‘We flinch’: Chargers drop crucial game to Eagles, cling to playoff hopes

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MEBANE — Coming out of a heated postgame huddle following Friday night’s loss, Northwood Head Coach Cullen Homolka didn’t have much to say.

His team had just fallen to the Eastern Alamance Eagles, 37-0, on the road.

They were out-gained by 101 yards, the Eagles’ 353 to their 252.

They were outplayed in nearly every sense of the word in what could be classified as a must-win conference game.

And after 48 minutes of Eastern Alamance scoring a lot to Northwood’s none, Homolka was visibly frustrated.

“We flinch in big situations,” Homolka said following the game.

Signs of the Chargers flinching — rather than taking hold of the big moments — came early on in Friday’s contest.

On the opening drive, Northwood and its power run game took control. The Chargers ran 15 offensive plays, all of them rushes — one for six yards here, another for two yards there — culminating in a 32-yard bootleg run by junior quarterback Will Smith, who was getting his first start at the position.

Smith’s long run put the Chargers at first-and-goal from the Eagles’ six-yard-line, where they called three straight runs up the middle … and only mustered two yards.

With fourth-and-goal from the four-yard-line, Northwood opted for a short field goal try.

No good.

Eastern Alamance’s defense held up and on the following possession, the Eagles ran a similar long-winded drive, capped off by a 6-yard TD pass on a double-reverse trick play from senior quarterback Kasen McCawley to senior starting quarterback Hunter Douglas.

The Chargers got punched in the mouth early with the goal-line stand, then flinched when it was time to make up for it on the defensive end.

“They played well, but sometimes they play like sophomores when they should be past that,” Homolka said. “We’ll get there. We just have to figure out a way to stop flinching when we have to make a play.”

The Eagles scored touchdowns on five of their seven possessions, including four TD plays of 22-plus yards.

A couple of Eastern Alamance’s most talented offensive skill players — Douglas and sophomore running back Joshua Murray — had a field day against the Chargers.

Douglas, who was under pressure a couple of times by Northwood’s defensive line, finished the night 9-for-15 for 149 yards passing and three TDs, along with four carries for 28 yards on the ground and one reception for six yards and a TD through the air.

As electric as Douglas was, Murray might have been even better.

On the Eagles’ second offensive possession, they capitalized on a third-down defensive pass interference penalty on the Chargers by handing the ball off to Murray on the next play, who found a hole, ran straight through the line and took it 39 yards to the house untouched.

A missed extra point made it a 13-0 ballgame in favor of the Eagles, but despite the manageable score, the Chargers never truly recovered.

Murray finished the day with 14 carries for 169 yards and a score, averaging 12.1 yards per carry against a struggling Northwood defense.

“Josh is a sophomore who’s going to be really special,” John Kirby, longtime Eastern Alamance head coach, said after the game. “He’s already special now, but he’s going to be really special when it’s all said and done. I think only great things are going to come from him as long as we give him a little bit of help.”

While there were plenty of positives from the Chargers’ defense — including the play of sophomore linebacker Ryan Brinker, who made a couple of hard-hitting tackles throughout the night — the Eagles simply found the best ways to exploit their weaknesses.

The score was 21-0 at halftime after a 25-yard TD pass from Douglas to junior wide receiver Triston Keck and the Chargers’ wheels looked like they were falling off.

“Hats off to Northwood,” Kirby said. “With their scheme and what they do, it’s tough (to play against). They’re a good football team, they’re very physical. … I’m proud of our kids.”

Offensively, the Chargers weren’t able to make it back into Eastern Alamance territory until the final two drives of the game, already down 37-0, which ended in a turnover on downs and an interception, respectively.

Northwood may have gained 238 yards on the ground, led by senior Dashaun Vines-McSwain (20 carries for 79 yards), but Homolka said he thought the team’s run game could have been more efficient.

“I don’t think our tailbacks were seeing anything,” Homolka said. “There were holes they were missing. They were wide-open holes.”

In his first start at QB, Smith only threw the ball sparingly — 2-for-4 for 14 yards and an interception — but his best drive came on Northwood’s penultimate possession, where he completed two passes and carried the ball four times for 34 yards, including a 17-yard keeper that put the team into Eagles territory.

Then, the interception happened, putting a scoreless end to yet another Northwood possession.

While the offense never truly looked comfortable outside of the team’s opening drive, Smith helped provide a couple of bright spots as he filled in for sophomore Carson Fortunes, the Chargers’ typical starter, who was out due to non-injury-related reasons, but was on the sideline.

“He settled down a little bit (toward the end) and I want to keep working with him and see if we can get it done next week,” Homolka said. “Maybe Carson will be back and things will be different, too. … Tonight, we just lost the cohesion. When you put a different kid at quarterback, it kind of changes the offense.”

The Chargers, sitting at 4-4 (2-2 in the Central 3A conference) have just one game remaining in the regular season this Friday against the Western Alamance Warriors (3-5, 2-2 in the Central 3A).

They’ll need a win to keep their chances at a wild-card playoff berth alive.

“If we’re getting in, we’ve got to beat Western Alamance to do it,” Homolka said. “If we lose to Western, we might as well pack it up and go home. We’ve got a game to win.”

Reporter Victor Hensley can be reached at vhensley@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @Frezeal33.