By Tim Peterson
(Inglewood)- The Chargers had a shot at the end but came up short and fell to New Orleans 22-17 Sunday in a preseason game at SoFi Stadium.
The Chargers and the Saints each had three possessions in the first quarter but both teams came up empty.
On the Chargers fourth possession New Orleans forced a turnover on a sack/fumble on the LA 33.
Three plays later the Saints cashed in when Kendre Miller ran it in from seven yards out for a 7-0 lead.
On the next possession the Chargers moved the ball down the field but were stalled at the six-yard line. Dustin Hopkins came on to boot a 25-yard field goal with 1:56 left in the second quarter.
Isaac Yiadom intercepted Charger quarterback Easton Stick and the Saints set up shop at the LA 15. But they were stopped and could only manage a 25 yard Blake Grupe field goal.
The Chargers responded with a six-play, 74-yard drive with Stick keeping it himself for a six-yard touchdown to tie it at 10 with 33 seconds left in the first half.
The Saints had one last push in the first half marching down the field with Grupe kicking a 37-yard field goal as the clock hit zeroes. New Orleans took a 13-10 lead into the half.
New Orleans drove down inside the Chargers 10-yard line to open the third quarter but two offensive interference penalties killed touchdown opportunities. However Will Lutz did kick a 33-yard field goal to make it 16-10.
Lutz split the uprights again early in the fourth quarter-this time from 51 yards out- to put the Saints up 19-10.
Lutz kicked his third of the day on the next possession as he sailed it through from 34 yards out to increase the Saints lead to 22-10.
The Chargers put together a 14-play, 75-yard drive with Stick finishing it with a one-yard run to cut the lead to five at 22-17 with 3:46 left.
The Saints went three and out and the Chargers got the ball back at their own 40 with 2:35 left but Stick was intercepted at the one- yard line by Lonnie Johnson Jr. with 44 seconds left. The Saints then killed the clock and wrapped up the victory.
Stick completed 21 of 41 for 233 yards but was hurt by the two picks. He also rushed for 63 yards and two touchdowns on seven carries. Keelan Doss had three catches for 42 yards.
For the Saints Jamies Winston went 13 of 21 for 169 yards and Miller had 10 carries for 23 yards and the score.
The Chargers fell to 1-1 on the preseason with the loss while the Saints improved to 2-0.
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