Red Devils locate fire, beat Malden

CHAFFEE -- It took a passionate halftime speech to spark the Chaffee offense Friday.

The Red Devils struggled to move the ball in the first half, but looked like a different team after intermission.

Chaffee scored on its first two possessions of the second half and rode a solid defensive effort to a 24-14 victory over Malden.

"We felt like we had to be able to run the football," Chaffee coach Charlie Vickery said. "I challenged them a little bit about saying, 'Hey, we have to get tougher. We have to get more physical.' I was real pleased with the second half."

The Red Devils (4-3) responded to their coach's challenge with a nine-play, 69-yard drive for their first score. They faced third down once on the drive, and Aaron Horrell responded with a 32-yard pass to Hunter Thomason for a first down.

"He told us we needed to come out more intense," Thomason said of Vickery's halftime speech. "We came out lax and we were flat the first half. He told us we needed to get the intensity up or we were going to lose. We needed this game. We needed to go in good for next week."

Chris Thomas capped the drive with an 11-yard scoring run.

"Mentally it was very important," Thomas said of the drive. "We came out and made a few changes. Our linemen got off their blocks and started hitting people. We cut it up and we started gaining yards. The morale of the guys, they just kept getting up."

The offense didn't have to wait long to go back to work as the Chaffee defense recovered a Malden fumble three plays into the Greenwave's drive.

Chaffee orchestrated an eight-play drive, this one covering 56 yards. Thomas gained 31 yards on the drive, and Thomason punched it into the end zone from 3 yards out.

"The line really stepped up," Thomason said. "The backs started blocking more. We were seeing the holes better. We were just hitting it up."

Malden (1-6) limited Chaffee to 60 yards on 17 carries in the first half, but the Red Devils churned out 150 yards on 32 carries in the second half. Chaffee also recorded eight first downs on runs in the second half after being limited to four first downs, two passing and two rushing, in the first half.

Malden and its pass-happy offense didn't go quietly. Quarterback Kaleb Loughary picked apart the Chaffee defense with quick-strike passes midway through the fourth quarter. He completed six of his seven attempts on his team's second possession of the final quarter, with the last completion a 14-yarder for a score.

Chaffee converted its 2-point tries after both of its touchdowns, while Malden kicked the extra point after its two scores, so the Red Devils clung to a 16-14 lead with 4 minutes, 50 seconds left in the contest.

"You always get a little bit nervous," Thomas said. "But we talked about last week. We had problems. We were getting down on people. That didn't happen this week. We were saying, 'Come on, we're going to get them. Don't worry about it.'"

Chaffee didn't panic on its ensuing possession. It relied on its running attack, which paid off handsomely.

Daniel Lawson gashed the Malden defense for 29 yards then Collin Dannenmueller bulled his way for a 22-yard gain. It took Chaffee five plays and 2:40 to cover 59 yards and increase its lead when Horrell found the end zone on a quarterback keeper. Another successful 2-point conversion provided the final score.

And for good measure, Chaffee's defense stepped up again, picking off Loughary for the third time on Malden's next possession.

"We got some pretty good pressure on [Loughary], especially early," Vickery said. "We changed our coverage a little bit. ... We kind of mixed it up. We were in the right spot at the right time."

Malden 0 7 0 7 -- 14

Team 0 0 16 8 -- 24

Second Quarter

M -- Josh Louis 2 run (Svein Hansen kick), 9:09

Third Quarter

C -- Chris Thomas 11 run (Hunter Thomason run), 8:32

C -- Thomason 3 run (Trenton Horman pass from Aaron Horrell), 3:39

Fourth Quarter

M -- Andy Matthews 14 pass from Kaleb Loughary (Hansen kick), 4:50

C -- Horrell 4 run (Thomason pass from Horrell), 2:10

M C

First downs 15 13

Rushes-yards 21-21 49-210

Passing yards 163 52

Passes 17-32-3 4-11-0

Fumbles-Lost 2-1 1-0

Penalties-Yards 1-5 10-95

@z_agate_no tab_no indnt_bld ld:INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- Malden, Patrick Wilson 4-1, Ryan Cain 7-20, Josh Louis 7-26, Kaleb Loughary 3-(minus 26). Chaffee, Hunter Thomason 11-55, Collin Dannenmueller 5-22, Daniel Lawson 4-43, Aaron Horrell 10-8, Jordan Yahn 1-17, Chris Thomas 17-70, Trenton Horman 1-(minus 5).

PASSING -- Malden, Kaleb Loughary 17-31-163-3, Travis Gregory 0-1-0-0. Chaffee, Aaron Horrell 4-11-52-0.

RECEIVING -- Malden, Andy Matthews 7-66, Casey Gray 5-29, Kyle Lemarr 1-11, Ryan Cain 1-18, Jordan McMunn 2-22, Dee Collier 1-17. Chaffee, Josh Roberts 1-(minus 2), Daniel Lawson 2-22, Hunter Thomason 1-32.