55th Annual Sun Valley Vanguards Vs Chichester Eagles Turkey Bowl

Tagged under: District 1, Gameday Hub, News

Ted Podberesky | November 23, 2023

Photo By Gabriel Palmarini.

In the 55th annual Turkey Bowl game, the Chichester Eagles hosted the Sun Valley Vanguards at Appichella Memorial field on Thanksgiving day. Chichester put together one of their best seasons this year in the last few years going 5-6 and making playoffs. Their longtime rivals Sun Valley ended the year 3-6, with both teams looking forward to hoisting the Turkey Bowl trophy to officially end the season. As the cold started to set in, friends and families packed the stands, awaiting a thrilling Thanksgiving game. 

Chichester Eagles elected to defend first and kicked off to Sun Valley to start the game. It didn’t take long to see Chichesters new and improved defense, after a couple runs from running back Noah Griffin Sun Valley looked to the pass game. Quarterback RJ Sharrer dropped back, threw into the flat, and was intercepted by Siddiq Oglesby. Who made an incredible play coming down from his safety position and diving for the pick. 

After the turnover Quarterback Danny Kelly led his offense out onto the field for the first time today. The Eagles started on the ground giving it off to running back Bajzhiir Reese, a couple plays later there was miscommunication in the back field and linebacker Aidan Cook was able to fall on a fumble giving the ball back to Sun Valley. 

It didn’t take long however for Chichesters defense to come up big again. Eight minutes remained in the first quarter when the Eagles defense picked off Sharrer again in the flat. Chichester tried to get their offense moving with a couple passes but ended up running the ball on 3rd down, where cornerback Jack Penzone made a tackle on the outside to force a punt.

After forcing a punt the Vanguard’s offense started to heat up and got on a roll. After multiple runs to Noah Griffin and Jack Penzone, Sun Valley found themselves inside Chichester territory. A play later RJ Sharrer connected to Aidan Cook on a quick pass to set up the Vanguard offense inside the ten yard line. Another play later, RJ Sharrer moved out the pocket and threw off his back foot for wide receiver Ethan Boyer who made a leaping grab over an Eagles’ defender for the first points of the game. Sun Valley led 7-0 with seconds ticking down in the quarter. 

With 30 seconds remaining in the quarter Sun Valley tried an onside kick and recovered giving them the ball to start the second quarter. As the next quarter began Sun Valley stuck to their game plan and consistently ran the rock. Eventually the Vanguard offense marched down the field and gave it right back to running back Noah Griffin who powered his way in the endzone for a 3 yard touchdown. This pushed Sun Valley’s lead to 14-0 with 9 minutes remaining in the quarter. 

After getting the ball back Chichester knew they needed to find ways to get their playmakers involved. Kelly made sure of that by spreading the ball all over to players like Derrick Robertson and Hamza Clay on the outside. After just a 2 minute drive quarterback Danny Kelly found his big wide receiver Derrick Robertson on an out route who turned it into much more and scored a touchdown. Just one play later the Eagles faked the extra point and threw it over the top for the 2 point conversion making the score 14-8.

At this point in the game both teams knew it would be an absolute dog fight, Sun Valley got the ball back and started to show their heavy package. Running behind linebacker Ryan Creegan and defensive end Elijiah Jones, Noah Griffin kept turning the chains on runs. As the drive progressed the Vanguards inched their way into Chichesters endzone for another touchdown, which came from Noah Griffin from the Eagles one yard line. 

With under 4 minutes remaining in the second quarter, Hamza Clay turned on the burners and rallied his way to the other side of the field on a kickoff return, giving Kelly and the Eagles time to score before halftime. Running back Bajzhiir Reese made multiple big plays to help Kelly set up a QB sneak for an Eagles touchdown. When Sun Valley got the ball back they decided to run the clock out and bring it into halftime leading Chichester 21-15. 

Chichester Eagles came out of halftime and received the ball to start the second half of the Turkey Bowl. The Eagles made sure to make a statement coming out of half, keeping the ball on the ground and playing smash mouth football. After picking up multiple first downs, Sun Valley finally made a stand on fourth down forcing Reese outside and letting Noah Griffin deliver a monster hit to push him out of bounds. 

The very next play a fumble was recovered in Sun Valley’s backfield and Chichester had gotten the ball back in Sun Valley territory. It didn’t take long until we saw another turnover; however, the snap was shot over the head of Kelly and freshman cornerback Jhamil Smith scooped up the ball and ran off to the promise land for a Sun Valley defensive touchdown.

After going down 28-15 Chichester started to open up their offense after getting the ball back. Kelly started to gain some momentum slinging passes to his wide open teammates, eventually he found his man Hamza Clay who weaved and bobbed his way through defenders to score on a 59 yard touchdown.

Both teams battled back and forth for the rest of the third quarter allowing 0 points off of multiple possessions each, Sun Valley led 28-22 heading into the fourth quarter. 

The Vanguards started with the ball and went on a lengthy, clock munching drive to start the fourth quarter. Eventually, Noah Griffin led the way once again and powered through a tough Chichester defensive line for a one yard touchdown. One play later, Griffin punched in the two point conversion to push Sun Valley’s lead to 36-22. 

When the Eagles came out on offense they knew it was a make or break drive, Kelly huddled up his offense and Chichester went to work. After a couple drops and a sack Chichester found themselves in a 4th and long situation. Kelly dropped back, looked to his right then glanced towards the middle of the field where he loaded up and fired a missile to Bajzhiir Reese with multiple defenders in the area. Somehow, someway Reese leaped into the air and came down with it converting on fourth down.

With momentum on their side Chichester put together an organized drive in Sun Valley territory coming away with Danny Kelly escaping pressure and running into the endzone. 

The Eagles started to make a comeback shortening Sun Valley’s lead 36-29. 

After a bad kick return Sun Valley started inside their own thirty, Noah Griffin continued to run for the Vanguards but there was nowhere to go. On fourth down the Vanguards decided to punt but Chichester had other things in mind, the Eagles sent the full house and blocked Griffin’s punt and recovered inside Sun Valley’s own ten yard line. 

With under three minutes remaining Chichester went back to the run game, letting Bajzhiir Reese use his speed and get to the outside for an Eagles touchdown. Chichester kicked the extra point and tied the game 36-36 with time ticking down in the quarter. 

Sun Valley tried to move the ball but ended up being stopped and drained out the clock, letting the game play into overtime. 

Chichester elected to defend first and Sun Valley got their shot to score first in overtime. The Vanguards ran on all three downs and got down to the half yard line, on fourth down Noah Griffin ran up the middle and got stopped by a handful of Chichester defenders in the backfield. 

Chichester had a chance to win running on first and second down getting to the five yard line. On third down Kelly dropped back, didn’t see anything he liked and took off to the outside where he slid on the one yard line setting up a game sealing score. The very next play Kelly kept it himself and sneaked in for the one yard touchdown. Chichester made the comeback and hoisted the Turkey Bowl trophy in a 42-36 win.

Chichester Eagles Head Coach Chris Craig expressed how proud he was of his players stating that, “ We never put our heads down and we faced adversity and not only will that help them in sports but it teaches them life lessons, one year ago we would have put our heads down and gave up but we came out and made a statement and I’m so proud of the way these kids held themselves up and believed in each other. ”  

Chichester Eagles running back Bajzhiir Reese says that, “ We knew what we needed to do and we gameplanned to do exactly that, eventually things came together and we got some momentum to get on a roll, I never had any doubt in us. “

Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews