Plant City Observer

Strawberry Crest suffers first loss of the season

The 5-0 Strawberry Crest Chargers traveled to Newsome to go against the Wolves. The game was rescheduled to Monday night due to Hurricane Helene. 

Newsome won the coin toss and elected to receive first. They got the ball at the 20 due to a touchback and scored on the second play of the game as a Wolves wide receiver scored on a jet sweep. After the 75-yard touchdown, the extra point was good and the Wolves were in the lead, 7-0, with 11:10 left in the first. 

The Chargers started their first drive at the 20 after a touchback. Zion Weems got the first carry for the Chargers for no gain. After an incomplete pass, quarterback Zy Floyd was sacked and the Chargers were forced to punt on a 3-and-out. 

Newsome started their drive with amazing field possession, getting it at their own 40-yard line. The Wolves ran it three plays in a row and picked up a first down in the process. Bryson Casselman had a nice tackle for the Chargers, meeting the quarterback as he tried to escape the pocket. An official timeout was called with 5:42 left in the first. After the timeout, Newsome faced a first and 10 at the 16-yard line. A nice play got Newsome into a first and goal opportunity. Brice Schmidt stopped the runner on first down. The Wolves then opted for a play action, finding a receiver wide open in the end zone for the touchdown. It was 14-0 with 3:38 left in the first quarter. Calvin Francis returned the kickoff for Crest and the Chargers took over at the 26-yard line. On the first play of the drive, Floyd found Francis for a huge play in the middle of the field, getting tackled at the Chargers 30-yard line. The Chargers lost 5 yards on a false start on the next play. After two incompletions, the Chargers got a first down as Floyd hit his wide receiver on the curl route. After three straight runs, the Chargers had a decision to make on 4th and short. The first quarter came to an end with the Wolves up 14-0.

The Chargers opted for the field goal attempt, and it was no good, hitting off the post. The Wolves took over at the 20-yard line. Another jet sweep by the Wolves wide receiver gave them a first down. After two more runs by the Wolves, an encroachment on the Chargers coughed up even more yards for the Wolves. The Wolves passed midfield after back to back chunk plays on the Chargers. Newsome then struck again, this time on a play-action pass, finding a wide receiver open in the middle and he scored, making it 21-0 with 6:50 remaining in the half. A bad return by the Chargers had them start the drive at the 7-yard line. The Chargers went for a deep shot and Francis was held, which gave the Chargers 15 yards after a pass interference. A water break was called with 5:45 left in the half and Crest had the ball at the 26-yard line. Timmy Woods gained 5 on the short pass after the water break. Then an encroachment on the Wolves moved the Chargers up 5 more yards. After a deep shot was incomplete, Floyd found Jean Henry for a solid gain which made it third and manageable. Zayveon Springfield got the first down on a nice run up the middle. A Wolves timeout was called with 4:09 left in the half. Brice Schmidt then got a carry for the Chargers, which put them past midfield. Schmidt got the ball again on a direct hand off which made it third and short, followed by a Chargers timeout with 3:04 left in the half. Francis then took the end around and was stuffed short. Another Chargers timeout was taken to try and dial up a play on 4th and short. The Chargers turned the ball over on downs and the Wolves took over at midfield. 

The Wolves started the drive on a short pass that had a lot of yards after the catch, putting themselves inside the Chargers 30-yard line. Newsome couldn’t move the ball anymore after that, but they did convert a 43-yard field goal, making their lead 24-0 with 1:34 left in the half. 

Floyd got hit while attempting a pass and it was picked off by the DL and the Wolves defender ran it back for a Newsome pick-6, which made it 31-0 with 1:08 left in the half. The Chargers got the ball back and Floyd immediately threw it to Francis for a big play, which put them at midfield. A timeout was called with 47 seconds left. An encroachment by the Wolves moved the Chargers into Wolves territory. Floyd lined up for a play action pass and was picked off deep by the Wolves. 

After halftime and a lightning delay, Newsome kicked off and it went out of bounds. The Chargers started the drive at the 35-yard line. After a short run, Floyd found Woods for a first down. Woods then got a hand off for a nice gain as the Chargers were already at midfield. Rowdy Tucker got a catch and turned it up field for a solid gain for the Chargers. Floyd then kept it for a Chargers first down, but it was negated by a penalty, which backed the Chargers up. The Chargers went back to fullback Rowdy Tucker on another catch. Floyd got blitzed and had to throw it out of bounds, which forced a third and long. Francis got a nice catch on the sideline making it 4th and manageable. The Chargers opted to get the ball to Weems but was short and turned it over on downs. 

Newsome took over at their 40-yard line with 7:36 left in the third. The Wolves started the second half with back-to-back runs and picked up a first down. Newsome’s quarterback kept it on the read option and picked up a first down. A water break was called with 6:25 left in the third and the Wolves were at the Chargers 40-yard line. Fresh off the timeout, the Wolves continued to run and picked up another first down. The Wolves finally attempted a pass but it was incomplete. The Wolves quarterback kept it again, scoring on the rushing touchdown. The score was 38-0 with 3:20 left in the third making it a running clock. 

Crest took over at the 22-yard line to start the drive. On the opening play of the drive, Floyd threw an interception to the Wolves, and they had a nice return, getting tackled inside the Chargers red zone. At the end of the third quarter, the Wolves were up 38-0.

The Wolves ran it on first down, then the clock was stopped on an injury timeout. Newsome picked up a first down on the following play and were inside the Chargers 10-yard line. The Wolves scored on a rushing touchdown, extending the lead 44-0 with 10 minutes remaining in the game after missing the extra point. A nice return by Francis put the Chargers at the 30-yard line. Weems took the carry for a solid gain for the Chargers on their first possession of the 4th quarter. Sevin Bagnato checked in at quarterback for the Chargers. On his first attempt, he found Jabari Barefoot for a first down. A water break was called with 6:26 left in the game. Sevin was sacked on the next play for the Chargers for a loss of 5. After a couple of incomplete passes, it was 4th down for the Chargers. They opted to punt it with under 4 minutes left in the game. After the punt, the Wolves took over at their own 29-yard line. The Wolves ran the clock out and the final score was 44-0. The Chargers are now 5-1, their first loss of the season.

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