Isaiah Jackson 1-4, Shayde Shultz 1-1.
Passing — Chbg, Truett 8-19-0-73. Gett, Heiser 20-32-0-166.
Receiving — Chbg, Luther 4-66, Evan Brown 1-7, Watson 2-2, Harrison 1-(-2). Gett, Baker 5-52, Shultz 4-45, Kye’mere Robinson 4-34, Mauricio Escobar-Rudy 4-28.
Missed field goals — Chbg, Luther 41 (wide right).