The Chattahoochee Tech club football squad won in dramatic fashion on Sunday, taking down the Orangeburg-Calhoun Tech club team, 23-20, in two overtimes at its home field of Osborne High School. Brett Snyder drilled a 33-yard field goal in the second possession of the second overtime to give the Golden Eagles the victory.
Chatt Tech (2-0) had to come back from a 14-7 halftime deficit to get its first win of the season over a National Club Football Association member; the visiting Gladiators made the trip to Marietta from Orangeburg, S.C.
“For one thing, this was big because it was a league win,” said head coach Tim Freeman “And winning in overtime, playing an extra quarter, our time in the weight room and all that work shows.”
Chattahoochee Tech, ranked No. 5 in the latest NCFA coaches poll, stormed back to take the lead in the third quarter. The Golden Eagles got a 2-yard touchdown run from Michael Bolwaire to tie the game, then Bryan Owens hit Javien Smith for a 9-yard scoring pass with under a minute to play in the period. The extra point attempt after the Smith touchdown failed due to a faulty snap, and Chatt Tech held a 20-14 lead heading into the final period.
Orangeburg-Calhoun Tech tied the game with 4:49 left on a Deonzo Dease TD run, but the Gladiators’ also failed to convert the PAT. The score stayed knotted up at 20-20 to end regulation, giving way to a standard college overtime period in which each team alternates possessions beginning at the defense’s 25-yard line.
Chatt Tech began the first overtime with a Paul Walton run to the 1-yard line, but a fumble later in the series was recovered by the Gladiators to end the Golden Eagles’ possession. The CTC defense then came through by ending two Gladiators possessions in a row, the first with a fourth-down stop and the second with a missed 36-yard field goal.
“When [Orangeburg-Calhoun Tech] got the ball there, the defense bowed up and stopped them,” Freeman said. “They gave us an opportunity to get the ball back.”
CTC stayed conservative on its winning possession, setting up the game-ending kick with three runs in the middle of the field.
“That was my first game-winner, my first attempt,” Snyder said. “It felt good.”
The Golden Eagles got on the scoreboard in the first quarter with a 27-yard quarterback keeper, as Owens darted through the middle of the line and shook off several would-be tacklers to find the end zone.
“I read it, it was a read play,” Owens said. “I took it up the middle and got six out of it. It was good blocking by the offensive line.”
Chatt Tech meets the Columbus State club team next Sunday at 2:30 p.m. at Osborne.
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