ACA traveled to Anniston to open the 2019 football season to play Saks High School. The Eagles left with their first victory of the year, beating the Wildcats, 20-12. Despite the slow start, ACA improved throughout the game and was able to hold the lead late in the game. Coach Nate Sanford commented, “It was a really good first game for us in the sense that it was a quality opponent, we had to come from behind, and then we had to seal it at the end”.
Saks struck first on their opening possession, scoring on a Quan Garrett 40 yard run to take the lead, 6-0. After both teams traded punts, the Eagle offense found its rhythm. ACA marched 69 yards in 11 plays, capped off by a two yard Jalen Clark touchdown run, to tie the game, 6-6. After a Saks turnover, the Eagles struck quickly as Clark hit Thomas Stovall on a 74 yard bomb on the third play of the drive to take the lead, 12-6. It only took Saks one play to tie the score as Tae Jones took a screen pass 58 yards to tie the game, 12-12. Both offenses had the ball one more time in the first half, but left the field tied at halftime.
The second half was dominated by the Eagles as they scored the only points of the half and won the time of possession and turnover battles. ACA scored on the first drive of the second half covering 46 yards in seven plays that took 4:31 off the clock. The scoring play was a screen pass that Corey Landers took 19 yards to the house. After the two point conversion on a K J Kendrick reception the Eagles led 20-12. The Eagles defense shutout Saks for the rest of the half and ended any hope of a last minute comeback when Kory Nixon intercepted a pass with 1:42 remaining in the game. Coach Sanford complimented the defense saying “I thought we tackled pretty well for a first game and our D-line did a solid job of controlling the line of scrimmage”.
Jalen Clark passed for 118 yards on 7 of 12 passing and added 90 yards on 16 attempts to lead the offense. Sanford assessed Clark’s performance and said “Jalen made some really good decisions and throws and our receivers made four or five tough catches that changed the game”. On defense, Jackson Thomas led the team with nine total tackles while Bryan Farrington added eight tackles. The defense also forced two turnovers.
Next week, the Eagles will host Pike County for its first home game of the year.