By Alex A. Gonzalez
Covina – It was a heavyweight fight Friday night at Lou Farrar Field, where the Charter Oak Chargers and Glendora Tartans traded body blows, hoping the other would throw in the towel after allowing a scoring drive. But with the running back duo of Jay Johnson and Zavion Flournoy, who combined for 217 yards and two touchdowns, the Chargers were the last ones standing in their 42-28 win, keeping their undefeated season intact at 8-0.
Zion Key and Jayden Harris also came up big as they picked off passes from Tartan quarterback Sebastian Lawrence and returned them for touchdowns.
“First and foremost, I want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and thank my O-line too,” praised Johnson postgame. “I wouldn’t have done what I did, praise to both of them.”
Early in the bout, the first couple of rounds went to the Tartans. Nazir McGlothen was the first to reach the endzone after taking the handoff from the Glendora 41-yard line and making a man miss a tackle as he galloped in with 6:56 remaining in the opening quarter.
The score doubled on the warm, windy night when the Tartan offense orchestrated a nine-play, 75-yard drive that chewed up more than seven minutes of game clock. Lawrence completed all three passes on the drive, with the third falling to Carson Kassotis after he rolled out of the pocket from four yards out.
Then, with about 3:25 left in the first half, both the offense and defense ignited and ultimately tied the game at 14.
Their first points came after the defense gave Johnson and Co. a short field. With the ball on the Glendora 23-yard line, Flournoy’s back-to-back carries for 11 yards set up Johnson for a 12-yard touchdown run. Then they tied the game at 14 when Zion Key read Lawrence’s swing pass, jumped the route, and returned the interception 54 yards to the house with less than a minute left in the half.
Both teams then traded haymakers throughout the third quarter, with each team scoring on their drives. Charter Oak took the lead for the first time of the night when Dutch Burbidge hooked up with Chase Martin for a 28-yard strike. The lead only lasted 15 seconds when McGlothen returned the ensuing kickoff 83 yards to the house.
The Chargers took the lead back on their next series when Flournoy and Johnson traded carries as they marched down the field, which was then capped by Johnson’s second rushing touchdown of the night from seven yards out.
Lawrence and the Tartans’ offense then answered back by attacking Charter Oak’s secondary, completing passes for 24, 34, and 16 yards, with the final pass going for six when Tyson Rush hauled in the TD reception, tying the game for the third time of the night at 28-28.
CO then gave the final two blows of the night to the Tartans just before the third quarter ended. First, they broke the 28-28 tie at the 3:25 mark of the third quarter when Burbidge found BJ Quiliza alone in the endzone for the score.
The PAT was blocked, however, when the defense took the field; Harris lined up as if he was going to rush the pass, then dropped back to the flat, picked off Lawrence, and returned it 79 yards for the touchdown.
“Amazing. It was like stress out of my body,” commented Johnson on Harris’ pick-six. “It was amazing. I didn’t think he was going to do it but he did it though.”
After a successful 2-point conversion, Charter Oak maintained its 42-28 lead for the final 12 minutes on the ground with Johnson and Flournoy and closed it out.
Loading ...
Leave a Reply