Lions finish preseason with 5-0 record

By Sam Waller

The Albany Lions found themselves engaged in a slugfest with the Comanche Indians in their final nondistrict outing Friday, Sept. 22, but kept slugging hard enough long enough to take a 31-13 victory at Indian Stadium.

The Lions (5-0) enjoy an open date this week before embarking on the District 6-2A Division II schedule on Friday, Oct. 6 with a home game against Miles.

At Comanche, Albany quarterback Chip Chambers threw for three touchdowns for the second game in a row, and the Lions defense held the Indians (3-2) to their lowest point total of the season.

“We think we’re in a good spot right now, but we can still get better,” Lions head coach Denney Faith said. “There are definitely still things we need to work on.”

The turning point came in the second quarter with the game tied 7-7. An Albany drive ended on downs at the Comanche 5-yard line, and penalties wiped out two Comanche plays – including a 97-yard pass – that would have gotten the Indians out of trouble. Instead, Comanche punted from its 2, Albany took over at the Indians 27 and took the lead for good five plays later, eventually going up 24-7 in the third quarter.

Field position favored the Lions most of the night with Albany enjoying an average starting point of its own 44. Four possessions started on Comanche’s side of the 50.

Meanwhile, the Indians had an average starting point of their own 22 with six possessions starting at or inside their 25.

“Special teams played a lot better,” Faith said. “Our coverage teams did really well – we pinned them inside the 25 on three of the five kickoffs, we had a punt that pinned them inside the 5, and we kicked a field goal. I really think we improved in that area against a good football team.”

Albany was also successful on all its PAT attempts for the first time.

Possibly more significant for Albany was playing its first turnover-free game of the season. A year ago in a 31-28 loss to Comanche, the Lions lost six turnovers, five of which led to scores for the Indians.

“I thought it was a pretty clean football game,” Faith said. “Too many penalties again (eight for 72 yards), but some of that may have been my fault. The officials may have gotten mad at me after a couple of calls and been looking for something.”

Chambers completed 13 of 17 passes for 178 yards, connecting with five different receivers and enjoying his first interception-free game of the season.

“We’re starting to really open up the playbook, and it’s coming together,” Chambers said. “We’re starting to throw more, but obviously, when you just need a couple of yards, give it to Adam (Hill). It’s just really hard to run him down.”

Branson Beal, who had touchdowns rushing and receiving, caught five passes for 54 yards. Hill rushed for 136 yards on 25 carries and had a 26-yard reception for the night’s first score. Tyler Chapman had a 57-yard TD reception early in the third quarter, and Zane Waggoner booted a 30-yard field goal on his first attempt of the year.

Albany finished with 330 total yards.

“We were able to move the ball consistently and get first downs,” Faith said. “I thought Chip had his best game throwing the ball, and the receivers were catching it.”

The Lions held Comanche to 271 total yards, stopping the Indians on downs in Albany territory twice. Of Comanche’s 207 rushing yards, 54 came on the final possession, which saw the Indians reach the Albany 13 before time expired.

Jaxson Hoel was in on a season-high 15 tackles to lead the Lions with Chapman in on 12. Hill had 11 total tackles with two sacks and four tackles for loss. Waggoner had 10 tackles with a sack and three tackles for loss.

Calhan Fairchild (2 pass breakups), Parker Shelton (1 TFL), Luke Marshall (1 PBU), and Lanxton Viertel all had six tackles.

Shelton said keeping the Indians’ running game in check was key.

“I was just powering through and hitting the gaps, just stayed disciplined,” he said. “Coach always tells us to stay disciplined, and we’ve got to listen to him. It works.”

Comanche’s Colt Schwert-ner popped a 31-yard run on the first play of the game, but Albany held on downs at its 44 four plays later. The Lions then put together a 13-play drive that ended with Hill’s TD reception.

The Indians responded with a 15-play drive, tying the score on a 4-yard toss from Layden Welch to Kyler Beaty with 9:03 left in the second quarter.

The Lions tilted the field on the next drive before stalling. After forcing the punt, Beal put Albany ahead to stay with a 5-yard reception from Chambers with 2:37 to go in the half.

Albany added Chapman’s TD and Waggoner’s field goal on its first two possessions of the third quarter to go up 24-7 with 6:33 left in the period.

Seven of Chambers’ completions were for less than 10 yards, forcing Comanche to play tighter coverage. Chapman simply raced past his defender on the third play of the half to score untouched.

“I think over time, those 5-yarders add up, and we get first downs,” Chambers said. “You get them where they’re expecting the little quick routes and then hit them deep.”

Albany maintained the margin into the fourth quarter when Comanche mounted a 13-play, 96-yard drive. Welch found Ayden Fishback for an 8-yard touchdown with 5:06 to go, but the two-point try failed.

An unsuccessful onside kick and a penalty gave Albany the ball at the Comanche 36. Six plays later, Beal scored on a 5-yard run.

Open Week

Faith said the Lions will use this week to rest and recuperate from a demanding nondistrict schedule.

“We played two really tough scrimmages, and four of the five nondistrict games were tough, physical games that were tough on us,” he said. “I think our open week is coming at a good time where we can heal up a little bit, reset body-wise, and get ready to start district.”

Faith said practices this week would be lighter than normal.

“We’ll spend time on the field, but it will be without pads,” he said. “We’ll be doing a lot of cardio stuff.”

Faith said the first half of the season produced the results he wanted to see.

“I think we’ve gotten better every week,” he said. “We talked about it in two-a-days and after each game – let’s be a better team this week than we were last week; let’s continue to grow, learn, and get better. I think that was accomplished, and we’re a lot better football team than we were in Week 1 or even the scrimmages.”

Now the task is to continue that trend for as many weeks as possible.

“Any time you can grow going into district and hopefully beyond that is huge,” Faith said. “I know our guys are coming to work and doing the work they need to get better.”