Tornadoes close out season with loss to Charleston

The 2023 football season came to an end for the Philadelphia Tornadoes Friday night as they dropped a 44-14 loss to the Charleston Tigers in the second round of the Class 2A olayoffs.

The Tornadoes finished the season with a 4-8 record. Charleston improved to 10-2 and advances to the third round of the playoffs against Hamilton Friday.

“Their defense was the best we played this season,” Coach David Frey said. “We made too many mistakes on special teams and this was hard to overcome.”

The Tigers got on the scoreboard with 2:57 left in the first quarter on a 56-yard run. The try for two failed and Charleston led 6-0.

The Tornadoes were forced to punt and Charleston took possession on the Philadelphia 38. The Tigers would score on a touchdown pass, They ran in the two point conversion and led 14-0 with 10:07 left in the second quarter.

Philadelphia came back and scored on a 67-yard reverse pass from Bernard Parker to Dee Burnside. The try for two was good and the Tornadoes trailed 14-8.

Charleston would score two more times before the half on a 52-yard and a touchdown pass. At the half, Charleston led 28-8.

Charleston returned the second half kickoff for a touchdown. The two point conversion try was good and the Tigers led 36-8. Charleston ran in their final touchdown later in the third quarter and led 44-8.

The rest of the game was played with a running clock. On the final play of the game, Burnside caught a 55-yard TD pass from Parker and the final score was 44-14.