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Sports

Timber Creek Escapes Eastern with Victory

Taliq Chambers' fourth-quarter interception set up Khalil Pierce's game-winning touchdown with 1:02 left in the game, giving the Chargers a come-from-behind win over the Vikings.

VOORHEES— defense has been able to win games all season by shutting out the opposition and playing an aggressive and opportunistic brand of football. However, Friday may have been the defense's most clutch performance yet.

With the offense sputtering most of the night, the Charger defense prevented Eastern's offense from getting into the end zone and linebacker Taliq Chambers' interception with 3:07 left in the game helped set up the Chargers' game-winning score in a 13-7 victory over the Vikings.

"Having this defense working well for you, you can keep working on and fine-tuning the offense,” said Timber Creek coach Rob Hinson. “It's a total team effort.”

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Chambers' interception was the third of four turnovers by the Vikings. Eastern was actually able to move the ball in parts of the game, but twice they squandered the ball away Chargers' territory, ending their scoring chances.

Timber Creek defensive end Myles Nash was disruptive all night long for the Chargers. He had perhaps the best defensive game of his career, registering two sacks, a forced fumble and an interception. Eastern quarterback Tom Flacco found himself being chased around by Nash for most of the night.

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“I just rushed outside a lot and beat the left tackle with my speed,” said Nash. “I just kept pushing and pushing, so he kept rolling out. On the one play where Flacco made a fumble, I had a nickel blitzing outside of me. So I was able to cut inside and make a play.”

“Myles is an under-the-radar-guy right now, because everyone else is getting (college) offers and everything,” said Hinson. “Myles is a first-year starter, so his is going to come. He's underrated in my opinion, and if he keeps playing like this, then those offers are going to start coming.”

Nash's interception came on a shovel pass that the Vikings had run a couple times in the first quarter. Recognizing where the Eastern players were lined up, Nash was able to get a jump on the play.

“The first time they ran the shovel pass, I tipped it,” he said. “So I knew when it was coming and when they ran it again, I went up to go and get it.”

The Vikings struggled to run the ball inside throughout the game as well. Defensive end Dajuan Drennon was able to get to the ballcarrier on a lot of the off tackle running plays the Vikings ran and when he couldn't make a play, linebacker Quanzell Lambert was usually right behind him to make a stop.

“It all starts with the D-line,” said Lambert. “They set up well and everyone was able to make plays through them. We couldn't have done anything without them.”

Timber Creek's outstanding play on defense helped compensate for the lack of rhythm that the offense had, especially in the first half. The Chargers struggled to move the ball well into the second quarter.

“It's just execution,” said Hinson. “Missing a block here and there, missing an assignment where you get a loss and then it takes you out of your rhythm. If we execute better, I think we'll be fine.”

Their first trip into the red zone ended up going against them, as Khalil Pierce was stripped of the ball and Eastern's Steve Schneider ran the fumble back 84 yards for the Vikings' lone score of the game.

Pierce would redeem himself later on. He scored the Chargers' first touchdown in the final minute of the first half to cut the Eastern lead to 7-6 and would also score the game-winning touchdown with 1:02 left in the fourth quarter.

Eastern had one last chance with a minute left in the fourth quarter. However, Flacco struggled with the hurry-up offense and despite having three timeouts, the Vikings couldn't move the ball in a quick manner. With seven seconds left, Flacco threw his third interception of the day to free safety Andrew Brown.

The win was the closest in the Chargers' season thus far and was one that did not come easy. However, Timber Creek showed that they can overcome adversity, something that could make the difference going into the postseason in just a few weeks.

“We were beating ourselves,” said Lambert. “We definitely know how we're supposed to play and we weren't playing our best in the first half. In the second half, we played the way we knew how to play and we played with heart.”

The Chargers will be back at home next Friday when they host Seneca at 7 p.m.

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