October 25, 2008

Nitro storms past Hurricane

Nitro may have found a new quarterback for the future after Mark Chandler led it to a stunning 42-41 victory over No. 7 Hurricane Friday night at Underwood Field.

By Christopher Wade For the Saturday Gazette-Mail

Nitro may have found a new quarterback for the future after Mark Chandler led it to a stunning 42-41 victory over No. 7 Hurricane Friday night at Underwood Field.

The Wildcats trailed Hurricane 28-0 late in the second quarter when Chandler took over for an ineffective Bodie Johnson. He led a furious comeback, throwing a 25-yard touchdown pass to Larry West with two seconds left.

The 6-foot-4, 185-pound Chandler combined for 434 yards of total offense as he threw for 300 yards on 14-of-19 passing, ran for 134 yards on 16 carries. He accounted for all seven touchdowns - yes, Nitro missed all conversion attempts - to help Nitro improve to 2-6.

Lawrence Pierce, photo

Nitro’s Lindsey Johnson (3) is chased by Hurricane’s Terrell Martin (left) and Mitchell Bumpus

"We put the ball in the hands of our best playmakers," said Nitro coach John Sowards. "He does what he does. I just call the plays. It's all him, he has to do stuff."

"He made some good plays, threw it up, and their receivers went up after it and got it," said Hurricane coach Willis May.

Nitro started the game-winning drive at its 19-yard line with 1:35 remaining and no timeouts. A bad snap began the series and Chandler was sacked for a 13-yard loss, all the way back to the 6.

But on the next play, Chandler scrambled out of the pocket and ran for 34 yards before being pushed out of bounds at the Wildcat 40-yard line with 40 seconds left.

After an incompletion, Chandler fired a pass downfield and with several defenders around the ball, receiver Lindsey Johnson somehow corralled the pass for a 37-yard gain to the Redskin 23.

Chandler tried to spike the rain-slicked ball, but it slipped out of his hand for a fumble, yet a teammate recovered it. Chandler struggled again trying to spike the ball, needing a double pump to finally get it downed with 11 seconds left.

Then Chandler dropped back and fired the ball to the middle of the field, again into a group of Hurricane defenders. But West jumped out, caught the pass and fell into the end-zone for the game-winning score.

"I had No. 3 [Johnson] running a takeoff and No. 1 [West] run a two-up, and I just saw him have a step on his man, and I just put it in his hands," Chandler said.

"We snuck Larry in on them, as he hadn't played much on offense," Sowards said. "He had a messed-up finger but he ran a perfect route, Mark threw it up, and Larry made a great catch and rolled in."

Chandler made a great play on defense as well. With Nitro trailing 34-24, Chandler intercepted a Luke Briggs pass and returned it 66 yards for a touchdown to cut the deficit to just four.

Hurricane seemed in disarray, but Terrell Martin took the ensuing kickoff 76-yards, his second TD return of the game, to give the Redskins a 41-30 lead.

The Redskins (6-2) still had that comfortable lead when Chandler scored on a 3-yard TD run to cut the deficit 41-36 with 3:19 left.

Nitro still had to stop Hurricane, get the ball back, and drive for the game-winning score, which is exactly what they did. Martin, who aggravated an ankle injury his last kickoff return, finally re-entered, but the Redskins lost 11 yards on a three-and-out series.

Despite the score, Nitro's defense actually stymied the Redskins offense, limiting Martin to just 25 yards on 12 carries. However, Martin made his presence felt, scoring on the two kickoff returns and adding an interception return for a TD as well. The Redskins, who gained just 120 total yards, also scored on a fumble return.

May indicated Martin had a possible sprained ankle, but hopes he will be ready for next week's game. In a stunned Hurricane locker room, May took the sole blame for the Redskins' second defeat in a row.

"I take all blame. I didn't have my football team prepared," said May. "If us losing is anybody's fault, it's mine. We got to learn from it. Some of the hardest lessons we learn in life come the hard way.

"We've got a bunch of kids that don't like to lose. It hurts them to lose. It's a hard lesson to learn but it's a lesson we will build from."

Hurricane 7 21 0 6 41

Nitro 0 6 12 24 42

H-Martin 85 kickoff return (Eminger kick)

H-Higginbotham 31 pass from Briggs (Eminger kick)

H-Martin 35 int. return (kick failed)

H-Mines 13 fumble return (Higginbotham pass from Briggs)

N-Chandler 47 run (kick failed)

N-Johnson 78 pass from Chandler (pass failed)

N-Chandler 1 run (pass failed)

H-Martin 7 run (kick failed)

N-Johnson 10 pass from Chandler (pass failed)

N-Chandler 66 int. return (pass failed)

H-Martin 76 kickoff return (Eminger kick)

N-Chandler 3 run (pass failed)

N-West 25 pass from Chandler (pass failed)

Team statistics

Hurricane Nitro

First downs 9 11

Rushes-yards 34-96 32-103

Passing yards 24 309

Comp-Att 4-12 15-26

Had intercepted 3 2

Penalties-yards 3-25 10-65

Punts-avg 5-40.0 5-29.4

Fumbles-lost 3-1 2-1