The Chosen football squad returned to San Quentin and came away with a win, 32-23.
“I want to thank the offensive line mostly, as well as the entire team,” said Dante Perez, quarterback for The Chosen. “Everybody did their part.”
At halftime, the score was 15-14, with All-Madden leading the way after coming from behind.
In the second half, The Chosen began to take advantage of the All-Madden defense. “We made a couple of adjustments,” said Tyson, who finished the game with nine receptions for 166 yards and two touchdowns. “We saw that the middle linebacker kept leaving the middle of the field open. We wanted to exploit that.”
The Chosen brought a new player with them, Cameron Marshall, a recent graduate of Arizona State University, who also played tailback for the school’s football team.
On The Chosen’s first possession, Perez threw an interception to defensive back Malcolm Jones. All-Madden’s first possession ended with a turnover on downs. On the sixth play of The Chosen’s second possession, they scored first with a 30-yard pass over the middle to Marshall, 6-0.
On All-Madden’s second possession, Royce “Gator” Rose ran up the middle for 21 yards; on the same drive, A. “Alias” Jones scored his first touchdown of the day on a 12-yard sweep right. The score was 7-6.
On The Chosen’s next possession, Marshall received the handoff and exploded up the middle for a 52-yard touchdown. Following a successful two-point conversion, the score was 14-7.
Then on All-Madden’s next possession, Rose found A. Jones streaking up the right sideline and threw a beautifully arced spiral pass for a 62-yard touchdown strike, followed by a two-point conversion.
The Chosen scored on its first possession of the second half as Tyson ran a deep slant from the left side. As the defense shifted, he waited for the linebacker to slide right, and then adjusted his route to occupy the space vacated by the middle linebacker, Cleo Cloman. It resulted in a 30-yard touchdown pass. The Chosen retook the lead, 20-15.
All-Madden gave the ball back after an eight-play drive that resulted in no points. On the fifth play of The Chosen’s following possession, Perez threw an interception to Rose, who brought his offense back to the field and threw a 22-yard catch and run to Dwight “Sleepy” Kennedy that scored a touchdown. Charles “Pookie” Sylvester converted the two-point play and All Madden retook the lead, 23-20.
After a pass interference call by M. Jones, Perez threw a tight spiral, low and inside, to a sliding Andre Jackson for a three-yard touchdown and The Chosen led again, 26-23. After a quick four and out by All Madden, Perez hit Tyson on a delayed in-route, where he slipped once again behind the middle linebacker. Tyson caught the 40-yard touchdown that sealed the victory for The Chosen, who played their last game of the season.
Final score: 32-23, The Chosen.
“I didn’t do enough,” said A. Jones after the game. “It doesn’t matter what my individual numbers are. We still lost.”
