The Shadow
New Castle, Craig County, VA- The Bath County Chargers, under head coach Jake Phillips have been a dominant force on the football field since week one when they got their first win and put all opponents on notice. Bath had a record of 6-0 and outscored opponents 345-18 going into game seven against district opponent, the Craig County Rockets.
Craig County themselves had a good season going up to this point, going 5-0 before taking a district loss to the Fighting Blues of Parry McCluer the week before. Their showdown with the chargers had all the markers that should have led to a pretty tough fought game. Unfortunately, for Rocket fans, the boys from bath would have none of it.
The game got off to a shaky start for Bath County when Craig came out and kicked an onside kick to start the game covering the ball and making the first possession theirs, while catching Bath completely off guard. It didn’t last long though as the Charger defense showed why they are undefeated by making the Rockets go three-and-out and punting on fourth-and-14.
On the Chargers’ actual first possession, all-star quarterback Wyatt Campbell wasted no time getting his offense going. On first-and-10, he took the ball down into Rocket territory on a QB designed run for 20 yards and set things up for Ethan Bryant to run it in two plays later on an 8-yard run.
After making it 7-0 by kicking the extra point, Braiden Mabe kicked the ball into the endzone for a touchback giving Craig County a long field to work against. The long kick would not be necessary though as the Chargers defense– looking like they had something to prove– did not waste any time getting Craig’s offense off the field dropping their quarterback for a loss on three straight plays and causing them to punt.
Bath got great field position after the short punt starting on the 29-yard line. On the first play, Superman Campbell wasted no time and hit Mabe on a 27-yard pass setting himself up to take in the QB sneak for a touchdown making it 14-0, all Bath County.
Craig’s next drive went about as well as the one before it. The Bath County defense tormented the Rockets offense the whole night. Craig, desperate to get something going on offense, tried a fake punt on fourth down, but the Chargers played it perfectly and took over on downs on the seven yard-line. Campbell wasted no time making them pay and after using the gaping hole his O-line made for him, he ran it in for another Bath touchdown.
Before the end of the first quarter, Campbell would find one of his favorite targets, “Luke Turner” for a 22-yard touchdown and at the end of the first, Bath led 28-0. Craig County only got two first downs in the first half, one of which came on the back of a roughing the passer call. Bath came away with another impressive victory of 62-13. The Chargers continue their district march next Friday at home against the team that gave Craig their first loss, the Perry McCluer Fighting Blues.
