November 7, 2013
Thayer ruins Chaffee's title hopes after 28-22 loss in district semifinals
sports@standard-democrat.com CHAFFEE -- A collection of Chaffee players made their way into the weight room and simply sat. Some had towels on their head. Others, still in game attire and pads on, kept their helmets on. No one said a word as they kept to themselves thinking about what they could have done differently following their 28-22 loss to Thayer Wednesday...
By Chris Pobst -- Standard Democrat
sports@standard-democrat.com
CHAFFEE -- A collection of Chaffee players made their way into the weight room and simply sat. Some had towels on their head. Others, still in game attire and pads on, kept their helmets on.
No one said a word as they kept to themselves thinking about what they could have done differently following their 28-22 loss to Thayer Wednesday.
"It wasn't supposed to end like this," Chaffee quarterback Peyton Montgomery said, which was a collective statement the rest of his teammates shared.
Chaffee's dream season crashed to a halt with a 9-2 record. The district's second seed flirted with a perfect regular season finish but fell to Charleston in the last week. The Red Devils won their first eight games which was their best start to a season since 1956 when they finished 9-0.
"We can't let this spoil what we accomplished," Chaffee head coach Charlie Vickery said. "We wanted more and we had opportunities but we just didn't get it done."
Third-seeded Thayer will visit top-seeded Valle Catholic, who defeated Portageville 42-0 Wednesday, during Monday's district title game
Chaffee had one shot at possibly tying or winning their game Wednesday with eight seconds left on the clock in the fourth quarter.
Montgomery took the snap at his own 25-yard line as he dropped back looking for receivers who darted towards the other end of the field. Facing pressure, Chaffee's quarterback scrambled in the backfield averting tackles and, eventually, deciding to take off. He was almost brought down before throwing a lateral to Jimmy Golden trailing the play. Golden was quickly brought down at Chaffee's 41-yard line to end the season.
"At times we played like the old Chaffee," Chaffee senior lineman Trevor Morehead said. "We fell apart at crucial moments."
After scoring three times in the first two quarters, Chaffee's offense went stagnant in the second half gaining a total of 115 yards. They gained 259 in the first two quarters.
"I think the offense came out and wasn't really clicking," Morehead said about the second half. "We couldn't get momentum going enough to score."
Chaffee also didn't help themselves penalty-wise either. A block in the back penalty after Thayer tied the game pushed the Chaffee offense to a first-and-38 situation. They eventually turned it over on downs at Thayer's 22-yard line. The Red Devils finished with five penalties for 71 yards.
"They capitalized on our mistakes," Morehead said. "Penalties just killed us. We gave them too many yards. Good teams don't do that."
Chaffee led 22-15 at halftime. Montgomery, who missed Chaffee's last regular season game with a strained throwing shoulder, piled up 200 offensive yards (101 passing, 99 rushing) and ran for two touchdowns in the first half, including a 62-yard scoring run.
"I thought we played every down hard we just didn't take advantage of the opportunities late in the fourth quarter," Montgomery said as he stared at the floor with his head in his hand. "Half of that is my fault."
Opening the second half, Thayer recovered an onside kick at Chaffee's 29-yard line that was left untouched by Chaffee's special teams. Six plays later, Thayer's Aiden Henry scored on a 4-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 22-all.
"I thought we still played our game, I just thought (Thayer) came out more aggressive and more fired up," Montgomery said. "Honestly, we did whatever we wanted to on offense, we just had that late break on the kickoff to start the second half and the fourth quarter."
After watching Thayer tie the game, Chaffee's ensuing possession started at the 20-yard line. They ate up six minutes, 24 seconds on the drive -- aided by an impressive 18-yard first down run by Montgomery on third-and-17 -- but stalled with 2:51 left in the third.
Henry scored his second touchdown run shortly after on a 33-yard keeper giving Thayer their first lead of the night.
"We all prepared for this since junior high," said Montgomery. "At the end of the day, we didn't do what we needed to do to end it."
Montgomery's second touchdown put the Red Devils ahead 22-8 with 6:45 left in the second quarter. Thayer's Jacob Foley, however, cut Chaffee's lead to seven points after his 73-yard gallop into the end zone just two plays later.
Shelby Barton led Thayer's power-run game with 24 carries for 167 yards and a touchdown. Foley added 127 yards. In all, the Bobcats ran 60 times for a total of 404 yards. They attempted just two passes which both went incomplete.
"It's a tough loss," Vickery said. "It makes it even tougher when you have a good group that had good leadership all year long. That makes it even tougher to lose."
Thayer 0 15 13 0 -- 28
Chaffee 8 14 0 0 -- 22
First quarter
C -- Jimmy Golden 7 run (Peyton Montgomery pass to Golden), 8:00
Second quarter
T -- Shelby Barton 3 run (Mitch Webber pass to Aiden Henry), 11:29
C -- Montgomery 62 run (Montgomery pass to Golden), 11:05
C -- Montgomery 2 run (run failed), 6:45
T -- Jacob Foley 73 run (Landon Tyler kick), 5:33
Third quarter
T -- Henry 4 run (Tyler kick), 9:22
T -- Henry 33 run (kick failed), 0:08
TEAM STATISTICS
T C
First downs 15 13
Total yards 404 374
Rushes-yards 60-404 37-239
Passing yards 0 135
Comp.-Att.-Int. 0-2-0 8-15-0
Fumbles-lost 2-0 0-0
Penalties-yards 5-40 5-71
Turnovers 0 0
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing -- Thayer, Shelby Barton 24-167, Jacob Foley 11-127, Mitch Webber 14-63, Aiden Henry 9-46, Levi Hargrove 2-6. Chaffee, Peyton Montgomery 15-138, Jimmy Golden 12-67, Charlie Montgomery 6-22, Devon Yahn 4-12.
Passing -- Thayer, Aiden Henry 0-2-0 0. Chaffee, Peyton Montgomery 8-15-0 135.
Receiveing -- Chaffee, Layton Tenkhoff 4-51, Charlie Montgomery 2-21, Devon Yahn 1-55, Jimmy Golden 1-8.
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