(Guthrie Center) ACGC ran for 408 yards last Friday night and held off a late comeback by Greene County to win 28-26.
The Chargers have a chance to get to 2-0 if they can get by a Woodward-Granger team that beat Madrid 33-0 last Friday night. ACGC coach Cody Matthewson says, “When you watch one game of film you really don’t know what their opponents are like either. The best thing we are going to do is take our philosophy, scout the heck out of them, and put our kids in the best position to be successful.”
Gavin Cornelison ran 33 times for 214 yards and a TD. Charlie Crawford went for 91 yards on 19 carries. Brock Littler tallied 84 yards and 2 TD’s on 15 attempts. Coach Matthewson says perseverance was the best thing he saw from his team in Week 1. They won the game despite losing the turnover battle 3-0. “If you’re told me at 3:00 we were going to win no matter how it was going to be obviously I’ll take it, but there’s a lot of things we need to work on. It’s exciting to get a win and still not be playing your best ball. I’m really excited to see what we can do in Week 2 when we get a chance to see ourselves on film and clean up our mistakes.”
Woodward-Granger won last year’s meeting 27-14. Matthewson recalls the team had 120 yards in penalties the last time these teams met. “It’s one that’s circled. It’s one I really want back and the kids want back. I’m really glad we got matched up with them non-district. It’s a new year and new team. We have to go out there prepared and be ready for people to start giving us their best shot. Personally I think we’ve gained a little bit more respect over the years and people aren’t going to over look us.”
We’re only one week into the season, but the Chargers do lead the state in rushing yardage. That’s a trend they’ll look to continue throughout the season and that’s thanks of course in large part to a big and experienced group up front. That unit includes Reid Rumelhart, Payton Jacobe, Cael Hoing, all-stater Victory Gonzalez, Jake Thomas, and Hayden Tunink. “Kids are doing a lot of great things. Those guys are the most experienced line we’ve had in the last three or four years. We have some pretty good size there. These guys have been in the system 3-4 years, longer than any other kids we’ve had. They understand the concepts and nuances and we’re starting to see them really shine.”
ACGC coach Cody Matthewson:
