CHETOPA — Five players took the field for the Chetopa Green Hornets, who fell to the Altoona-Midway Jets, 62-46, in 6-Man football action on Friday night.
“Last week at South Barber, we had seven guys and two got hurt,” Chetopa head coach Tommy Heatherly said. “David Cox and Ethan Lawson were definitely missed tonight. But I was OK with the five I had out there tonight.”
Chetopa briefly led 19-18 in the second quarter before the Jets reclaimed the lead and never relinquished it for the rest of the night.
“It was one of those deals where we’ve had to play with five, before,” Altoona-Midway head coach Randy Almond said. “It’s unfortunate, but it’s just one of those deals. It’s a district game.”
William Stackhouse tallied six total touchdowns for the Jets — three through the air and three on the ground — to go along with 290 total yards.
Joey Lamendola had two rushing touchdowns while Kage Beck had three receiving touchdowns.
Lineman Kenny Smith added a receiving touchdown on a tipped ball for Altoona-Midway.
“Everybody had a positive moment,” Almond said. “We still need to work on defense with tackling and outside contain. But we’ll get better.”
Chetopa’s star on the night was Lawrence Holt, who scored multiple touchdowns and was a ball hawk in both phases.
“He came over here for a better chance, and this game was why I wanted him,” Heatherly said. “He was one of the most electric athletes I’ve seen at any level. He fought tonight and I loved watching him play.”
Almond said he didn’t adjust the Jets’ scheme to take advantage of the Green Hornets playing a man down.
“We were just calling our plays and running our routes like we normally do,” Almond said. “We weren’t trying to pick on one side or another.”
While playing down a man was the biggest impact for Chetopa, which had beaten Altoona-Midway earlier in the season, Heatherly felt like the Green Hornets’ mistakes including multiple turnovers kept them from earning an impromptu win — Heatherly felt like Chetopa could have won.
“We lost the turnover battle and we lost on special teams,” Heatherly said. “In my book, whatever level you’re at, if you lose two of three phases, you’re going to lose. We also lost the field position battle. You just can’t do that even if you have five.”
Altoona-Midway improved to 3-2 overall with the win.
“It’s an emotional game,” Almond said. “It’s a rivalry. They got us earlier. We had guys playing out of position in that game. To get this one back, even with the circumstances, we’ll take it.”
Chetopa dropped to 2-4 with the loss.
Up next
Altoona-Midway returns home to welcome Ingalls to Buffalo in Week 7.
“We went out there last year and it was over by halftime,” Almond said. “This time, they’ve got to come to our house. They don’t have as many guys. We just want to keep everybody healthy and continue to get better. We still have fundamental football to work on and not making silly decisions.”
As for Chetopa, it’s elected to forfeit its Week 7 road trip to Peabody-Burns before facing Marais des Cygnes Valley in Week 8 at home.
“We know what’s coming in Week 8,” Heatherly said. “We wanted to play against Altoona because it’s a pride thing. We wanted to play on our home field. But I’m not putting our team on a bus for a two-hour ride with five guys. I want to play it smart. We’ll get guys back for Week 8 and we’ll be great.”
