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Bath wins border battle 33-26
BY GEOFF COX • STAFF WRITER
 | | The Chargers had their hands full all evening with Warrior running back Cyrus Bennett, but made the plays when they mattered. Here Bath's Jeremiah Pauley tackles Bennett for a loss in the Pocahontas backfield. Bennett rushed for 229 yards on 37 carries on the night. |
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WARM SPRINGS - Charger Adam Persinger rushed for three first-half touchdowns and Bath held off a furious Pocahontas fourth-quarter rally and a bag of tricks to defeat the Warriors, 33-26, Friday night.
Jim King broke up a pass with the Warriors on the Bath 20 on fourth and two with 20 seconds remaining to seal the hard fought win.
"We needed that one," said Bath coach Will Fields.
The game took a Charger start when Persinger took the ball 68 yards for a touchdown on the first Bath play of the game, putting the team on the board with 9:23 to go in the first.
Pocahontas came into the game with a vaunted running attack behind Cyrus Bennett, and methodically moved the ball downfield to score two possessions later when Bennett punched it in from three yards out to knot the score 7-7.
 | | Charger Adam Persinger races up the sideline for some of his 310 yards on the night. Persinger's career night saw him score three touchdowns and gain 240 yards on 12 carries in the first half alone. His performance was what Chargers needed to outlast Pocahontas last Friday. (Recorder photos by Geoff Cox) |
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The ball soon bounced back Bath's way when 10 seconds later, Persinger took the hand-off and raced 65 yards up the field for his second touchdown in four carries. After a missed PAT, Bath led 16-7.
Matt O'Conner broke up a Warrior pass on fourth-and- 14, and Persinger again hit paydirt. A nine-yard touchdown run after two carries of 34 and 16 yards put the finishing touch on the drive and Bath ahead, 19-7.
After another missed PAT the Warriors got the ball back with 2:56 left in the half and began moving toward the goal on the legs of Bennett again until Cory Plecker stuck Bennett in the backfield and forced a fumble.
T.J. Martin recovered for the Chargers and on the next play, Persinger was off to the races again but fumbled on the end of a 25-yard run giving the Warriors another shot at scoring before halftime.
With less than a minute to play, the Warriors gained 27 yards on a amazing one-handed catch by Michael Callison and spiked the ball to stop the clock with 25 seconds to go.
Determined to close the gap before the end of the half, Warrior coach Mike Knisely called the first of four trick plays on the night.
Quarterback Lucas Faulknier threw a pass to Callison on the side. When the Charger defense grew close, Callison threw a second pass downfield to Derek Kiner for a 23-yard touchdown. The Warriors missed the PAT and the game went into the half with the Chargers up 19-13.
Cowbells welcomed the Chargers as they took the field for the second half and continued ringing when Bath quarterback John Barden connected with Jim King on a perfectly timed pass to the left side.
King shed a tackle, put on the burners, and crossed the goal 66 yards later to the cheers of the crowd and connected on the PAT to give the Chargers a 26-13 lead with 5:37 to go in the third.
"That pass play really hurt," said Knisely after the game.
The Charger defense forced a three and out, and when Jeremiah Pauley blocked the Warrior punt, Bath had excellent field position on the 50-yard line.
Back to the ground they went. Persinger teamed up with Nathan Hepler for seven rushes to put the ball on the six. Not to be left out, Barden went in for six on a quarterback keeper and after the PAT, the Chargers held a seemingly comfortable 33-19 lead with 24 seconds left until the fourth quarter.
Pocahontas was not ready to give up, and after a 33- yard draw play to Bennett, Faulknier hit Callison in the end zone on a 16-yard pass to keep the visitors in the game, 33-19.
Bath went back to the ground to run the clock out but the Pocahontas defense held and gave the ball back to its offense with 4:20 left.
Back to the bag went the Warriors, gaining 17 yards on a halfback option pass, followed by the old hook and ladder 56 yards down the sideline for the score one play later.
The Warriors went for two but failed to convert, leaving them seven points down, 33-26 with 3:10 to go.
The Chargers again tried to run the clock out but Pocahontas used two timeouts and a delay of game penalty to force Bath to punt.
King got off a beaut of a kick that Bennett hauled in on the 10 and returned to the 21.
Charger fans felt lumps in their throats when on the next play, Bennett raced 31 yards down the sideline. Then he tacked on 23 more, but a hold on the Warriors put the ball back on the Bath 33 yard line.
On first and 14, Charger J.P. Plecker stopped Bennett for a loss of a yard.
With time running out, Pocahontas pulled off more trickeration - a reverse pass to Jonathan Bennett for 14 yards and a first down on the 20. A spike, a five-yard carry, and a timeout saw the Warriors facing third and five from the 15 with 40 seconds left.
With their backs to the wall and victory or defeat at hand, the Bath defense rose to the occasion on the next two plays. On the first, J.P. Plecker, Pauley and the rest of the Charger D stopped Bennett at the line of scrimmage.
Facing fourth and five with no way to stop the clock, the Warriors decided to go for it all and the fade pass to the end zone was right on target. But King broke to the ball with the perfect angle and got a hand in to knock the ball - and the game - away.
"We took a shot," said Knisely. "The kid made a nice play on the ball."
Fields was impressed with his team and happy to escape with the win although "(they) made it a little more exciting than we like," he said.
Persinger rushed for 310 yards on 24 carries for the game. He had 12 carries for 240 at the half for a 20-yard per carry average.
The win improves the Chargers' record to 2-3 heading into Friday's game at Riverheads.
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