Chaffee's grand opening

~ There were plenty of standouts in the Red Devils' streak-ending victory over Grandview.

The Chaffee Red Devils had no shortage of players worthy of the game ball in Friday night's victory at Grandview that snapped the program's 34-game losing streak.

There was junior running back Andrew Hendrix, who had 91 yards and three touchdowns on 12 carries.

There was senior running back Kent Courtney, who got Chaffee off to a strong start with more than 50 yards rushing in the first quarter and finished the night with 90 yards and a touchdown.

There was senior quarterback Michael Lee, who confidently led the Chaffee offense that compiled 291 yards rushing and 25 yards passing.

The defense picked up three turnovers, with two interceptions; and the special teams accounted for two more, with a fumble recovery on a punt and a recovery on a bad Grandview long snap.

Chaffee had a lot of standouts in its 43-14 romp that was the program's first win since Oct. 11, 2002, but the overlooked players in the trenches drew the praise.

"They got the game ball," Courtney said.

"We owe the whole game to the lines -- both offense and defense," senior defensive back Zach McDaniel said.

While Chaffee's offensive line of Walker Rice, Adam Urhahn, Michael Armitage, Bryan Walker, Mark Powell and tight end Adam Crowe opened holes for a variety of backs -- Courtney, Hendrix and Steven Atkinson split 37 carries nearly evenly -- the defensive line of Rice, Walker, Hendrix Adam Horton and noseguard Kippy Lawson limited Grandview to minus-2 rushing yards in the first half.

"We were fired up," said McDaniel, a 5-foot-8, 145-pounder who was applying many of the hard hits on Grandview backs and receivers. "We were fired up from the opening kickoff to the last series of the game. We wanted to wear them down. We knew their lack of personnel would hurt them.

"Our coaches came up with a great scheme."

Chaffee had trouble containing just two players: quarterback Gary Britton, who completed nine of 19 passes for 170 yards and a touchdown to go along with a rushing touchdown; and wingback Levi Terrell, who caught the TD pass and had another long gainer of 56 yards to set up the second touchdown.

"I knew their quarterback was back, and I knew he was a good player," said Chaffee coach Charlie Vickery, in his second year at his alma mater. "He has a good arm, he's a good athlete, and we knew he'd be hard to contend with.

"I thought our defense played physical, and we were able to do well with their running game."

Chaffee built a 16-0 lead in the first period on touchdowns by Hendrix and Courtney. They added a 25-yard scoring pass from Lee to Aaron Volkerding in the final minute of the second period. Hendrix scored two more TDs in the second half -- one on an 11-yard run and another on a 43-yard jaunt -- and Atkinson also had a short TD run.

Atkinson and Adam Horton had sacks for losses of more than 10 yards in the second period.

Atkinson, Volkerding and Horton had fumble recoveries, while Jerrod Steger had an interception and Atkinson intercepted a pass with a juggling catch in the back of the end zone.

Atkinson's fumble recovery, on a botched punt attempt by Grandview, led to Chaffee's second touchdown; and Horton's recovery of a botched punt return led to Atkinson's TD that sealed the decision early the fourth period.

In other words, many Red Devils players contributed.

It was a different scenario then last year's opener, when Chaffee planted the seed for 2006 by having Courtney, then a junior playing his first varsity football game, run for 150 yards against Grandview in Vickery's first game at the helm. But that came in a 24-6 loss that was about as close as Chaffee would get to a win last year.

"I feel like we have more depth than what we have had," Vickery said. "We only have four kids that go both ways, and we're able to get them a break."

The Chaffee players believed the depth and the work put in since last season would allow the program to snap the losing streak É immediately.

Lee had promised it to everybody, he admitted. The team's improvement, he thought, was clearly evident in practices.

"We've been working so hard," he said, "and everybody had so much confidence that we knew we were going to win."

Vickery believes that attitude was a difference-maker.

"The attitude last year wasn't bad; we just didn't have an attitude," he said. "Because they spent the time in the offseason, the kids understand they're going to get some benefit from this. I believe this year they believe they can win."

The confidence grew when Chaffee had a 16-point lead in the first period without throwing a pass. Lee attempted just three all night, and that was fine with him. He was happy to let the linemen and the running backs carry the load.

"We knew coming in we weren't going to throw a lot, and we didn't have to the way we were running the ball," he said. "The line played terrific. I knew they had gotten so much better, but they proved it tonight."

The Red Devils host Liberty Mountain View in their home opener Friday.

Down the road in Week 4 is a game at Rector, Ark., against a team that was 0-9 last year and struggled with roster numbers. That was a game added to the schedule to increase Chaffee's chance of ending the losing streak.

Now they have a new streak in mind.

"We want to win them all," Courtney said.