Wolverines Fall Behind, Fail to Catch Charter Oak

If Harvard-Westlake High had a little more time, the Wolverines might have become Southern Section Division VII football champions.

Instead, Harvard-Westlake took too long to solve the Charter Oak running game and the third-seeded Chargers held on for a 37-27 victory Saturday night at Charter Oak to win their first section title since 1985.

The Wolverines trailed, 37-13, at the start of the fourth quarter and had already surrendered 316 rushing yards.

So, a Wolverine comeback appeared unlikely. Yet, Harvard-Westlake (10-4) scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns and drove to the Charter Oak 27-yard line before turning the ball over on downs with less than three minutes to play.

“If we had one more quarter, we might have done it,” quarterback Matt Felder of Harvard-Westlake said.

The Wolverines let Charter Oak (10-2-1) get too much of a head start. Tailback Jason David gained 222 yards in 25 carries and Steve Stevenson scored four touchdowns and gained 96 yards in 20 carries.

The Wolverines had no answer for Caleb Kim, Steven Gant, Rene Arguelles, Dustin Frye and Daniel Malendy, Charter Oaks’ huge offensive line. Arguelles and Malendy each weigh more than 300 pounds, and Gant is 6 feet 7, 285.

The Chargers had plenty of running room up the middle and were forced to punt only once in the first half while jumping to a 31-13 lead.

“Their offensive line did a tremendous job,” linebacker Alex Holmes of Harvard-Westlake said. “We changed everything and none of it worked.”

The Wolverines did have a few bright moments. After falling behind, 12-0, Felder hit Alex Clark on a 46-yard pass play that set up a one-yard touchdown run by George Witter late in the first quarter.

After a quiet first quarter, Holmes--a 300-pound tight end--single-handedly brought Harvard-Westlake back into the game. He made a one-handed grab of Felder’s pass to keep a drive alive and scored on a 23-yard pass play, juking his way past a defensive back in the open field.

But that was the best Harvard-Westlake could muster.

Harvard-Westlake’s Lerato Simelane fumbled the opening kickoff, setting up Stevenson’s first score 19 seconds into the game.

“Putting us in a hole hurt,” Coach Dave Bennett of Harvard-Westlake said. “Our pass defense has been our Achilles heel this season. We didn’t think our run defense would have this much trouble.”

The Wolverines held Charter Oak to 69 yards passing but allowed 344 on the ground, 191 in the first half.