Rams Get Better of Chargers In Rematch, 17-14
CHANTILLY, VA--The Chantilly Chargers were the first victims of the expanded Northern Region playoff system Friday night. The Chargers were unable to beat the Robinson Rams, despite a 41-21 win earlier this season. The Rams outplayed Chantilly in the second half to win the game 17-14 and move on to the semi-final round.
Chantilly got on the board first with 9:37 left in the 1st half when Austin Decker found Ian Mills for a 15 yard touchdown pass. Decker would end the night 6 for 9 passing with 93 yards and the one touchdown. The Rams were able to cut into the Chantilly lead on their next possession when Peter Ferrara connected on a 27 yard field goal with just over 3 minutes to play in the half that put the score at 7-3 in favor of the home standing Chargers. With less than 10 seconds to go before halftime, Robinson fumbled on its own 25 yard line and Decker, who was playing safety at the time, picked up the ball and sprinted for the touchdown. The halftime score was 14-3 in favor of the #2 seeded Chargers.
The teams came out of the locker room after halftime and it was the Robinson Rams who took control of the ballgame. The Rams defense held the "Big 3" of the Chargers to just 100 yards rushing on the night and no scores. Offensively the Rams were keyed by big games from Winton Fox and Alex Murray, despite Peter Ferrara being the number 1 option most of the season. Fox and Murray accounted for 175 yards on 28 carries against a very tough Charger defense. It was Fox who pulled the Rams to 14-9 with a 38 yard touchdown run in the 3rd quarter; Ferrara missed the extra point to keep the score 14-9 Chantilly. The teams traded possessions throughout the rest of the 3rd quarter. Alex Murray took a handoff and ran 20 yards for the go-ahead touchdown with 9 minutes left in the game. The two-point conversion was good and the Rams took the lead 17-14.
Chantilly attempted to make one final play when Austin Decker threw to Jacob Barron with only 6 seconds left to play; however, Barron had no teammate to lateral to and when he was tackled the game ended and the Rams had the biggest upset of the evening.
The Chantilly Chargers finished the 2007 season 8-3, with 2 losses in the final three contests. The Robinson Rams now move on to play the Centreville Wildcats, who upset West Springfield 30-27 Friday night as well. Robinson will travel to Centreville for the match-up with the winner taking on either Westfield or West Potomac for the Regional Championship in two weeks. Stay tuned to www.GamedayMagazine.com for all the latest on the Northern Region playoffs, as well as the other games throughout the state of Virginia for the "2nd Season".
