By Bryant Billing
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SIDNEY — Andre Gordon put on impressive displays of athleticism as a freshman at Sidney Memorial Stadium and did so again on Friday night.

Gordon, a junior, threw three touchdown passes to help lead Sidney to a 24-21 victory over Chaminade-Julienne in the varsity portion of the final scrimmage of the season for both squads.

Gordon unofficially completed 13-of-16 pass attempts for 236 yards and ran seven times for 57 yards. Senior running back Isaiah Bowser ran seven times for 77 yards, all in the first half. Gordon played until midway through Sidney’s first drive of the third quarter and exited following a 13-yard scramble for a first down.

Friday’s scrimmage was the first time Gordon has played on 30 and 0 Field since his freshman year when he had over 2,000 yards of total offense. He broke his wrist after Sidney’s opener last season and missed the rest of the year.

“He’s knocking all the rust off,” Sidney coach Adam Doenges said. “As the summer’s gone on, you can see everything coming back to him a little more. He had a little bit too much happy feet at times in the first half, but overall we’re pretty pleased with the way he played and how the offense was able to move the ball.”

Gordon has been healthy since the start of last basketball season and put his wrist to work early on Friday. He completed his first three passes for 96 yards, two of which were touchdowns. He was also difficult for CJ defenders to contain and scrambled on several plays to extend drives.

Gordon’s lone mistake of the game was late in the first quarter. After Sidney drove to the red zone, he scrambled out of the pocket and threw a short pass in the end zone that was intercepted by a Chaminade defensive back.

“That’s one of those situations where he just has to know the field, know that we had a couple of more downs left and just throw it out the back of the end zone,” Doenges said. “It’s a type of thing he can learn and we expect him to as he gains more experience.”

The first half was largely a battle between dual-threat quarterbacks. Chaminade-Julienne quarterback Ryan Peltier frequently extended plays on scrambles and dodged Sidney tacklers. On one play in the second quarter, Peltier ran left out of the pocket, turned around, ran back near the right side hash marks and threw a 61-yard pass to a receiver that set up a short touchdown run.

“Our varsity defense had a lot of third-down situations where we needed to buckle down,” Doenges said. “I thought our defense played well leading up to third down, but we have to shore up our third-and-longs and third-and-shorts.”

A couple of players had highlights on defense. Ryan Cagle and Devan Rogers sacked Peltier, while Kelton Stockton intercepted a pass early in the third.

“Kelton Stockton’s done a really nice job over the summer,” Doenges said. “We challenged him over the summer in a couple of different aspects of his game and he’s really come through. He’s a top four or three athlete on our team, and we’re really hoping he comes through for us a little bit more on offense and defense. So far, he’s doing a nice job.”

Rogers, a defensive tackle who verbally committed to Toledo last month, also had a big play on offense. After Gordon ran 12 yards for a first down late in the second quarter, he followed with a 17-yard touchdown pass to Rogers in the middle of the end zone to give Sidney a 24-21 lead.

“He’s going to wear No. 1 this year so he’s an eligible number (as receiver),” Doenges said of Rogers. “He caught another one earlier in the game and looked good. He catches what’s thrown to him. He’s a good athlete and he’s a pretty scary sight for a free safety to see, I think — 310 pounds running down the field at you. He’s got a good motor and he learns well at different positions. I think he’s going to be in a lot of different spots this year.”

Gordon got the offense going early. After Chaminade scored on a 16-yard run by Marquis George with 7:59 left in the first quarter, Gordon led the Yellow Jackets down the field and capped off a one-minute drive with a 39-yard touchdown pass to Caleb Harris.

The Eagles scored on another touchdown run by George, but Sidney’s offense responded with another one-minute drive. After the Yellow Jackets moved to midfield, Gordon scrambled and threw a pass to Ratez Roberts, who hauled it in along the right sideline for a 51-yard touchdown with 4:16 left in the first.

Hallie Truesdale made a 28-yard field goal with 6:43 left in the second to give Sidney a 17-14 lead. CJ responded 57 seconds later when Peltier threw a short pass to Matt Willis, who took it up the right sideline 68 yards for a touchdown.

Sidney drove to the 30-yard line on its next drive but faced a third-a-long when Gordon scrambled for a first down to set up his touchdown pass to Rogers. The score gave the Yellow Jackets a 24-21 lead.

Chaminade went three-and-out on its next drive, in part due to sack by Rogers of Peltier on third down.

Both teams began mixing in junior varsity players early in the third quarter. CJ scored the game’s last touchdown on a long run against Sidney’s second stringers to go on top 28-24.

The scrimmage game was a part of the school’s annual Turf’s Up fall sports kickoff. Tickets were $5, and fans who purchased tickets can use them for admission to Sidney vs. Lehman boys soccer game at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Memorial Stadium. All proceeds will be donated to the Shelby County United Way.

Sidney opens the season at 7 p.m. on Friday at Memorial Stadium against St. Marys.