Football: Chargers come from behind to beat Phoenix

by Brent Koaches

Midland Dow’s Kyle Partlo scored the game-winning touchdown with 1:13 left to play Friday as the Chargers rallied for a 26-22 victory over visiting Flint Central at Midland Community Stadium.

Partlo’s touchdown capped a long drive that began at the Chargers’ 25 and concluded when the junior quarterback broke through the middle then cut towards the corner of the end zone from 28 yards out. The touchdown was big for Partlo, who played well in the first half but struggled at times in the second.

“Any time that you show poise late in the game and win, nothing else is going to faze you later on,” said Dow coach Kurt Faust of Partlo’s performance. “I think the series he struggled in really woke him up, and I think he wanted to redeem himself. And he definitely did that tonight.”

The conclusion of the game was improbable at best as the Chargers took control early. Dow recovered a Flint fumble on the first play of the game, setting up a 27-yard field goal from Alex Faust to give Dow the 3-0 lead.

Austin Robinson recovered another Phoenix fumble later in the quarter, and Partlo connected with Adam Pinney on a six-yard touchdown strike. Faust hit the PAT to make it 10-0.

Flint’s David Burton would bring the Phoenix right back in it, though, when he returned the ensuing kickoff 93 yards for the score. The extra point was good to make it 10-7.

Faust would add another field goal later in the quarter, and Zack Riepma returned an interception 25 yards for a touchdown to make it 20-7 and give Dow some breathing room.

But Central just kept coming, as the Phoenix got a 20-yard touchdown catch from Burton at the end of the half and a one-yard touchdown run at the beginning of the third to take a 22-20 lead.

“Flint made some defensive adjustments in the second half that gave us some problems,” Faust said. “They came out and really showed some different looks. The youth of our team really showed, it just took some time to try and figure things out a little bit.”

Neither team was able to do much from there until the Chargers started their game-winning drive in the waning minutes of the fourth.

“It wasn’t a pretty win, but the kids played with a lot of heart and we’re very proud of that,” Faust said. “We talked about it all week that if you play with heart, then a lot of good things can happen. This is a win because they wanted to win this football game, and that’s all you can ask sometimes.”

Still, Faust was not satisfied with his team’s performance, believing his players can and will be better.

“We can’t be satisfied with wins like these,” he said. “We want to be the best team in the league by the end of the year, but we’ve got a lot of steps to go.”

The Chargers (2-2) will be in action next week when they travel to Saginaw High to face the Trojans. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m.

For more photos from Friday’s game, click on “Photo Slideshow” in the top right corner of this article.

Photos by Adam Baudoux