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Sports

Timber Creek Downs Woodrow Wilson, Heads Back to Championship

The Chargers overcome the absence of Quanzell Lambert with aggressive defense and 21 unanswered points to advance to their second state title game in school history.

entered the South Jersey Group III semifinal game against Woodrow Wilson without its best defensive player, . With Lambert sidelined with a high ankle sprain, his season, as well as his high school career, could have ended on Friday night with a loss.

However, two juniors, Taliq Chambers and Khalil Pierce, stepped into the spotlight and took charge of the defense. After allowing the No. 4 Tigers to take an early 7-0 lead, the defense held stout, not allowing Woodrow Wilson to score again until late in the fourth quarter. That gave the offense time to score three unanswered touchdowns and cap off a 21-12 victory to send the Chargers to the South Jersey Group III championship game.

“I'm very happy for Quanzell, because he gets to play another game,” said head coach Rob Hinson. “That was our goal, to let our seniors play another game. These guys that have been here four years, they deserve this.”

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The game was living proof that the Chargers could win with their role players stepping up. Pierce, starting at inside linebacker for the first time, did a great job of finding the Tigers' ballcarriers on running plays, helping to hold Woodrow Wilson to just 69 yards rushing on 23 carries.

“Khalil just used athleticism back there,” said Hinson. “A couple things with drills at linebacker combined with his athleticism made him sufficient.”

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However, Pierce's biggest play wasn't a tackle, but rather a huge interception late in the third quarter that swung the game Timber Creek's way. With the Chargers holding on to a 7-6 lead and the Tigers driving, Woodrow Wilson quarterback Aaron Spencer threw a pass that was deflected into the arms of Pierce.

Once the ball was in his arms, Pierce's running back instincts seemed to kick into motion. He managed his way through a crowd of Tiger offensive lineman and slipped a tackle to get loose down the sideline. Pierce returned the interception 85 yards to the Woodrow Wilson 5-yard-line, where he was finally chased down by speedy wide receiver Terrance Chambliss.

Two plays after the big return, Pierce scored on a 2-yard touchdown run that gave the Chargers a 14-6 lead and took the air out of Woodrow Wilson.

Another linebacker, Chambers, took over Lambert's role of leading the defense, relaying the play calls and being vocal on the line. Chambers was also moved from weak-side linebacker to strong-side, yet he made the transition seem seamless.

“When Quanzell was out, I just thought to myself that I had to step up and be a leader and put the team on my back,” said Chambers. “I just went out there and gave it my all.”

After a mistake-filled first quarter defensively that saw the Chargers commit two big third-down penalties that gave Woodrow Wilson first downs, Timber Creek settled in. Defensive ends Myles Nash and Dajuan Drennon were able to get a ton of pressure on Spencer, forcing him into bad throws. Spencer completed only 8-of-29 passes in the game.

“We just tried to force the quarterback to throw bad passes,” said Chambers. “Everyone got aggressive after we came out flat in the first half.”

“I was just looking at how the tight end and tackle were playing me,” said Drennon. “I just got around them, using my speed to get around the end and using my hands to get them off of me.”

The Chargers did a good job offensively of balancing the run and pass. After completing just one of his first five passes, quarterback Calvin Lowe settled down, completing his next five in a row and finishing the game 7-of-14 for 97 yards.

Lowe also found Drennon for two touchdown passes, one in each half. Both were deep passes in which Drennon went uncovered as the Tigers concentrated on covering the wide receivers.

“I saw them keying on the other receivers, so I just tried to make myself as open as possible,” said Drennon. “Calvin luckily saw me and I got into the end zone.”

Timber Creek celebrated wildly on the sideline as the final seconds ticked down. The Chargers now advance to their second championship game in school history. Hinson's team, which he has built to be one of the best in the state, is one win away from bringing home their biggest trophy yet.

“It's definitely a great accomplishment,” said Lowe. “It takes a lot of time to achieve. Coach Hinson coaches up to the point where he makes us believe that we can be this competitive.”

After next week's Thanksgiving Day clash with Triton, Timber Creek will play in the championship game the following week. They will take on Hammonton in a rematch of 2009's championship game, where the Chargers lost 23-17. The title game will be played on neutral ground at Rowan University.

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