The bruising runs of Chancellor fullback Dominique Wallace had been unable to break King George's backs.
So instead, Wallace made a huge play on the other side of the ball.
"I was after him to make a play," Chancellor coach Bob Oliver said. "We were dragging around, we missed a few tackles in the mud, and I was kind of upset.
"I was thinking, 'A big player's got to make the big plays.'"
The Chargers got a 98-yard interception return from Wallace in the fourth quarter, a touchdown that squashed King George's comeback hopes and helped Chancellor (5-3, 1-2) pull away in a 36-14 Battlefield District win yesterday.
The Chargers led 24-14 early in the fourth quarter, but King George (5-3, 1-2) was on the march, hoping to drive for a touchdown that would close the gap.
They had reached the Chancellor 3 when things turned in the Chargers' favor. There, on third-and-goal, King George quarterback Shane Houck took a short drop. He looked to his left, pumped the ball once, and then tried to rifle the ball in to his slot receiver running a slant pattern.
Instead, the pass went right to Wallace.
The linebacker cut upfield and made a move toward the sideline. He broke one tackle and then had a clear path to the end zone.
"I just went to my curl; if we see pass, that's what we do," Wallace said. "He threw it right to me. I just picked it off and ran for my life."
Up until then, it had been a quiet night for Wallace--the district's leading rusher finished with 80 yards on 17 carries, 40 of which came on his second run of the game.
"We knew we wanted to stop him, and we thought we banged him up pretty good," King George coach Bill Dignan said. "After that first big run, we feel like we contained him. Our goal was to not let him break a bunch of big runs."
Even without Wallace tearing off big runs, the Chargers got a solid afternoon from freshman quarterback Micah Cunningham He was 6-of-11 passing for 100 yards with three touchdowns, including a 15-yarder to Scott Powers that gave Chancellor a 7-0 lead in the first quarter.
"The safety crashed and I was wide open; there wasn't anyone near me," Power said. "Just a quick dump from Micah and I was right in the end zone.
"He's so calm for a freshman. He's matured very quickly for us."
Chancellor | 14 | 10 | 0 | 12 | -- | 36 |
King George | 0 | 14 | 0 | 0 | -- | 14 |
First Quarter
Ch--S. Powers 15-yard pass from M. Cunningham (J. Azzarelli kick).
Ch--R. Spruel 9-yard run (J. Azzarelli kick).
Second Quarter
KG--S. Houck 1-yard run (S. Ayers kick).
Ch--D. Wallace 31-yard pass from M. Cunningham (J. Azzarelli kick).
KG--T. Dameron 1-yard run (S. Ayers kick).
Ch--J. Azzarelli 33-yard FG.
Fourth Quarter
Ch--D. Wallace 98-yard pass interception (kick failed).
Ch--R. Spruel 16-yard pass from M. Cunningham (pass failed).
TEAMSTATISTICS
Ch | KG |
First downs15 | 21 |
Rushing yardage43-194 | 37-138 |
Passing yardage100 | 206 |
Passes6-12-0 | 14-30-3 |
Punts-Avg.3-34.3 | 1-16 |
Fumbles-lost0-0 | 2-1 |
Penalties-yards 8-55 | 4-20 |
INDIVIDUALSTATISTICS
Rushing: Chancellor--Dominique Wallace 1780; Roderick Spruel 6-51, TD; Cameron Lawson 10-49; Jeff Glessner 2-12; Junior Moyo 1-4; Sean Murray 2-0; Micah Cunningham 5-(-2). King George--Tremayne Dameron 19-111, TD; Shane Houck 6-29, TD; Jericho James 6-14; Calvin Jones 3-11; Demetrius Byrd 1-8; Team 2-(-35).Passing: Chancellor--Micah Cunningham 6-11-0 100, 3TDs; Team 0-1-0 0. King George--Shane Houck 13-28-3 180; Tremayne Dameron 1-2-0 26.
Receiving: Chancellor--Dominique Wallace 1-31, TD; Scott Powers 2-29, TD; Roderick Spruel 2-20, TD; Denzel Cato 1-20. King George--Jamal Lucas 6-78; Calvin Jones 5-53; Tremayne Dameron 1-24; Deandre Scott 1-15.
Justin Rice: 540/368-5045| CHANCELLOR 36 KING GEORGE 14 |