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Chambers Academy and Lee-Scott Academy kicked off football season on Thursday when the two teams faced each other for the 28th time in their history. 

Lee-Scott came out swinging. The Warriors returned the opening kickoff for 80 yards, and they took a 7-0 lead with just under 12 minutes to go in the first quarter. 

Head Coach Jason Allen felt like his team responded well after the opening touchdown, but it was too little too late.

“We settled down after it’s over, but it’s too late then,” Allen said. “They’ve scored. I thought we settled down, played good defense for most of the first quarter.”  

Neither team was able to put anymore points on the scoreboard in the first quarter. Chambers Academy’s best opportunity in the first half came with 3:45 left in the second quarter. Chambers was set up in the red zone, but a penalty pushed them behind the 30. Koreem Henry broke wide open, but an under-thrown ball ended the Rebels’ drive. 

A 91-yard drive was capped off as Lee-Scott connected on the 10 yard touchdown pass to take a 14-0 lead into halftime. 

“They were hurting us with the sprint out pass, and we weren’t getting underneath,” Allen said. 

The Rebels stepped it up on defense in the second half, but the offense still struggled until late in the fourth quarter. Chambers Academy lost two fumbles in the fourth quarter. 

With just 45 seconds left in the game, Chambers Academy finally found pay-dirt. Jacob Norgard capped off an 84-yard drive with a nine yard touchdown run. 

The Rebels unfortunately just ran out of time. They attempted an onside kick, but Chambers Academy was called for a penalty, and Lee-Scott Academy took over with little time left. The Warriors went into victory formation, and that was the ballgame. Chambers Academy loses their season opener for the second consecutive season, and the Rebels have now dropped two straight against Lee-Scott Academy. The final score was 14-6 in favor of Lee-Scott Academy. 

The biggest positive to takeaway for Chambers Academy was the performance from the defense. The Rebels were able to shutout Lee-Scott in the second half. 

Mistakes and missed opportunities led to Chambers Academy losing the game. The Rebels had multiple chances to score early and late in the game. Penalties consistently derailed promising drives. Allen hopes to correct those mistakes in practice this week. 

“You just work on it, harp on it, talk about it, drill it, and then if they can’t get it, you put other guys in that are going to take care of the football,” Allen said. 

Allen was impressed with the fight he saw from his players tonight. Even with being down the entire night, the team never mailed it in. 

“Chambers’ guys don’t quit,” Allen said. “Everybody knows that. We don’t quit. Our guys don’t lay down.” 

Fans of football in the 80s and 90s would have had a blast at the game. Both were run heavy and physical on both sides. 

“We love it,” Allen said. “You got to run the football in high school football and college football.” 

Chambers Academy used three different quarterbacks on Thursday. Landon Hand, Jacob Norgard and Kole Baker all saw time under center. 

“I thought we threw the ball ok at times, at times we didn’t,” Allen said. “We’re trying to be more balanced, and we played a lot of quarterbacks tonight.” 

“I think we have a chance to have a good team,” Allen said. “I like our team, but we’re not into moral victories. We’ve won 99 games in the last 10 years.”

The only touchdown came from Jacob Norgard. Eli Whorton led the Rebels in tackles with nine on the night. Drew Sheppard followed him with five. Luke Tarver and Austin Brooks each had four tackles.