Chandler Hamilton rallies back after rough 1st quarter to knock off Chandler Basha

For one quarter, it looked like it was happening again.

Chandler Hamilton trailed Chandler Basha by 10 points, and Hamilton fans started having flashbacks to last week, when Chandler High took an early lead en route to a 32-point blowout against its city rival.

Losing streaks aren't exactly a familiar concept at Hamilton.

Scoring 21 unanswered points in the second quarter, Hamilton made a convincing comeback Friday and defeated host Basha 42-25 in a matchup of Division I, Section I foes.

"That's probably the best second quarter we've played in some time," Hamilton coach Steve Belles said. "We scored 21 points and our defense held a very good offensive team to nothing. And we had a great — and I mean great — two-minute drive."

It was Basha (4-3, 1-1) who looked great in the first quarter, as sophomore quarterback Ryan Kelley twice hooked up with senior receiver Doc O'Connor for short touchdowns, and Basha added a field goal to take a 17-7 lead over Hamilton (6-1, 1-1).

The rest of the game — and particularly the second quarter — belonged to Hamilton, however.

Just as Kelley looked for O'Connor in opposing territory for Basha, Hamilton senior quarterback James Sosinski and senior receiver Brandon Krcilek had a special connection going Friday. Krcilek hauled in all three of Sosinski's touchdown passes as Hamilton overtook Basha and never relinquished control.

Sosinski finished 10-of-19 for 169 yards passing, while Krcilek had five catches for 101 yards.

"Going into this week, I just knew I had to take over more as a leader," Sosinski said. "I had to put points on the board for my team, because last week early I didn't do that. That's what I really tried to do tonight — take over."

Basha cut Hamilton's lead to 28-25 midway through the fourth quarter, but a crucial sequence sealed the game for Hamilton. Then Basha thought it had recovered a Hamilton fumble with the chance to take the lead, but the Hamilton ballcarrier was ruled down. Shortly thereafter, Sosinski took a keeper 43 yards down to the Basha 1-yard line, and Hamilton punched it in to make it a two-score game.

"In high school there's no replay, so that could've been a fumble and it could've been a huge momentum switch their way," Belles said. "But thank goodness the refs had good eyes on that one."

Belles was pleased with the win but said he needs to see more out of his team if it wants to compete for a state championship.

"Tonight we had moments of being great," he said. "And then other times we had moments where we looked like we were playing Chandler again. So we got to clean that up. And I think our staff is really working hard to get that done. We just got to get that across to the kids and keep coaching them up."​