BY WIL CREWS
SPORTSCREWS@OPELIKAOBSERVER.COM
OPELIKA —
The boys from Southern Christian Academy traveled to Lanett on Friday to face off with the Springwood Wildcats. The youthful Pats had defeated the JV Cats earlier in the week, 48-0, at SCA’s JV home field in Ladonia, Alabama.
“Boasting a No. 8 spot in Alabama 8-man football standings, and with 11 seniors on their roster, we knew Springwood would be very tough,” said Patriots head coach Jason Scott. “We don’t have any seniors that hold starting positions, two of our five upperclassmen were injured coming in, so I knew I was going to have to lean on a couple guys pretty hard.”
The Patriots would go back and forth with the Wildcats all night, keeping the pressure on those seniors. A late fourth quarter interception, followed by a quick score by the Cats, would give Springwood the edge it needed. Southern Christian’s ensuing onside kick was awarded to the Cats after a long discussion.
“Up to that point we still had a real chance to beat them,” Scott said. “It was a tough call, but you can’t hang onto the things you can’t control.”
The Cats would run the ball and the clock with their big senior Kaden Cook until it was all over. Patriots would ultimately lose the nail-biter to the Wildcats, 31-40. Leading the Patriots was Josiah Frick, who had 25 carries for 215 yards and three of the five SCA touchdowns. Auron Tanguma caught a 33-yard pass from Frick for one score, and freshman Jagger Scott added a rushing touchdown for the Pats. Freshman Aiden Hahn kicked the first-ever successful PAT for SCA, and Cameron Carswell picked up 50 important yards on kickoff returns. Defensively, Elliot French had four QB hurries, while Scott led SCA with 11 tackles. Freshmen Lawton Curran and Carswell also had seven tackles each, respectively.
“Our objectives as coaching staff were to walk away without further injury to our guys, and secondly to earn some respect from a great team like Springwood, and we got what we came for,” Scott said.
The Southern Christian Patriots will play their conference rivals, the East Central Patriots, on Friday in Pelham, Alabama.
“We just have a really tough and gritty group of young men,” Scott said.