After a 7-0 start, playoffs for the football team seemed to be a certainty, but after a 0-3 stretch to end the season, the team is left thinking what could have been. What if the team had beaten a B-CC team that they were heavily favored over? What if a heavily favored Paint Branch team had beaten their rivals Springbrook on senior night?
However, after a 28-24 loss to Whitman to end the season, CHS was left on the outside looking in on the playoff picture.
Things started off well for the Bulldogs. Senior captain Alex Kantor had his 18th total touchdown of the season with a nine-yard run to give CHS an early 7-0 lead.
After Whitman answered with a touchdown to tie the game 7-7, CHS appeared to be gaining momentum with a 20-yard touchdown catch by senior Matt Cole and a 24-yard field goal by senior Bryan Crutchfield to give the Bulldogs a 17-7 lead. That was until Whitman kick returner Rico Djitodor brought a kickoff back89 yards for a touchdown to shrink the lead to 17-14.
After Whitman took its first lead of the game in the third quarter, CHS responded with a 36-yard touchdown catch by senior Brandon Swepson to retake the lead 24-21. But the Bulldog defense could not stop Whitman running back Kevin Cecala all game, and he made them pay with the game-winning two-yard touchdown run.
“It was a horrible feeling, knowing that we did our best and that still wasn’t enough,” Kantor said. “I expected to make the playoffs and we fell short.”
The football team suffered a major setback in a game that many viewed as a sure win with a 20-13 loss to the B-CC Barons Oct. 30. The loss is especially disheartening for coach Joe Allen who coached B-CC for the past two seasons.
After some confusion to start the game in which junior offensive lineman Drew Farr was ruled to have an illegal number, the Bulldogs marched down the field on their second drive, but only walked away with a field goal by senior Bryan Crutchfield. B-CC responded with 12 unanswered points in the second quarter to give the Barons a 12-3 halftime lead.
The Bulldogs would rally in the second half though. After Crutchfield added another field goal in the third to shrink the lead to 12-6, senior Matt Risk took a 22-yard pass to the house to take a 13-12 lead with time winding down.
On senior night, B-CC would not disappoint the home crowd. After a failed fourth down conversion by CHS, the Barons needed just one play to go 74 yards on the pass by Casey Fitzgerald to give B-CC the 20-13 victory.
“We were disappointed,” senior captain Ryan Quinn said. “We could have played better and we know that.”
After a surprising 7-3 season, the Bulldogs have a strong foundation to build on. Any football expert will tell you that the most important position on the field is the offensive line and, though the team is graduating three starting offensive linemen in seniors Bobby Hirsch, Jonathan Milbourn and Kaijie Zheng, the team returns three players who started at least once on the line.
“Hopefully our offensive line will be our driving force,” Allen said. “We have some great players coming up that I think can contribute immediately.”
Matched with an 8-1 junior varsity campaign, the team has many talented sophomores left to fill the big void left by Kantor and Quinn.
“Next year it seems that [sophomore] Lansana [Keita] will be the starter,” Kantor said. “I personally have not played with him, but from the JV games that I saw I was very impressed with his skills and his leadership.”
The Bulldogs are now left thinking of what might have been and preparing the team for next season. With the junior varsity’s 8-1 record, success should not be far away from Shepherd Field.
