South Davidson victorious over Chatham Central in battle of the winless

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DENTON — The battle between a pair of winless 0-9 clubs featuring Chatham Central at South Davidson in Denton on Friday night certainly meant one thing.

Someone would leave with an initial win of the season.

Unfortunately it wouldn’t be Chatham Central as the Bears dismal 2019 campaign continued in a 32-20 loss to South Davidson.

The Bears fall to 0-5 in the 1A Yadkin Valley Conference with the loss and to 0-10 overall while the Wildcats improve to 1-4 in the league and to 1-9 overall.

Chatham Central will host North Moore Friday night in Bear Creek on Senior Night in its final effort of the season to capture that elusive win.

South Davidson, meanwhile, will close out its season by traveling to Spencer to battle league leader North Rowan.

For Chatham Central coach Sherman Howze, the outcome was about the Bears not making the plays when the opportunities presented themselves despite being in the game until the end.

“I can’t fault our effort, I thought we played with a lot of heart and desire,” said Howze. “We gave ourselves a chance to win the game but missed some opportunities that were given to us.”

In the end the Bears’ inability to stop the ground game of the Wildcats proved to be fatal, though the locals yielded their lowest point total of the season, with the previous low being 41 back in week two in a 41-40 double-overtime loss to Atkins.

Chatham Central trailed 13-6 after one period in the books and 19-13 at the intermission after a 71-yard touchdown jaunt by Abad de la Sancha and a 20-yard scoring pass from Michael Moore to Tyler Oldham, leaving the locals pumped and feeling good about its chances.

“It was anyone’s game at the half,” noted Howze. “Defensively Abad De la Sancha, Wesley Buie, Caleb Lytton, Noah Rinell, Raeshaun Cline, Collin Lagenor, Nick Wilson, Hunter Strickland, J’aaron Wise, they all had good games and helped to keep us in the game. South Davidson has a couple of good backs and we knew coming in that they would be a challenge to tackle and bring down.”

Buie and Lytton both collected fumble recoveries while adding seven tackles apiece including one for a loss by Buie.

Damon Hill and Dylan Pate certainly lived up to the billing as Hill scored from 44 yards out in the opening period before Pate rambled in from 38 yards out, and then Hill again from 12 to give the Wildcats the narrow six-point cushion at the intermission.

The duo would each score again in the second half as South Davidson used touchdown in each period to go up 32-13 with 9:24 left in the fourth.

Sancha would score again on the ground from four yards out late in the contest to make the final 32-20 after also booting through the final of his two PAT kicks of the night.

“Abad us a football player, he just does it all for us,” Howze emphasized. “Two touchdowns rushing and 122 yards on the ground, 10 tackles on defense, two PAT kicks, two touchbacks, and did a great job punting again.”

Chatham Central closed with 322 yards of total offense with Michael Moore adding 194 through the air on 15-of-25 passing with a touchdown and two interceptions.

Riley Lagenor led the receivers with four catches for 52 yards while Oldham hauled in three receptions for 70 yards and a score, Brady Cunnup caught a 44-yarder which set up the second Sancha score, Strickland caught two passes for 18 yards, and Micah Gurley a pass for 10 yards.

Howze says his team will be ready to play against neighboring North Moore on Friday night despite the setback in Denton.

“It’s Senior Night so it will be an emotional time, it will be the last game for a great group of young men,” said Howze. “It’s their final time to step out onto the field here at Chatham Central so we want it to be a special night for them.”