ACE picks up where it left off, defeats Central 35-0 in second part of weather-delayed game

The debut of Monday Evening Football for ACE Charter and head coach Keith Hatcher went pretty well.

“I’ve been coaching for well over 20-plus years now,” Hatcher said. “And this is the first Monday game I’ve ever coached in.

“You never know how kids will respond to something like this.”

ACE showed some energy and sharpness from the start of the game — which began Thursday but was finished Monday because of a lightning barrage — by scoring on the first play from scrimmage en route to a 35-0 win Monday over Central at the Ed DeFore Sports Complex.

Thursday’s game was stopped with ACE up 7-0. The Gryphons scored on their first possession thanks to Brayden Vincent, the younger brother of main running back Bryson Vincent, going in from 12 yards out to end a nine-play, 66-yard drive.

They got the ball back after Drake Davidson sacked Central quarterback Wyquavis Gaither for a 6-yard loss on fourth and 7. The Chargers ended two possessions on Thursday in ACE territory.

Thursday’s action ended when Noah Syme dropped the handoff on a sweep and the Gryphons lost 14 yards.

That was but a distant memory under a nice sun on Monday.

Quarterback Brady Balkcom — in charge for a few weeks until Ace Hatcher returns from groin-area surgery — faked a sweep and hit a wide-open Syme, who got loose when a Central defensive bit too hard on the fake, for an easy 75-yard touchdown on the first play.

“We had run the jet a couple times in the first quarter,” Hatcher said. “We felt like we saw something on film that would be there. They bit on the jet. (Offensive coordinator Thomas) Darrah did a great job of seeing something on film that we thought would work, and it did.”

On the other side was a struggling Central program that had held its own for that first quarter.

“It was something we had just gone over 15 minutes earlier,” Central head coach Jarrett Laws said. “ACE does a very good job of making you count, and it was a youthful mistake. The kid thought he was one thing, and didn’t believe his eyes.

“On Thursday, we were pretty good in our count. Then we came out today, and I don’t think they anticipated having to make that count that early, even though it was mentioned.”

With momentum clearly on the visitors’ side, Central went three-and-out — sabotaged by a delay of game on third-and-1 — and ACE strolled seven plays, all Bryson Vincent runs, and covered 40 yards for a 21-0 lead with 6:16 left in the half.

The Chargers ran eight plays before settling for a field goal that missed.

The same scenario followed,  as ACE standout kicker Henry Carter got off to an uncharacteristic start and missed field goals of 39 and 45 yards in the second quarter.

“Our best player out there, man,” Hatcher said of Carter with a chuckle. “He’ll be fine.”

The knockout blow came on ACE’s first possession of the third quarter, which covered 65 yards on nine plays — sparked by a 20-yard keeper by Balkcom — with Vincent getting the final 5 yards, and it was 28-0 with 8:20 left in the third.

They finished up the scoring on Vincent’s 1-yard touchdown 72 seconds into the fourth quarter.

“We left a couple opportunities on the (field) early,” Laws said. “One thing we talk to them about is, the type of offense we’re running and the type of defense we’re running, execution is paramount.

“So when the door opens, you’ve got to rush through it.”

The Gryphons (1-0) did that, especially up front.

“We’ve got a lot of inexperience on the defensive line, so to see those guys play well …,” Hatcher said. “More importantly, they played really hard every snap. Made some mistakes, played really hard, and effort made up for it a lot.

“We were real simple with our game plan, and we did that because of some of the inexperience at different spots.”

The Gryphons ran 46 times for 254 yards and completed 5 of 11 passes for 92 yards.

The Chargers were held to 25 yards on the ground, and managed 167 yards through the air on 8-of-17 passing.

Bryson Vincent had a quality game with 142 yards and three touchdowns on 26 carries. Brayden Vincent added 72 yards and a score on seven carries.

“We’ve got to continue to try and take an incremental step,” said Laws of his 0-2 team. “A couple of key positions, we showed our youth and inexperience. You’ve got to take a little bit of pain with the joy.”