'Four Horseman' and Company Doom W-G, 62-6

"Outlined against a blue-gray September sky, the Four Horsemen rode again. In dramatic lore they are known as Famine, Pestilence, Destruction and Death. Their real names are Stuhlrender, Miller, Crawley and Layden. They formed the crest of the South Bend cyclone before which another fighting Army football team was swept over the precipice at the Polo Grounds yesterday..."

So said Grantland Rice, sportswriter for the New York Herald Tribune, as he described the vaunted Notre Dame backfield of 1924 as it defeated Army in a heated rivalry between the Irish and the Cadets. His reference to the Four Horsemen comes from the book of Revelation in the Bible, and refers to the end times and the four scourges that humanity will face.

This observer makes no pretense of knowing anything about the end times, but there seems to be some similarity between the Notre Dame backfield of 1924 and the ACGC backfield of 2021. The Charger Four Horsemen--Brock Littler, Gavin Cornelison, CaydenJensen, and Charlie Crawford--continued to pile up the rushing yards in last night's 62-6 romp over an outmanned Woodward-Granger team in a game played in Woodward.

The foursome amassed 438 rushing yards on 46 attempts--9.5 yards per carry--to lead the Charger offense in the dominant win. Unofficial statistics show Cornelison leading the team with 246 yards on 18 carries.

Among the other 'Horsemen' Jensen rushed 9 times for 75 yards, while Littler and Crawford each picked up 53 yards on 8 and 7 carries respectively. Of course, not many of those yards would be possible without the blocking up front by the Charger offensive line.

ACGC scored on its first possession of the game when it drove 58 yards on just 5 plays with Crawford taking the pigskin into the end zone with 9:27 to go in the first quarter. The Hawks responded with a 60 yard drive that ended on the Charger five yard line where the ACGC defense stiffened and the visitors took over the ball on downs.

The Chargers put the game away in the second quarter when it scored three times while rushing for 112 yards. The first score completed a 95 yard drive that began with five minutes remaining in the first stanza. Cayden Jensen carried the ball into the end zone on a 10 yard run with 9:27 showing on the clock in quarter number two. He also successfully kicked the PAT to increase the lead to 14-0.

After the Chargers recovered a W-G fumble on the Hawk 25 yard line, ACGC scored on four plays with Cornelison scoring from three yards out at the 6:44 mark to give the Chargers a 20-0 lead.

Following the kickoff W-G took the ball to the Charger 35 yard line where the defense again stiffened and ACGC took over on downs. After a six yard gain by Littler, Cornelison rambled 59 yards to the end zone with 3:40 to go before the halftime break. A two point conversion pass increased the lead to 28-0 which ended the first half scoring.

After the teams exchanged punts to open the second half, a W-G punt from its own 20 yard line was blocked and recovered by ACGC's Hayden Tunink in the Hawk end zone to increase the lead to 34-0 with just over five minutes to go in the third quarter.

W-G scored its only points of the game on a four play, 70 yard drive that included 65 yards through the air. The PAT failed and Charger lead stood at 34-6.

Not to be outdone, ACGC added another touchdown--a 76 yard drive that included 72 yards gained by Cornelison. The senior fullback carried the ball into the end zone on a 27 yard run at the 1:44 mark. Ben Marsh added a two point conversion and the Charger lead had mushroomed to 42-6.

By now the Hawks were passing on nearly every down giving ACGC more opportunities to steal the ball. And sure enough, Charlie Crawford snagged a pass and the Charger offense was back in business on the W-G 47 yard line. Following a six yard gain the third quarter came to a close with ACGC having the ball on the Hawk 41 yard line and leading 42-6.

On the first play from scrimmage in the final quarter, Cornelison's number was called and he responded with a 41 yard gallop to the end zone to increase the lead to 48-6 with 11:20 left in the game.

With reserves playing the rest of the game, the Chargers still managed two more scores. The first was a fumble recovery carried 24 yards into the end zone by freshman Mike Fuller with 10:20 left in the game.

The final ACGC score came following a bad snap on a punt attempt by W-G. On a fourth down punting situation the center snap sailed over the punter's head and was recovered on the Hawk nine yard line. On a fourth and one at the one yard line, ACGC scored its final touchdown on a plunge by Seth Reno. Jensen's PAT gave ACGC a 62-6 lead with 1:45 left in the game.

W-G's final possession yielded little and the Hawks punted to ACGC which took a knee twice to end the game and lock up the win.

Defensively Reno led the team in tackles with 6.5 including 4 unassisted. Reid Rumelhart and Jensen each had 3.5 tackles. The Chargers consistently gang tackled the Hawk running backs.

With the dominant win, ACGC improves its record to 2-0 on the season and to 1-0 in district play.

"We played all three phases of the game very well tonight," Coach Matthewson said following the victory. "We did a much better job of finishing drives. It was a nice way to avenge our loss to them from last year. A big thank you to everyone who made the trip to Woodward to support our program."

Score by quarter:

ACGC 7 21 14 20--62

W-G 0 0 0 6-- 6

ACGC statistics: Passing: Brock Littler (1 pass for no completions)

Rushing: Charlie Crawford (7 carries for 53 yards and 1 touchdown) Anthony Solorzano (1-2-0) Cayden Jensen (9-75-1) Littler (8-53-0) Gavin Cornelison (18-246-4) Seth Reno (3-9-1)

Kick returns: Cayden Jensen (2 for 61 yards)

Punts: Cayden Jensen (1 for 44 yards

Tackles: Seth Reno (6.5 total, 4 solo) Reid Rumelhart (3.5-2) Cayden Jensen (3.5-2) Ben Marsh (2.5-0) Cornelison (2.0-0) Preston Zimmerline (2.0-1.0) Griffen Ayers (2.5-1) Austin Kunkle (1.5-1) Tegan Slaybaugh (1-1) Nate Chance (1.0-0 Keitn Kinney (1.0-0) Bryce Rockholtz (1.0-1) Mile Fuller (1.0-1) Charlie Cawford (1.0-1)Miles Kading (.5-0-0) Anthonly Solorzana (.5-0-0) Payton Policky (.5-0) Blake Newby (.5-0)