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Jake Blankenship, No. 24, had a dominant night on both sides of the ball for the Cornerstone Chargers, leading them to a 41-14 win to start the season. (Reporter photo/Keith McCoy)

By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor

COLUMBIANA – Three straight tackles for loss by the Cornerstone defense set the tone in the Chargers’ opening game against Sparta Academy at home on Friday, Aug. 17.

After jumping out to a 28-6 lead, Sparta Academy cut the lead to 28-14 with 6:37 left in the third quarter stealing away all momentum. Cornerstone’s defense, however, came back with a vengeance in the final quarter, forcing two late fumbles inside the Warriors’ 10-yard line and converting both into touchdowns to go on and win by a lopsided final of 41-14.

“Overall, a win is a win and we are going to take it,” head coach James Lee said after the win. “The final score was 41-14, not many people are going to complain about that.”

After forcing that strong three-and-out to start the game, Cornerstone was able to capitalize with an opening-drive touchdown on the offensive side of the ball.

On a drive that started at their own 40-yard line, the Chargers were eventually forced into a punt situation after the drive stalled at the 49-yard line, but thanks to a facemask penalty on the punt, Cornerstone was given a first down.

You could instantly see a spark of enthusiasm by the Chargers’ offense, who went on to get a 15-yard run from Tanner Falkner on the very next play, before Nick Green threw a beautiful fade pass to lengthy Adam McBrayer for Cornerstone’s first touchdown of the season.

Later in the game, McBrayer went on to have a serious injury to his left knee that forced him from the remainder of the game, but the senior had made a statement to kick-start the Chargers’ season.

The rest of the game, it was a lot of Jake Blankenship, Falkner and Cannon Mann, through the air or on the ground.

On Cornerstone’s fourth drive of the game, all three played a big impact, as did a 16-yard run by quarterback Nick Green, but the six-play drive came to an end when Blankenship trotted in from 8 yards out to put Cornerstone on top 14-0 with 3:57 left in the first half.

It looked like that would be the halftime score, but the Chargers got the ball two more times in the half thanks to smart use of timeouts and good defense. On the second try of those two, with 33 seconds left in the half, Green floated a beautiful pass down the left sideline to Blankenship, who caught the ball, spun off a tackle and ran into the end zone for a 40-yard touchdown to put Cornerstone on top 21-0 at the half.

Early in the second half, the game became a little more fast paced and saw a lot of action.

Unfortunately for the Chargers, the first bit of action was a fumble on the first play of the half by Green after being thrown off by a somewhat awkward snap.

Sparta went on to take advantage with an 11-yard touchdown run to cut the Cornerstone lead to 21-6 with 8:29 remaining in the third quarter.

“It was sloppy tonight,” Lee said. “Too sloppy. We should never put the ball on the ground that much. We missed blocks. Those are things, we need to fix moving forward.”

That score led to a back-and-forth start to the quarter, as the Chargers pulled out some trickery for an answer on the ensuing drive. On third-and-long, Green took the snap and tossed the ball to Mann running to his left.

Mann, however, planted his feet to throw instead of run, looking to pull off a flea-flicker. When he released the ball, his intended target, Blankenship, was in double coverage. The ball was thrown so far and perfectly, however, that he allowed Blankenship to beat both defenders and run under the ball for a 68-yard touchdown catch.

With Cornerstone up 28-6, Sparta needed a big answer and got it quickly on the ensuing drive. The Warriors also added the 2-point conversion to make it a 28-14 game with 3:15 left in the third quarter.

After the fast start to the second half, the game quickly became stagnant, but Sparta had gained a lot of momentum.

On the Warriors’ third drive of the half, which started with five seconds left in the third, they were moving the ball and looked like they were going to score their third touchdown in a row after getting inside the Cornerstone 15-yard line.

This is when the Chargers’ defense woke back up. On fourth-and-22, Sparta went for it and Cornerstone came up with a massive sack to force a turnover on downs.

While the offense never really got going for the Chargers the rest of the game, Blankenship was able to score on a scoop-and-score with 4:19 left, before another fumble on the 3-yard line on the ensuing kick quickly allowed a short touchdown run from Falkner to put the game out of reach at 41-14.

“The defense found a way,” Lee said. “That’s what these guys are all about, finding a way to win. You just have to be very, very proud of them, especially the four seniors that helped lead us tonight. We were high on the defense all summer and fall, and they lived up to it tonight.”

It was a powerful start for Cornerstone, despite several early-season mistakes. Now the Chargers will carry confidence into game two on the road against Springwood on Friday, Aug. 24, a game they should be favorited to win depending on their ability to shore up mistakes as well as their health.

See more photos from the game here.

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