AISA 8-MAN CHAMPIONSHIP: Big plays lead to Evangel Christian state title
Evangel Christian Academy celebrates the school’s first state championship in football after the win over Springwood at Cramton Bowl on Thursday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Big plays were the norm for Evangel Christian, which turned two interception returns for touchdowns by Tobiyas McLemore into the school’s first-ever football championship as the Lions defeated Springwood School 38-28 in the Alabama Independent School Association 8-man championship at Cramton Bowl on Thursday.
The Lions (6-5), which started this season 1-5 and have just three winning seasons in program history, erased an 8-0 deficit with a 40-yard pass from Isaiah Gildersleeve to Jordan Sharp, took the lead for good in the fourth quarter on a 79-yard kickoff return by Sharp and put the game out of reach with McLemore’s second interception return with 2:44 left.
Evangel had seven consecutive losing seasons before disbanding football in 2019, then restarting the program with 8-man football.
“It means a lot for us, coming out of last year’s basketball game where we came in second,” Evangel senior Nii Addy said. “With (Darius Dixon) coming in as a new head coach last year, I felt like we had a better chance. We knew coming back this year we were going to be good. All we had to do is be confident and build on it.”
The Lions had 36 total yards in the first quarter, falling behind on a 7-yard touchdown run by Johnathan Johnson and a Cayden Cook conversion run midway through the first quarter. A change in quarterbacks to passing threat Isaiah Gildersleeve proved effective early in the second quarter when Gildersleeve’s second pass attempt, into the flat for Sharp, turned into a 40-yard sprint for the end zone and a tie game following Daryl Mack’s conversion run.
Both teams managed just nine first downs each in the game as big plays continued to dictate the outcome. McLemore stepped in front of a short pass in the flat to Eli Johnson and had an easy sprint to the end zone for a 16-8 lead. A 90-yard kickoff return seconds later by Johnathan Johnson set up Cook’s 3-yard scoring run and an Eli Johnson conversion reception to tie the game again.
Mack’s 14-yard scoring run midway through the third quarter was countered by Cook’s 25-yard run to tie the game at 22-22.
Cook’s 10-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter gave the Wildcats a brief lead, but Sharp’s 79-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, followed moments later by McLemore’s second interception return for a touchdown, was too much for the Wildcats to overcome.
“My coach put me in a position where he knew I could do something to make a play on the ball and it turned the game around,” McLemore said. “It felt a little too-out-of-this-world because I really didn’t expect to get it, to be honest.”
Springwood (7-4), which has had five head coaches in the last three years, struggled to field a team this year, making the trip to the 8-man championship special.
“It’s just very, very tough,” Springwood coach Joey Burch said. “We almost didn’t even have a team.”
The Wildcats won the regular-season meeting between the two, 52-32 on Sept. 2, but Burch predicted he would see the Lions and Addy again.
“Did you see No. 8?” Burch said. “He’s a pretty special football player. We have some guys that are special, but he’s tough. You have to game-plan around him. They’re big, they’re athletic and they’re fast. If you draw up what you want in a football team, they check every box.”
It was the first year for 8-man football in the AISA and the first time it was included with the other three championship games at Cramton Bowl.
“I hope people that say 8-man football is not real football, is not good football, watched that game today,” Burch said. “It was impressive on both sides.”