The ACGC Chargers and the Madrid Tigers fought tooth and nail right down to the wire in a highly anticipated football game. Both teams played a similar style of ball trying to get the rushing attack going. The offenses both helped their teams get this far but the quarterfinal was dominated by both defenses. The Tigers got a perfect start as they forced a quick punt from the Chargers who took the ball after winning the coin toss. The Tigers would start at their own 13 yard line where Preston Wicker and the Tiger offense began to march down the field. After a completion to Jayce Fuson on 3rd and 20 set the Tigers up inside the 10 yard line Nash Ramirez took the handoff 9 yards for a touchdown to put the Tigers on the board first.

In the second quarter the Tigers forced another Chargers punt and were driving the field again when Ramirez fumbled the ball to give it back to the Chargers. Both defenses didn’t budge in the second quarter and forced each team to punt before ACGC would run the clock out and go into the halftime break trailing just 7-0. And the second half is where the games momentum flipped several times.

On the first play of the second half Ramirez would fumble the ball again and this time setting the Chargers up inside the 25 yard line. Michael Fuller would take the handoff and bust it to the outside where he would beat the Tigers defenders to the endzone for a 18 yard score to tie things up. After a 3 and out the Tigers had a punt that was shanked out of bounds giving the Chargers the ball in opponent territory where they took advantage as quarterback Jathan South would fight for a three yard touchdown score giving the Chargers their first lead of the night.

The game would come down to the final possessions of the game. The Tigers had a 4th and long at the Charger 26 when Preston Wicker threw a ball over the middle of the field to Jayce Fuson who made an incredible catch through traffic for the score to give the Tigers the lead for good in the final minutes. The Chargers put together a good drive but just the third pass attempt of the night by Jathan South was tipped and intercepted by the Tigers to secure a 21-14 victory and advancing to the UNI dome for Class Semifinal next week. m

Chargers head Coach Cody Matthewson praised his defense and credits Madrid for making the 50/50 play in the endzone.

There are plays in this game the Chargers would love to have back and do differently but Coach Matthewson said you can’t look at just one play.

Both teams left everything they had on the field and Coach Matthewson couldn’t be more proud of the fight his Chargers team played through.

The Chargers had an incredible season reaching 10 wins and one game away from the final four, when asked about what he would remember about the 2023 football season Coach Matthewson said the development that the coaches and players took pride in getting better day in and day out.

The Madrid tigers advance to the semifinal next week at the UNI Dome where they will take on West Hancock for a chance to move on to the Class A state championship.