Chesapeake football coach Rob Elliott couldn’t believe this was happening again.
The Cougars cruised to a big halftime lead, just for Severna Park to punch back in the second half. Last September, Chesapeake found itself stressing over the same kind of comeback, only this time, Chesapeake held on for a 28-21 win.
On fourth-and-10 with 1:30 to go, Severna Park quarterback Vince Nguyen launched the touchdown that shattered Chesapeake’s control of the game — a 31-yard bomb to Cole Cavanaugh that narrowed the Cougars’ lead to a single score.
“We should’ve never been in that position. We get up early, we just gotta keep pounding,” Cougars quarterback Keller Herzberger said. “But I had faith in my defense.”
The Falcons defense shuffled Chesapeake off quickly and Nguyen took over at the 41-yard line with 57 seconds to work with.
Two flags that forced the Falcons back to their own 21 didn’t kill the drive. Nguyen salved the wound with 19-yard and 24-yard shots to Dash Havens and Joey Tramontana, respectively. Just past the 30 with eight seconds left, Nguyen paced back, surveying his options before him.
He didn’t see Chesapeake’s Connor Wright or Colin Gilmore in time.
Even when his initial tackle didn’t stick, Wright pursued Nguyen to drag him down, forcing a fumble Gilmore jumped on.
“We’d seen it in film all week,” senior Isaak Sears explained. “Ran it all week in practice. Throw another defensive back in there, lock it up and make a tackle.”
Defense and special teams set the Cougars (3-1) miles ahead before quarterback Herzberger even touched the field, pickpocketing the Falcons (1-3) early and often.
Nguyen, who entered ranked third in county passing yards, had his first drive end with an interception Chesapeake’s Levi Page took 52 yards the opposite direction for a touchdown.
The Falcons’ next luckless campaign ended with Sears blocking a punt. Herzberger and company took over at the Falcons’ 2-yard line and Peyton Jacobs took it across the goal line to make it 14-0.
“Our defense and special teams have really been carrying us this year, without a doubt,” Elliott said. ”And offense, we’re getting there. It’s still a lot of work in progress, but we’re getting there.”
Severna Park couldn’t build momentum off linebacker Landon Williams’ interception early in the second quarter. Herzberger and running back Sean Carroll came back and churned up most of the half’s remaining clock to cap a 49-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown to cement a 21-0halftime stranglehold.
It was that skillfully drawn-out drive that signaled to Elliott his offense was on the rise. A unit that graduated five seniors struggled with communication early, but now, there’s talking, moving, adjusting. It’s working now, Elliott said.
“If we can continue to do that, we should be in business with everybody,” Herzberger said.
Herzberger lavished praise on his offensive line for that. But Nguyen’s offensive line failed him in the first half. Defense zoned in on Nguyen, knowing he liked to sit on passes a bit. Elliott noted his underclassmen, too, like sophomores Lucas Rothenhoefer and Jack Wright, in that regard.
The more Chesapeake punched through and dragged him down — Jason Windel’s pair of sacks, for instance — the more tangled a mess the Falcons’ attempts to execute became. The Severna Park quarterback’s prosperous connection with Cavanaugh couldn’t spark up.
Yet.
“Planned to start fast and that didn’t work out,” Falcons coach Nick Marks said. “But it’s good to have a quarterback-receiver combo like those two.”
Nothing mattered more than reuniting Nguyen and Cavanaugh. A 37-yard pass seemed to do the trick, and a 11-yard touchdown connection followed suit for the lone third-quarter touchdown to trail 21-7.
Sears nearly rocked Severna Park off kilter with a fourth-quarter interception and Herzberger padded his team with a 20-yard passing touchdown of his own, but Nguyen didn’t relent.
He hit Tramontana for an 83-yard score, but the comeback wasn’t to be.
“We came out on top though,” Sears said. “That’s all that matters.”
Chesapeake – 14 7 0 7 – 28
Severna Park – 0 0 7 14 – 21
TOUCHDOWNS
Q1 — CHESAPEAKE — LEVI PAGE, 52-YARD PICK SIX — 7-0 WITH GOOD EXTRA POINT 9:52
CHESAPEAKE — PEYTON JACOBS 2 YARD RUSH — 14-0 WITH GOOD EXTRA POINT
Q2
CHESAPEAKE — KELLER HERZBERGER 3 YARD RUSH – 21-0 WITH GOOD EXTRA POINT
Q3
SEVERNA PARK — VINCE NGUYEN 11 YARD PASS TO COLE CAVANAUGH — 21-7 WITH GOOD EXTRA POINT
Q4
CHESAPEAKE — KELLER HERZBERGER 20 YARD PASS TO CH17 — 28-7 WITH GOOD EXTRA POINT
SEVERNA PARK — VINCE NGUYEN 83 YARD PASS TO JOEY TRAMONTANA — 28-14 WITH GOOD EXTRA POINT
SEVERNA PARK – VINCE NGUYEN 31 YARD PASS TO COLE CAVANAUGH – 28-21 WITH GOOD EXTRA POINT