Chesapeake Upsets Sparrows Point 8-6

Sparrows Point's Paul Brown is tackled by Chesapeake's Michael Nolan

The Chesapeake Bayhawks have had a nice turnaround with a 5-1 season, but faced their toughest game against previously undefeated Sparrows Point. The Bayhawks pulled off the upset with an 8-6 defensive win. Sparrows Point's high-powered offense with quarterback Jeff Semelka and running backs T.J. Howell and Paul Brown could only manage six points against the tough Bayhawk defense. On the first play of Sparrows Point's first possession, the Bayhawks forced a turnover and got the ball on the Pointer 25. Sparrows Point's defense played well too as they stopped Chesapeake on a 4th-and-goal play on their 8-yard-line. It looked like Sparrows Point was going to get their offense going on the next possession as Brown broke off a 40-yard-run. Brown had 136 yards rushing on the day. The Pointers marched all the way to the Chesapeake 3-yard-line, but were stopped on 4th-and-goal. Bayhawk's coach Mark Junker was proud of his defense. "Our defense played great today. When we needed to make a big play, we made a big play," Junker said. "We bend, but don't break. it has kind of been that way all season." The Bayhawks took the ball over and scored their first and only touchdown of the game with a 99-yard-drive. The biggest play of the drive was when Bayhawk's quarterback Dominique Saunders connected on a 35-yard pass to Sterling Teel. That led to a Marcus Jackson two-yard touchdown run. Chesapeake added an Antonio Williams two-point conversion. Sparrows Point came back as T.J. Howell scored a touchdown on the final play of the first half. Their two-point conversion was no good and little did they know, that would come back to hurt them. In the second half, both defenses were dominate and both offenses couldn't put any more points on the board. Sparrows Point was able to move the ball into Bayhawk's territory, but their drives ended with no points. Dominique Tshiams stripped the ball from Howell to end a drive and another drive ended when Steven Randolph sacked Semelka on a 4th-and-12 play. The Pointers got the ball back in the final minutes, but the Bayhawks stopped Sparrows Point on a 4th-and-6 play to preserve the victory. Junker jumped for joy after time expired. "This is a great win. Give all the credit to Sparrows Point. They had opportunities and the game could have gone either way," Junker added.