CHARDON — Everybody knew it would be a titanic battle with the team making the fewest mistakes likely to claim the prize Friday night as hosted the Riverside Beavers.

So it was all night long as the Hilltoppers made more mistakes, but mistakes which proved to be less costly, as they held off the Beavers to win an important Premier Athletic Conference, 21-14.

After Riverside tied the game at 14 in the fourth quarter, Chardon’s Isaiah Charlton (7 carries, 43 yards) took the following kickoff at his 19 to his right, got pinned near the sideline and then reversed his field to the left and raced to the Riverside 15. Quarterback Chad Davis capped the three-play drive with 2:51 to play for what turned out to be the winning score.

Then came the fifth, and biggest, turnover of the night for Riverside. It immediately drove from its own 29 to the 43, but on fourth down, a Kyle Shaffer pass was picked off by Jonathan Hanobik, and the Hilltoppers were able to run out the clock and take home a tough win.

Chardon was flagged at several inopportune times during the game, but for the most part was able to overcome those penalties to either keep the ball moving or at least put the Beavers in a bad way. Foremost of the penalties which hurt the Toppers came on the second play of the second period for Chardon after the teams battled to a scoreless first quarter.

Davis (19 carries, 189 yards, 2 touchdowns), who was able to break several runs on the option to either side of the field, broke his first big one for a 49-yard touchdown in the second quarter, but a holding call brought the play back. Undeterred, the Hilltoppers maintained control and drove to a Kyle Petersen (12 carries, 42 yards, 1 catch, 5 yards, 1 interception) four-yard touchdown run. The drive was set up by an A.J.Teresi interception.

“Riverside played a good game tonight, but getting five takeaways really helped us,” Chardon coach Jim DiPofi said. “We had several chances to put the game further out of reach, but couldn't sustain drives without making mistakes.

“That first penalty after Chad (Davis) had that long touchdown run could have put us in a big hole, but the kids played hard, stayed focused and made big plays when we had to. We played a tough game last year with Riverside, too, so we knew we would need to win to have a chance at the playoffs. Two teams from our league, which is a tough league, have a chance to make the playoffs every year, but we can only control what we do on the field and need to let other things take care of themselves, so taking advantage of mistakes is important for us.”

The Chardon defense kept the Beaver running game in check most of the night, although Aaron Suydam gained 112 yards on 22 carries, so it was the wide-open passing game of Riverside which made it a serious threat. But that same passing game, while having much success during the game and allowing the Beavers to forge a 14-14 tie late in the game, also proved to be costly, as Riverside was picked off four times and also lost one fumble to thwart scoring chances.

“I thought we played well, for the most part, but Chardon is a good team, and we turned the ball over to them five times,” Riverside coach Matt Jordan said. “We couldn't capitalize on our chances, and those turnovers were the difference in the ball game, no doubt about it. Now we just want to try to win out to get a share of the PAC title, but it won't be easy.”

After Suydam answered the Petersen score in the second period with a one-yard run, Chardon broke the tie on the following drive as Davis, running the option to near-perfection in either direction, ran left, cut back to the middle and raced 61 yards to score. The game was a game of field position the rest of the night until Shaffer (10-of-17 passing, 135 yards, 2 interception) found Lane Robilotto in the corner of the end zone with 4:10 to play to tie the game at 14.

Kelly is a freelance writer from Jefferson.