CCC FOOTBALL: Alabama Christian headed back to playoffs after win over Geneva
ACA’s Corey Landers escapes the tackle of Geneva’s Preston Garner in the Eagles’ win on Friday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Alabama Christian Academy scored the game’s first touchdown against Geneva in two plays on Friday night.
It wasn’t quite that easy, but the offensive tandem of Hayes Hunt and Corey Landers staked the Eagles to an early lead and the defense slammed the door on the Panthers to earn a 33-7 victory and an ACA school-record sixth consecutive playoff berth in the process.
ACA (5-2) had five consecutive playoff appearances in 1988-92, but the current streak that started in 2016 includes two quarterfinal appearances and five playoff wins, an accomplishment the Eagles would like to add to this season.
Friday’s win kept the Eagles within a game of front runner St. James (5-0) at 4-1 in 4A Region 2 play and a game ahead of Dale County, Geneva and Straughn with two region games remaining. ACA can clinch home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs with a win at Straughn next week.
“They moved the ball and we felt like they were going to,” ACA coach Michael Summers said. “They’ve got three really good running backs. What I was most proud of defensively is they found something there in the second quarter, some misdirection stuff we haven’t seen, but Coach (Greg) Howard made some adjustments at halftime and shut that stuff down completely in the second half.”
Geneva (5-3) moved the ball at times in the first quarter, then found a rhythm in the second quarter with a 13-play drive capped by Kingston Tolbert’s 2-yard run that trimmed the Panthers’ deficit to 20-7. Adjustments by Howard held the Panthers to just eight rushing yards and one first down the remainder of the game.
“Their running back corps is really good,” said ACA linebacker Jack Thomas, who led all tacklers with 11 tackles. “I think ‘35’ (Tolbert) went down late in the game but he was doing a pretty good amount of damage in the second quarter, carving us up pretty good. They would pull a guard and run right behind him and that was really messing us up. After halftime, Coach Howard got us right.”
ACA took a quick 14-0 lead on six offensive plays as Hayes Hunt threw touchdown passes of 26 yards to Garrett Weathers and 31 yards to Otasowie Dion, continuing a trend he set last week with four touchdown passes to four different receivers.
Hunt completed 7 of 8 passes for 144 yards and had two more touchdown passes (to two different receivers) called back for penalties.
“He spreads the ball around,” Summers said. “Smart guy. He doesn’t get the credit. People underestimated him coming into the year. He doesn’t do dumb stuff with the ball and always seems to find a way to find that open receiver.”
Hunt gave some of the credit for his success to running back Corey Landers, who rushed for 183 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries.
“Early in the season, we relied on Corey a lot and I think a lot of teams are starting to see that on film so they’ll bring a lot of guys in the box,” Hunt said. “That gives us a lot of opportunities to play-action and hit over the top.”
The Eagles’ third possession was more of the same as Hunt hit Preston Hicks on a crossing route and Hicks ran 40 yards down the sideline for a 20-0 lead.
“It was really big to come out fast,” Hunt said. “It was a big emphasis this week because last week against Ashford, we came out really slow and were down halfway through the second quarter.”
ACA’s fourth possession also went for a touchdown, but Thomas Stovall’s 28-yard touchdown reception was wiped out by a penalty and the Eagles were eventually stuffed on fourth down at the Geneva 2-yard line to close out the half.
Undaunted, the Eagles stuffed Geneva on its first offensive possession of the second half and promptly drove 79 yards, with Landers covering the final 75 yards, to put to rest any thoughts of a Geneva rally.
“It’s a huge momentum change,” Thomas said. “It lets everyone know we came here to win and we’re going to do it like we want to. And it kind of lets the other team know they had their only chance. When we come out and just dominate coming out the gate, their spirit just goes down.”
Trey Schlemmer added seven tackles for the ACA defense, followed by Donovan Emerson and Dion with six tackles each.