The McClintock Chargers were no match for Apollo’s drive, fueled by their homecoming night, losing 55-7.

Taking the lead 7-6 with 3:22 left in the first quarter, McClintock’s Dylan McMonigal scored for the Chargers, adding a new motivation that evidently fell short.

“Our team played with relentless effort,” Apollo senior offensive linebacker Jaguar Mixson said. “We’re really executing on every drive right now.”

Apollo kept hold of the ball most of the game after the Chargers touchdown, with multiple interceptions and fumble recoveries to help.

“This week we really spent a lot of time focusing on ourselves,” Apollo coach Zack Threadgill said. “We fixed our mistakes from last week’s game.”

With the spirit of the homecoming crowd as motivation, the Hawks (5-1, 1-0) defense put pressure on the Chargers (3-3, 0-1), forcing the typically running offense to start the passing game.

Apollo’s junior quarterback Frank Sanchez was in sync with his offense, more often than not finding senior wide receiver Jontae Garland, stumping the McClintock defense and almost seamlessly reaching the end zone.

“Our defense really backed us up,” Sanchez said. “We made a few mistakes on offense and they cleaned it up.”

McClintock’s senior running back Tyrese Green put up a tough fight against the Hawk’s but rarely found the gap. With Green out for part of the second half, the Charger’s offense lost even more of its momentum.

“We really wanted to make it special for the coaches because a group of them are alumni of Apollo,” Mixson said. “We really trusted their game plan.”

With a halftime show to match the excitement on the Apollo sideline, the crowd never left its feet.

“All these people coming back expected a win from us,” Sanchez said. “We had to give it to them.”