You know you’ve just witnessed something stunning, something spectacular, something special when the home team’s press box doesn’t put the last points you scored up on the board and turns the scoreboard off before the handshake line has finished. That’s exactly what happened in a 32-29 thriller as Alabama Christian defeated Maplesville in dramatic fashion on the last play of the game. With 5.7 seconds left in the game and on the far edge of field goal range, the decision was made to go for the win. Christian Snipes dropped back to pass and moved to his right to avoid the pass rush. As he rolled out, the junior quarterback spotted two receivers in the right corner of the end zone along with three defenders. Snipes heaved the ball and although AC Walters was unable to reach the ball, Bryant Swindle was standing right behind him and was able to corral the game winner. Bedlam ensued on the ACA side of the field as the miracle finish was celebrated.
The contest wasn’t nearly as exciting at the start as the Eagles looked flat and Maplesville seized control of the game. On the opening drive, the Red Devils methodically drove 74 yards in 11 plays to score the first points of the game. The scoring march took half of the quarter as ACA’s offense hit the field for the first time with 5:56 left in the period. The offense converted one third down opportunity with an eight yard completion to David Ortiz-Ramirez, but couldn’t convert a second time and turned the ball over on downs after a failed fake punt attempt. The Devils put their offense in low gear and kept the ball on the ground for the remainder of the first. The quarter ended with the ball on the ACA 13-yard line after six consecutive runs.
Four snaps into the second Maplesville scored again on a 3rd and goal from the 1-yard line on the only pass of the drive. The score remained 13-0 as Jackson Burton blocked the extra point. The special teams excellence seemed to pump some life into the team. After a running play to start the team’s second drive, Christian Snipes hit AC Walters on a go for a 76-yard touchdown beauty which trimmed the lead to six points. Taking advantage of the momentum, ACA squib kicked looking to steal a possession. Like a missile, David Ortiz-Ramirez came in hot and beat the Maplesville player to the ball to give the ball back to the offense. Unfortunately, the offense turned the ball over on the next play as Snipes was intercepted as he was hit while he threw. The Red Devils were given a gift by the official on their sideline on the third play of the next drive as a ball that clearly looked like it bounced was ruled a completion after several seconds of indecision. The home team drove to ACA’s 29-yard line where they faced a 3rd and 5. The defense stood firm on back to back plays to turn the ball over on downs. On third down, O’Kevion Suggs tackled the Maplesville back for a loss and on fourth down Micah Merritt and Jaydo McElrath met at the quarterback for a ten yard loss.
With 3:50 left in the half, Alabama Christian looked to score before intermission. The drive started with a 21-yard gain on a pass from Snipes to Ortiz-Ramirez which moved the ball to the Red Devil 39-yard line. AC Walters scored on the next play, but a holding call nullified the touchdown. After a defensive offside moved the ball up five yards, Snipes and Ortiz-Ramirez struck again on a 40 yard completion that set up a 1st and goal on the 2-yard line. On second down, Walters ran it in from three yards out to give ACA the lead 14-13 with 1:46 left in the half. The Maplesville coaching staff seemed content to go to the locker room despite the time left on the clock. The offense ran the ball on three straight plays and took their time between plays much to the dissatisfaction of the home fans. The Eagles left the field with a one point lead at the half and would receive the ball to begin the third quarter.
The second half started with Christian Snipes being sacked on first down and under heavy pressure drawing an intentional grounding call two plays later. After a punt, Maplesville’s offense took the field for the first time in the second half. Two plays later, a 64-yard run up the middle vaulted the Devils back into the lead. A two-point conversion made the score 21-14. Not to be outdone, Snipes pitched the ball to David Ortiz-Ramirez on the first play of the next possession and watched the senior race 63 yards for a score. A failed two-point conversion made the score 20-21 with 10:02 left in the third. Despite both teams scoring a touchdown early in the quarter, Maplesville was able to flip the one-point advantage due to the results of both team’s two-point conversions. The home team added to its slim lead with a 6-play, 60-yard drive in just under three minutes. Another successful two-point try made the score 29-20 in favor of Maplesville.
ACA needed to respond as momentum seemed to be moving across the field. After three plays netted just four yards the Eagles lined up to punt which surprised a few folks. However, the fake was on as AC Walters hit Jackson Burton on a 33-yard gain down to the Maplesville 18-yard line. Facing another fourth down, special teams were called on again as Tyson Summers connected on a 31-yard field goal to make it a one score game at 23-29. The Red Devils moved the ball on its next drive to ACA’s 9-yard line as they tried to regain control of the game. Over the next four plays, the defense began a series of important stops over the final quarter. On first down, Jaydon McElrath pressured the passer and Levi Summers broke up the attempt for an incompletion. On second down, Cam Sutton and Summers stopped the runner at the 6-yard line. Third down saw Ladarrius Walters throw the Maplesville back for a three yard loss to set up fourth down. The home team let the third quarter clock run out to talk about the call on fourth down.
The Devils decided to forego the field goal and go for the end zone. However, they ran the ball from nine yards out hoping to catch the defense unprepared. Just like third down, Ladarrius Walters made the stop and helped turn the ball over on downs. Despite being 95 yards away from the end zone, the Eagles still had life. Back to back runs by AC Walters moved the ball out to the 23-yard line. David Ortiz-Ramirez moved the ball into enemy territory with a 44-yard run that ended as he absolutely trucked a Maplesville defender. Walters added 25 more yards two plays later to move the ball to the 18-yard line. Facing a fourth down on the 14-yard line, Tyson Summers hit another 31-yarder with 8:58 left to cut the score to 26-29. Maplesville’s plan was to use as much clock as possible no matter the outcome of the next drive. Their offense kept the ball on the ground and moved the chains four times to eat up precious time. All of the coaches in the stands were getting nervous and implored the sidelines to start using their timeouts to save time. The game looked to be over as The Red Devils scored an apparent touchdown, but a personal foul brought it back. Once again, the defense stiffened and ACA got the ball back with 2:04 left without having used any of their timeouts.
Disaster struck on the second play of the drive as Snipes was intercepted as he was once again hit while throwing. The home team had the ball back with 1:39 left in the game and felt good about the outcome. The timeouts that had not been used earlier were like gold at this point of the game. ACA called timeouts after stops on first and second down to set up a 3rd and 8 for the game. The dilemma on the Maplesville sideline was whether to run the ball to force their opponent to use its final timeout or try a pass in hopes of getting a first down and ending it. The Devils opted for a safe throw to a back coming out of the backfield, but Jaydon McElarath got up and swatted the ball out of the air for the incompletion. It was fourth down and the Eagles still had one timeout.
After a punt, Alabama Christian took over on its own 12-yard line with 1:15 left in the game. A 15-yard completion to AC Walters on a crossing route moved the ball to the 27-yard line with 1:08 left. Christian Snipes scrambled for three yards on the next play, but most importantly got out of bounds with 1:00 remaining. A penalty on ACA negated a gain for the Eagles, but at least the clock stopped on the play. Snipes found Jackson Burton for 22 yards to the 47-yard line, but the clock was running. ACA tried to spike the ball to stop the clock, but the snap wasn’t handled and Snipes went to his knees before he spiked the ball which kept the clock winding. As the coaches argued it was a spike and the clock should have stopped, it kept running. Finally, with 32 seconds left ACA called the timeout when they realized they would not win the argument with the officials. However, no one told the clock operator and the clock made it to 21 seconds before it was stopped. After a discussion the officials put 25 seconds on the clock. David Ortiz-Ramirez moved the ball to Maplesville 24-yard line after catching a pass from Snipes. The offense lined up quickly and stopped the clock with 5.7 seconds left setting up the game winning play. The fantastic finish will go down as one of the greatest moments in program history.
Christian Snipes finished the game 12 of 24 for 247 yards and two touchdowns. His favorite receivers were AC Walters and David Ortiz-Ramirez who both finished with five catches. Walters had 107 yards receiving and a touchdown while Ortiz-Ramirez had 97 receiving yards. Jackson Burton had two receptions for 55 yards and Bryant Swindle’s game winner was his lone catch of the game. On the ground, Ortiz-Ramirez had 115 yards on just five rushes and a touchdown while Walters finished with 54 yards on nine carries and a score. On defense, Ladarrius Walters and Jaydon McElrath led the way with eight tackles apiece followed closely by a trio of Eagles, Cam Sutton, Levi Summers, and Burton, who had seven tackles each.
The playoffs start next week as Alabama Christian travels to Phenix City to take on Glenwood next Friday night.