September 21, 2006 Issue                                       

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©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

CHA football scrapes by with a tough win
by Ed Mahon

Last week, Chestnut Hill Academy never let their opponent in the game, and the battle was over by halftime. This week the football team couldn’t stop them from staying in, and they won thanks to a 2-point conversion in the first half.

Guess which game the players and coaches liked better?

“It was a hard a game, a lot of fun though. That’s the type of competition we’ve been looking for,” said senior co-captain Wayne Crawford. “And, I mean, you know, we got what we asked for.”

The Blue Devils (2-0) rejoined the Inter-Ac League for the tight competition. Four weeks before their first league game, they found that tough competition against The Lawrenceville School (0-1) on the Saturday, Sept. 16 game.

After the 21-19 win, head coach Rick Knox called it a “very hard fought exciting victory.” He added, “This is why we feel really good about taking a step up in the competition level. Cause, you know, you practice and work hard for exciting games like these. And in the end you can really feel good about a hard fought victory. Which in some situations feels better than, you know, like, our game last week. Cause you can really feel like you earned something, and it was really a strong test of your team and the kid’s characters.”

Last week, Chestnut Hill thrashed Murrell Dobbins Tech 40-14 thanks to an outstanding rushing performance from Junior Rashad Campbell, who rushed for 165 yards and 5 touchdowns. This week, Big Red held the 5-foot-8, 170-pound tailback to half that and no touchdowns.

Last week, quarterback Mike Mattei didn’t have much of a chance to throw, but when he did he went 3 for 4 with 50 yards. This week, since Chestnut Hill couldn’t establish a consistent running game, they needed to rely on him. The 6-foot-1, 175-pound junior delivered sometimes. He went 9 for 17 passing, for 166 yards, 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions, one of which Lawrenceville ran back for a touchdown from Chestnut Hill’s own 15-yard-line.

Last week was a slaughter. This week was a scuffle.

Senior Tyler Ahrenhold started the game off strong. On the first play from scrimmage, the 6-foot, 180-pound running back rushed for a 55-yard-touchdown return.

“First play of the game, just text book blocking up front. [Senior lineman and co-captain] Don Houc sealed the linebacker, I made a cut off move, and then. . . when the blocks formed on the front line I had a clear path. I was one-on-one with the safety, and basically I just juked and we were in there. It was a great, great feeling the first play of the game, good way to start it off,” said Ahrenhold who rushed for 81 yards on 9 carries. “It was awesome.”

After a missed extra point kick, Chestnut Hill took the early 6-0 lead. But the game was anything but locked away. After that, the offensives didn’t exactly shine, but they got the job done, both scoring three touchdowns in the first half. The difference came down to extra points.

In what turned out to be the biggest play of the day, a leaping Mike Wismer caught a Mattei pass at the back of endzone, barely putting one foot down before falling out. The catch gave Chestnut Hill back the lead at 14-13, and Lawrenceville never caught up.

Chestnut Hill held them thanks to their defense in the second half. “I just got to credit the entire defense, [they] made enormous play after enormous play on defense,” said Knox.

Crawford, the co-captain and offensive and defensive lineman, said the coaches made some adjustments at halftime, and they worked on not giving Lawrenceville any outside runs.

Even though it was only the second game of the season, the players hoped the tough-fought win was a promise of things to come.

“That was by far one of the best games I think we’ve played in a couple years, to be honest with you,” said Ahrenhold. “I mean, sure we had a couple mental mistakes, a couple blown plays, and stuff that we didn’t do 100 percent correct. But as a team we pulled together and really showed the heart and soul of this team. And what were all about this year.”

Other highlights included:

Mike Mattei threw to a wide open Mike Lonnergan in the middle for a 48-yard-touchdown pass. Lonnergan had 3 catches for 92 yards.

Wismer caught a tipped pass for a 23-yard touchdown reception to make it a 21-13 game.

On defense, Lonnergan and Wismer stopped Lawrenceville’s 2-point-conversion attempt.