Revived Chaminade Upends Palmdale

There’s nothing like 35 points and 318 yards of total offense to awaken Chaminade High from an offensive nightmare.

Just ask Coach Rich Lawson, whose team relied on 166 rushing yards and three touchdowns from Colin Havert for a 35-14 upset win Friday over Palmdale in a nonleague game at Chaminade.

“What a difference a week can make,” a smiling Lawson said. “I can’t even begin to understand it.”

Chaminade (1-1), which struggled offensively in a 19-11 loss to Royal, broke a 14-14 tie when Havert scored from seven yards with 36 seconds left in the first half.

Havert added a 16-yard scoring run early in the fourth quarter to give Chaminade a 27-14 lead, and Jeff Burdick, who missed last week’s game because of a hamstring injury, intercepted a pass by Rodney Williams and returned it 10 yards for a score.

Havert, who was limited to 30 yards last week, had 106 yards in the first half. Felix Goodson added 84 yards in nine carries as Chaminade amassed 275 rushing yards.

“The kids really matured,” Lawson said. ‘They don’t take kindly to losing.”

The Eagles controlled the game from the start, and limited Palmdale to 71 rushing yards and 84 passing. Palmdale (0-2) hurt itself with 96 penalty yards, including several that negated key gains.

Chaminade also hurt itself by making mistakes. The Eagles were penalized nine times for 100 yards and had a 52-yard scoring pass from Jeff Meyer to Burdick nullified by a clipping penalty away from the play.

But it wouldn’t hurt the Eagles much on this night.

Havert scored from the one to give Chaminade a 6-0 lead and Goodson added a 17-yard score. Palmdale stayed close early with a five-yard touchdown pass from Joe Pica to John Johnson, and Johnson returned a kickoff 86 yards for a score.