Alva Review-Courier -

Its crunch time for high school football with district games at the mid-point of the schedule. The Alva Goldbugs traveled to Chisholm for a Thursday night fall break game knowing a win would give them a good chance of making it into district playoffs. The Goldbugs were 1-2 in district play while Chisholm was 2-1. The Goldbugs went into halftime with a small lead, but Chisholm came out strong in the second half to win by three points 24-21.

First Half

The Goldbugs scored first. Alva took the ball for the second time and ran a five play, 58 yard drive to score. A pass from quarterback Cambell Gaisford to Aiden Kimberlin took the Goldbugs to the 25 yard line. From there Alva ran two more plays to score. Gaisford pitched the ball to Tripp Cole on the left, and Cole tossed the ball to Kimberlin on the right. Then Kimberlin went in for the 20-yard touchdown. The kick by Kash Shipley was good, and Alva led 7-0. That score held through the end of the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Chisholm was able to move the ball 63 yards in 14 plays for a touchdown. It wasn’t easy: Longhorn quarterback Kelson Hamilton was sacked by Wyatt Tucker for a loss. A Chisholm penalty moved them farther back. They had to overcome a third down with 23 yards to go. A 35-yard pass play kept their momentum going, and Hamilton ran the ball in for the touchdown. The Goldbugs broke up the conversion attempt, and the score stood at 7-6 with Alva leading.

Chisholm followed their TD with an onside kick that Gaisford grabbed and ran back to the Chisholm 45. From there, Gaisford gave the ball to Lantz Mathers who didn’t let anyone stop him running into the end zone for a 45-yard touchdown. Shipley’s point-after kick was good, and Alva led 14-6.

During Chisholm’s next possession, Goldbug Nolan Benson was sidelined with an injury. Hamilton threw the ball to Nick Barker, and Benson was injured trying to stop him. That left Barker wide open, and he ran the 77 yards for a touchdown. The conversion attempt was good, but the Longhorns were flagged for an illegal man downfield. The do-over failed when Chisholm’s pass was picked off by Demarkus Wharton. Alva led by two points going into halftime, 14-12.

Second Half

Chisholm opened scoring in the second half to take their first lead in the game. They advanced 61 yards in nine plays with quarterback Hamilton running the final yard for the touchdown. The Longhorns never succeeded in point-after efforts, but they now led 18-14.

The Goldbugs got a drive going, progressing from their 34 yard line to the Chisholm 10. However, the Longhorns held Alva at the four yard line on a fourth down.

Chisholm took over just outside their end zone, going 97 yards in ten plays to score. The final effort was a 34-yard touchdown pass. The Longhorns increased their lead to 24-14.

The Goldbugs managed one more scoring drive of 11 plays and 65 yards. Mathers scored the touchdown on a three-yard run, and Shipley’s kick was good. The Chisholm lead was narrowed to three points at 24-21 which was the final score. Alva had one more possession but not enough time to get to the end zone.

Wrap-Up

The Goldbugs dropped to 1-3 in 3A-1 district play while Chisholm improved to 3-1. The eight teams in the district have three more games before the playoffs.

Looking at some game stats, Alva had 122 yards rushing while Chisholm had 147. The Goldbugs passed for 152 yards while the Longhorns had 199. Total yards were 274 for Alva and 346 for Chisholm. Alva had one turnover, and Chisholm had none.

Next Friday, the Goldbugs will be at home as they take on Hennessey with a 7 p.m. kickoff at Ranger Field.

In other district games, Blackwell edged Hennessey 24-22 while Millwood beat Newkirk 49-14 and Oklahoma Christian School shutout Perry 64-0.

In the area, Cherokee defeated Garber 48-28, Timberlake beat Buffalo 46-8, and Waynoka blanked Sharon-Mutual 15-0.