Seahorses Bamford, Linkletter, Koerner score touchdowns in in-county showdown
by Larry Chowning –
During an in-county gridiron contest Friday, Sept. 2 at Saluda, Christchurch School (CCS) rolled over the Middlesex High School (MHS) Charger football team with a 35-6 Bristow-Boxley Field win.
The Seahorses (1-0) got on the scoreboard with 4:20 left in the first quarter when Jack Bamford bulled his way into the end zone on a two-yard touchdown run. Christchurch faked the extra point kick and the ball was handed off to Bamford again who scored on the two-point conversion making the score 8-0.
Bamford scored again with 9:03 left in the second quarter on another two-yard run. The 2-point conversion failed making the score 14-0.
After that score, the Chargers came back when JaQuan Griffin caught a 35-yard pass from MHS quarterback Cameron Lambert and took the ball down to the 12-yard line.
Christchurch made a strong defensive stand and after four downs Middlesex was on the 13-yard line with the ball going back to the Seahorses.
With 3:56 on the clock in the second quarter, Carter Linkletter scored on a long run as the CCS halfback powered his way through several arm tackle attempts by the Chargers. The extra point kick for CCS was good making the score 21-0 at half-time.
At the start of the second half, MHS appeared to be on the move when a fumble with 9:55 stalled the drive and gave the ball back to Christchurch. Cameron Byers countered that mistake on the next play and recovered a CCS fumble.
After that, defenses on both teams took over and for most of the third quarter the ball went back and fourth on downs with no score. With four seconds left in the third quarter, split-end Felix Koerner grabbed a pass from CCS quarterback Charlie Hatcher and scored on a 15-yard catch. The extra point kick was good making the score 28-0.
The Chargers fumbled again with only two seconds off the clock in the fourth quarter. CCS took advantage of this Charger mistake as Linkletter scored the final Seahorse touchdown in the game. With the extra point good the score was 35-0.
In the waning minute of the game, the Chargers got on the scoreboard when halfback David Seay scored on a 40-yard run from scrimmage. The extra point kick attempt was blocked ending the game with a 35-6 score.
The Charger offense was paced by Seay, who had 13 carries for 81 yards and a TD. Jayden Kidd who had 12 carries for 51 yards and Lambert was three for five in the air for 57 yards.
Malik Dandy led the defense with 9 tackles and 3 sacks. Cameron Byers had 7 tackles and 1 fumble recovery and Cameron Bunns also had 7 tackles with 2 sacks.
This week’s games
- Middlesex’s Chargers (1-1) will travel to Windsor High School (WHS) in Isle of Wight County on Friday for a matchup against the Windsor Dukes (0-2). Kickoff is 7 p.m. in WHS stadium at 24 Church St.
- Christchurch’s Seahorses (1-0) will host the Nansemond-Suffolk Academy Saints (1-1) Saturday. Kickoff is 1 p.m. at Dischinger Field in Christchurch.
