Chatsworth Reaches City 3-A Final

Before Hamilton High squared off with Chatsworth in Friday night’s City 3-A semifinal at Chatsworth, Yankee Coach Dave Lertzman said, basically, that anything could happen.

“Both teams play good defense,” he said. “Kids are kids, you never know what to expect. But it doesn’t take much to realize that the loser isn’t going anywhere.”

Then he added, “It’ll be a hard game. They should be confident because they beat us earlier in the year.”

In the third game of the season, the Chancellors managed a 14-3 win at home. Last year, the Chancellors beat Hamilton in the playoffs, 30-14.

And it was more of the same Friday night. Chatsworth downed the Yankees, 9-0, for its fourth victory in its last five games against Hamilton. The Chancellors will meet Fairfax, a 33-0 winner over Locke, next Friday for the championship.

“We got it done,” Chatsworth Coach Myron Gibford said. “They came out and confused us, but we out-muscled them. Our defense played well. That’s been our strength.”

Said Lertzman: “Chatsworth played a perfect game. They deserve to go to the finals. They out-played us in every way.”

This game started the way both coaches said it would--with the defenses dominating. Neither offense sparkled.

The Chancellors, however, did manage an impressive drive late in the first quarter. With 5:25 left in the quarter, Chatsworth drove 67 yards for a touchdown. The drive included 16 plays, 13 on the ground.

Quarterback Rogelio Vargas connected with receiver Kendria Watson for a key 11-yard gain that put the ball on the Hamilton 21. Steven Smith ran nine yards up the middle to the nine. Two plays later, Smith broke a tackle and ran to the two. Senior Michael Santini then finished the drive with a two-yard dive for the score.

“The touchdown came on a blast play,” Santini said. “The hole opened up and I just ran in.”

Santini gained 58 yards on 16 carries. “I worked three years for this,” a tired Santini said afterward. “Finally, we get to go to the finals. This was a tough team. We just wanted it more than they did.”

Following Santini’s touchdown, the extra-point attempt failed. Chatsworth led, 6-0.

Later, the Yankees had an opportunity to score when they took over, after a Chatsworth punt, on their 32.

On their first play, Chatsworth was called for defensive holding. That moved the ball to the Chancellor 47. A second flag, this time an offsides penalty, put the ball on the 42.

When quarterback Kevin Scales passed 15 yards to receiver Chris Lee, the Yankees had a first down at the 25.

The Chancellor defense, though, tightened. First, defensive lineman Michael Adams sacked Scales back on the 33. Then Adams hurried Scales into throwing early and missing an open receiver. Finally, the quarterback was sacked for a four-yard loss. The Yankees punted.

From that point, neither team put any offense together in the half.

With 8:40 left in the third quarter, Brian Leonard returned a Hamilton punt 21 yards to the Yankee 29. That set up a 25-yard field goal by Craig Spencer at the 4:38 mark in the third.

Sadly for Hamilton, the remainder of the game proved to be target practice for the Chatswworth defense. John Dunn, Richard Bennett, Fred Lindsey, Brett Ratcliffe, among others, made it tough on Scales as he tried to buy time to throw. The Yankee quarterback completed 2 of 9 passes for 21 yards. He rushed for a minus-56 yards.

With just over six minutes left in the game, Bennett pushed through the Hamilton offensive line and dropped Scales on the Yankee 15. The 14-yard loss forced Hamilton to punt. The game, more or less, was over at that point.