Football: Oilers beat Chargers 28-0

by Cory Butzin

The Mount Pleasant defense shut down the Chargers’ attack Friday and scored a key touchdown on a fumble recovery in the third quarter as the Oilers blanked visiting Midland Dow 28-0.

Dow trailed by two scores just over midway through the third quarter when the Chargers recovered a fumbled punt return and set up their offense in Oiler territory. The turnover gave the Chargers renewed hope as they looked to make a run and cut the lead in half. But that’s when Mount Pleasant forced a fumble and Nicholas Loveberry picked it up, raced along the sideline and dodged several Charger defenders on his way to a 79-yard touchdown that took the wind right out of Dow’s sails.

“It’s just one of those things,” said Dow Coach Kurt Faust. “The right place at the right time. Unfortunately balls like that aren’t bouncing our way. Against an average team, you can recover, get a stop and play again. You make a simple mistake against a good football team and it’s a touchdown. That’s hard to overcome.”

Things started good for Dow, though, as the defense shut down the Oilers on the opening series and forced a punt. The teams traded possessions for the entire first quarter and partway into the second as it appeared as though the Chargers were going to be able to slow the potent Mount Pleasant attack. But with 8:22 to go in the first half, Oilers’ quarterback William Arnold broke several tackles on his way to a 12-yard touchdown and the extra point gave Mount Pleasant a 7-0 lead.

Five minutes later, the Oilers increased that lead to 14-0 when Arnold completed a short pass to William Odykirk, who shook a Dow defender and raced 35 yards for the score.

After the half, things seemed to be turning Dow’s way as their offense began to move the chains and pick up some yards. The offense eventually stalled and was forced to punt, which led to the fumble recovery by Dow. The rest was history as Loveberry scored on the fumble return and Arnold threw a 7-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth to round out the scoring at 28-0. The Chargers would have a few chances in the red zone late in the game, but were stalled by an interception and a turnover on downs.

“We want to score so badly,” Faust said. “For some reason there’s a buffer zone that we haven’t been able to break through. It’s frustrating as a coach because you’ve practiced those scenarios. You’ve been down there before and it’s simple mistakes. These are good kids. They’re working hard. They’re giving everything they got. There’s just always one little trip up here and there.”

The loss dropped the Chargers’ record to 4-4 and all but eliminated their playoff hopes. Technically, teams that finish 5-4 can still make the playoffs, but Faust says he is only focusing on finishing with a winning record as the Chargers take aim at 6-2 Midland High next week.

“Our Super Bowl’s next week,” he said. “Right now, for some reason, God is challenging us to step up and get off this wall and become better football players. We’ve got a week to do that. That’s the nice part about our season, we can always end it against a good team with a full house.”

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

Photos by Jason Wolverton & Cory Butzin