BEAR CREEK — Chatham Central couldn’t have chosen a better time to welcome its alumni home.
On a night where class reunions and the crowning of a new royal court are usually the occasion, various generations of Bears — who have endured decades of losing efforts on the gridiron — filled the stadium for something they’ve never imagined.
The football team, already riding its best start ever, broke the school’s single-season wins record (previously six) in a 43-6 rout over The College Prep and Leadership Academy Friday. The Bears moved to 7-0, continuing an incredible turn around in the fourth season under coach Derrin Little.
“I’m just glad that these guys are able to experience it, man,” Little said. “It’s one of those deals where we saw it. We knew that we were kind of close last year. Some unfortunate things happened, but we’ve been talking the whole spring and summer about our get back. That this was going to be our season. And they’re doing it. So, I’m just happy for these guys, and the community. They came out, showed out, and they deserved this just as much as we do.”
Part of the community support came from former players in attendance who also played in the program’s better years. Prior to the game, Wes Miller, who was a running back on the six-win teams coached by Marlyn Scott in 1975 and 1976, said he hoped the team broke the record.
“I hope they go undefeated this year,” Miller said. “What a boost it would be. I mean, look at all these fans here. This is unreal.”
Said Rick Wilkie, another member of Scott’s 1975-76 teams, “I haven’t been to very many games since I graduated. And when I learned that they were undefeated, 6-0, I knew what tonight meant. And so, I wanted to be here, and as you can see, it’s a huge turnout.”
The Bears last won at least six games under coach Mark Hoover in 2005.
Chatham Central outscored the Royals 29-0 in the second half. Junior quarterback Brooks Albright threw for two touchdowns and ran in a score to lead the Bears’ offense. Nolan Mitchell, the speedy junior receiver, found the end zone twice.
The game was tightly contested in the first half. The Bears endured a slow offensive start, marked by multiple false start penalties, and CPLA picked up chunks of rushing yards to keep long drives alive.
After a punt on its opening drive, Chatham Central drew first blood late in the first quarter. Junior running back Tyler Congrove got the edge on a short run and fumbled just before crossing the goal line, but junior Gavin Williams recovered it in the end zone.
On the ensuing possession, CPLA put together a long drive that the Bears halted with a turnover on downs. Chatham Central immediately gave the ball back to the Royals with a lost fumble, leading to a 4-yard touchdown run by junior Willie Baker midway through the second quarter. The Royals failed their extra point, though, keeping Chatham Central ahead 7-6.
Albright began to wake the Bears’ offense with long completion to Williams on the next possession. That set up a 25-yard touchdown pass to Carson Jackson down the sideline, extending the Bears’ lead to 14-6.
Thanks to some more huge gains by Baker and freshman running back Braylon Bobbitt, CPLA once again found itself deep in Bears’ territory before halftime. The Bears’ defense, especially Williams and senior Wilson Hinshaw, came up with some huge tackles for loss to set the Royals’ back, but CPLA also hurt itself with penalties and a lack of timeouts at the end of the first half.
“The main thing was just getting them to know and understand that we can’t continue to shoot ourselves in the foot,” Little said about his haltime message. “All year long, anytime that we’ve ever been slow, I don’t think that it’s anything that somebody else has done. I think it’s us not doing what we do. So the main message was don’t beat yourself. Be who we know we are.”
Chatham Central came out of the break firing on all cylinders. After the Bears forced a punt on CPLA’s drive to open the second half, Mitchell returned the punt for an 82-yard touchdown.
“I just saw the left side was open,” Mitchell said.
On the next offensive possession for Chatham Central, Albright ran in a 12-yard score and helped convert a two-point conversion to put the Bears up 28-6. Fortunate plays began to rain down as a lost fumble by CPLA in its own field led to another touchdown pass from Albright to Mitchell.
Late in the fourth quarter, Chatham Central put the finishing touches on the win with an interception by junior Matthew Victorino followed by a 67-yard touchdown sprint by Congrove.
Chatham Central has been knocking down milestones all year and is still looking to accomplish more. Tied with South Stokes for first in the Greater Triad 1A/2A conference standings (both teams are 3-0 in conference play), the Bears are in the running for a conference title. They’ll end the regular season with matchups against reigning conference champion Bishop McGuinness (Friday at home), South Stokes (Oct. 23 at home) and South Davidson (Oct. 30 on the road).
“Back to work on Monday,” Little said. “That’s the main thing. We can go enjoy it tonight. But we all know, myself included, we’ve got stuff we’ve go to fix. So it’s back to the drawing board. We’re ready to get back to it already.”