After an emotional Senior Night as Alabama Christian honored Leiah Holmes, the Eagles took control early and beat Geneva 33-7 in an important Region contest. The victory gives ACA sole possession of second place in the Region and control of their own destiny to host a first-round playoff game. Junior quarterback Hayes Hunt finished the first three drives of the game with touchdown passes, which were also his first three passes of the night.
Hayes Hunt finds yards around left end.
Geneva won the toss which put the Eagle offense on the field first. It took the unit a mere forty-one seconds to put points on the board. Corey Landers ripped off 28 yards on the first play and the offense welcomed Garrett Weathers back to the field on the second play with a 27-yard pass from Hayes Hunt for the 7-0 lead. The defense came out ready to roll as Trey Schlemmer and Jack Thomas tackled everything that moved in the opening quarter. The duo combined for a fourth down stop to give the ball back to ACA to end the Panther’s first drive. The second drive took four plays as the offense was clicking early. The Eagles overcame the first of four holding calls on the night on the way to the score. Hunt threw to Otasowie Dion on a middle screen and the junior covered 31 yards for the touchdown as he broke tackles and weaved his way through the secondary. Near the end of the first period Geneva punted the ball back to ACA. The Panthers faced a third and one on the Eagle 41 yard line, but Donovan Emerson blew up the running play for a loss of three yards. After being stuffed on the previous fourth down, Geneva decided to punt the ball away.
The defense gangs up on the Panther runner.
Alabama Christian scored early in the second period for a 20-0 advantage on a drive that covered 89 yards on seven plays. Two of the plays covered 75 yards as Corey Landers moved the ball near midfield with a 35-yard run that ended with a punishing blow delivered to the Panther defensive back. The touchdown covered the final 40 yards as Hayes Hunt found Preston Hicks in a confused secondary who didn’t even realize Hicks had the ball. Trailing by twenty, the Panthers put together their only scoring drive of the night. Geneva held the ball for 6:36 on a 13 play, 59-yard drive to cut the score to 20-7. With 3:54 left in the half, ACA had plenty of time to try to get some points before the half ended. The offense had a touchdown called back due to a penalty, but still had a chance to score in the closing moments of the second period. After a pass from Avery Stuart back to Hunt, ACA enjoyed a first and ten at the Geneva 11 yard line with just under a minute left. The offense was unable to score after four cracks at it and the half ended with some momentum shifting back to the visitors after the goal line stand.
Preston Hicks races towards the end zone while the defense looks the other way.
Geneva looked to get back into the game to start the second half, but could not overcome a false start penalty on second down and another Donovan Emerson tackle for loss on third down. After a Hayes Hunt scramble for three yards on the first play of the drive, Corey Landers covered the final 76 yards on five carries to extend the Eagle lead to 26-7. Landers had runs of 44 and 29 yards on the march and scored from one yard out with 7:33 left in the third period. After missing an extra point earlier, ACA chased the lost point with a two-point conversion attempt even after a penalty moved the team back to the seven yard line. The attempt failed and the lead stayed 26-7. Trailing by three scores, Geneva couldn’t think about punting anymore and went for a 4th and 16 on the Eagle 35 yard line to turn the ball over on downs to ACA.
Corey Landers runs through the Geneva defense.
Alabama Christian’s last score came on a seven minute fifty-six second drive that started with 4:25 left in the third and ended with 8:29 remaining in the game. For the second time in the game, the Eagles had a touchdown called back on a penalty, but still managed to cover 78 yards on 14 plays to extend the lead to 33-7. After another holding call late in the possession, Hayes Hunt found Trey Schlemmer in the back of the end zone on a 4th and goal from the 19 yard line to break the heart of the Panther defense. After holding Geneva to no yards on the next three plays, the Panthers waved the white flag and punted the ball back to ACA with 6:45 left in the fourth. The offense held the ball for the rest of the game as AC Walters and David Ortiz-Ramirez ran the ball five times for 51 yards to help secure the victory.
The Eagles stop another Panther drive.
The defense continued to dominate and was led by Jack Thomas with 11 tackles followed by Trey Schlemmer with seven tackles. Donovan Emerson and Otasowie Dion both had six tackles on the evening. Hayes Hunt connected on seven of eight passes for 144 yards and four touchdowns as he rushed 3 times for 21 yards and caught a pass for 17 yards. The Eagles completed eight passes to eight different receivers on Friday night. Corey Landers produced another huge night with 183 rushing yards on 19 attempts and a touchdown. AC Walters rushed for 39 yards on four carries with Otasowie Dion adding 37 yards on six carries.
ACA (5-2) travels to Straughn next Friday to continue Region play.