Parkers Chapel rallies past Hamburg for first win

PARKERS CHAPEL – During the early stages of the season, Parkers Chapel has been able to hang around opponents, but never deliver the decisive blow.

That changed on Monday.

Trailing 37-28 at halftime against Hamburg, the Trojans used a big second half to top the Lions 61-57 to pick up their first win of the season.

Parkers Chapel trailed 47-41 at the end of the third quarter, but outscored the visitors 20-10 in the final stanza to cap their comeback.

Chris Greer had 19 points for the Trojans with Braydon McGoogan adding 15 points in the win.

Lancer Clark had nine points and sank a free throw with four seconds left to give the Trojans a four-point lead.

“We have battled through several close games and hung around for three quarters of some more before teams would pull away,” said Parkers Chapel coach Josh Langley. “We have been a few plays away from winning a few more. I’m very proud of my guys. Despite our struggles to finish, they haven't wavered and their hard work was rewarded tonight.”

The Lions drilled eight 3-pointers in the first half to expand their lead to nine at intermission after leading 18-13 at the end of the opening period.

However, Langley said the Trojans’ defense from the perimeter was solid in the second half.

“We did a much better job in the second half of guarding the 3-point line,” Langley said.

Langley singled out several of his players for their efforts.

“All our guys played awesome tonight,” Langley said. “The three leading scorers made big plays and Elijah Brown, Payton Willeford, Jaylen Gray and Brody Goodwin also made some really big plays for us. We needed every one of them.”

The Trojans also won the junior high game 51-31.

JT Ingram had 13 points and Dyson Dougan was also in double figures with 12 points for Parkers Chapel, who won their second game of the year.

The Trojans trailed 8-7 at the end of the first quarter, but seized control by outscoring the Lions 13-5 in the second quarter to take a 21-12 lead at halftime.

The Trojans led 32-20 after three periods of play before winning by the final margin.

“This is a group that has a lot of potential and just haven't played to that potential,” Langley said. “I thought tonight we played our best all around game by far. Every one of them stepped it up tonight.”

Balanced scoring was also a key factor for the Trojans.

“We had seven other kids score tonight,” Langley said. “Others who played extremely well tonight were Canon Jacobs, Christian Minor, Landon Black, Ryder Goodwin, Dakylan Hampton and Eli McNabb. I’m very proud of how hard this group is working. I believe they showed themselves what they are capable of and look forward to how they respond moving forward.”

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