LELAND — The visiting Charleston Tigers chewed up the Leland Cubs 44-12 here last Thursday night.
The Tigers improved to 6-4 while Leland slipped to 2-8.
“We started out slow, but we finished strong,” said CHS head coach Scott Martin, whose team trailed 6-0 at the end of the first quarter but went up 16-12 at the break.
“We made some adjustments at the half,” he added.
The Tigers scored 28 unanswered second-half points, including 21 in the third act.
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The Cubs benefited from some early good fortune.
After going three-and-out on their opening series, Leland punted to Charleston. The ball ricocheted off a blocker and was covered by the Cubs at the CHS 30. On first down there, the home team scored on a 30-yard pass. The conversion failed, but Leland led 6-0 at 10:43.
The Tigers endured some early misfortune, including an eight-play opening drive that ended with an interception at the Leland 1.
The first score by CHS came with 8:29 in the second quarter on a 4-yard run by Markevious Prince — this a couple of plays after he broke a run of 29 yards. Chris Bradford ran for the conversion. The Tigers led 8-6.
Leland’s last hurrah came 19 seconds later — after the kickoff and on the first play of the Cubs’ ensuing drive — when busted defensive coverage led to a 60-yard passing touchdown. The two-point try failed, and Leland led 12-8.
Charleston scored once more before the half when Bradford completed a 40-yard pass to Kristian Gammage at 5:35. Bradford carried for the conversion.
Whatever pep talk Martin and company gave to the Tigers seemed to spark them.
Gammage returned the second half kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown. Bradford passed to A.J. Wren for the two-pointer and a 24-12 lead at 11:42 in the third quarter.
A couple of minutes later, Prince carried for a 12-yard score and Terrance Marco booted the PAT for a 31-12 Tiger advantage at 9:27.
Charleston’s third score of the third quarter resulted in the third touchdown of the night for Gammage, who pulled in a 13-yard TD pass from Bradford with 30 seconds left in the stanza. The conversion kick failed.
The Tigers’ final score of the night came with 8:10 in the fourth quarter when Bradford tossed his third touchdown of the game — a 7-yard pass to Cam Chambers. Marco kicked the PAT.
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Statistically, Bradford completed 3-of-8 passes for 60 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. Gammage completed 1-of-4 for 39 yards and a pick.
Gammage was the team’s leading receiver, hauling in two for 53 yards. Wren had the one pass from Gammage for 39 yards, while Chambers caught one for 7 yards.
The Tigers ran all over the Cubs, picking up 292 yards on the ground. Six CHS players finished with double-digit rushing yardage.
Prince led the way with 11 carries for 117 yards, Keyshun Cashaw had seven totes for 57, Gammage six for 41, Chambers three for 31, Bradford two for 24 and Zaron Brooks two for 13.
“That’s the type of ballgame I like. We were able to control the line of scrimmage, said Martin.
Defensively, the Tigers played lights out, limiting the Cubs to 9 rushing yards.
Senior Alfernee Hankins, who missed several games this season due to injury, made a statement with three solo tackles, three assists and two sacks Friday night.
“It’s good to have him back,” noted Martin.
Wren and Enochius Harris had three tackles apiece.
Harris, Dontavious Cashaw and Brandon Smith recorded one sack each. Prince snared an interception for the Tigers.
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This Friday (Nov. 1), Charleston hits the road to play their regular-season finale at the 5-4 M.S. Palmer Dragons in Marks.
Palmer defeated O’Bannon 22-0 last week.
The game, originally scheduled for Thursday night, was pushed to Friday after Palmer decided they did not want to play on Halloween.
Martin said Palmer is “big and strong” and offensively has a “good running game and a big quarterback.”
“It’s going to be a good game,” he said. “We can’t just show up; we’ve got to play.”
CHS can wrap up the Region 3-2A runner-up slot with a win Friday night.
