Southern Christian Showing Improvement

BY WIL CREWS
SPORTSCREWS@OPELIKAOBSERVER.COM

The Southern Christian Patriots varsity and junior varsity football teams had different levels of success on Friday, as the junior varsity manhandled Southern Prep, 38-8, and the varsity narrowly falling to the North River Chargers, 33-26.

In the varsity matchup, the two winless teams battled each other and the elements. Both teams found offense success early and, despite a long touchdown run by Josiah Frick being called back for the Patriots, Southern Christian trailed by just one late in the first quarter.

It was at this time that the skies opened and forced both teams into a decision. With the weather increasingly affecting play, the officials and head coaches mutually decided to go into halftime to eat away some at some of the 30-minute weather delay.

The decision to go to half early was a stroke of fortune for the Patriots, as that took the ball away from the Chargers and gave it back to Southern Christian coming out of the half.

Fast forward to the fourth quarter, three minutes remaining, and the teams were tighter than an atom bomb — both winless and waiting for one play to bust the game wide open.

Down and needing a touchdown, Southern Christian thought it founds its breakthrough when senior QB Daniel Adams gashed the Charger defense for a 71-yard touchdown run with less than three minutes remaining. The excitement was short lived, however, as a flag on the play brought the ball back to the other side of the field.

Four failed pass attempts later and the Patriots turned the ball over to North River with 2:03 remaining in regulation. Having burned their timeouts earlier in the half, the Patriots were on the back foot and the Chargers ran the clock down to double zero.

With head coach Daniel Adams out due to illness, coach Casey Scott assumed head coaching duties, and said he was proud of the way his team played.

“It was an exciting game from start to finish with both teams pouring everything they had onto the field,” he said. “We didn’t pull out the win, but I feel we won many small battles during the game that will make us a better team and football program moving forward. The staff couldn’t be more proud of the team tonight.”

Adams led the Patriots offensively with 85 yards passing and 116 and two touchdowns on the ground. Junior Josiah Frick added 36 yards passing, 55 yards rushing, 81 yards receiving and two touchdowns. Senior Landen Hampton followed him with 40 reception yards on two catches.

Defensively, the captain Frick had 14 tackles and a 45-yard interception return that set the Patriots up for a score. Sophomore Joshua Adams added seven tackles and 8th grader Jagger Scott had six.

On the junior varsity side of things, Southern Christian had a much better night. The Patriots were led by QB Jackson Dooley, who had his best game of the season, going 10-for-11 for 255 yards and three passing touchdowns.

Dooley and the Patriots came out of the gates racing toward the end zone and the QB quickly found Jedd Scott for the first score of the game. Dooley went on to throw touchdowns to two more receivers, Jagger Scott and Tripp Vaughn; Jagger and Vaughn then each went on to register rushing touchdowns, too.

The defense — which was resolute all game — was led by Elijah Bailey, who registered eight tackles and a fumble recovery. Vaughn and Jagger were everywhere on the night, recording a fumble recovery and safety, respectively.

“I was glad to see our offense move the ball and put points on the board,” said coach Billie Watts. “we still have a lot of work to do in order to get to the place I feel we need to be as a team. Glad to have the win but still need to work on doing the little things right every single play.”

Both the Southern Christian varsity and junior varsity will be back in action on Friday, hosting the East Central Patriots from Pinson, Alabama, at Moore Stadium at 7 p.m.