Alabama Christian’s trickery and aggressive play calling kept St James off balance in the first half, but in the end the undefeated Trojans defeated ACA 42-20 The Region loss sets up a must win for the Eagles next week against PCA.
The Trojans won the toss and went against the norm and elected to receive to get their offense on the field to start. ACA tripped up those plans as Darrius Gardner recovered an onside kick and kept the St James offense on the sidelines. It appeared the offense would give up the ball after three plays, but AC Walters picked up 27 yards around the right end on a fake punt to keep the drive alive. The junior back finished the drive with a touchdown on two direct snap calls that covered 14 yards. A second onside kick try was recovered by the Trojans which gave them the ball at their own 46-yard line. St James scored with 5:06 left in the first quarter to tie the score, 7-7.
The next Alabama Christian drive was a thing of beauty. The Eagles manufactured a 16-play, 80-yard drive that consumed 9:54 of the first half clock. The offense overcame two sacks and a holding call to take the lead 14-7 with 7:00 left in the second period. The key play of the drive was 4th and 5 conversion on the Trojan 31-yard line. AC Walters hit Christian Snipes on a throwback to the quarterback. Walters punched it in from one yard out seven plays later. The St James offense started their second drive of the night with just seven minutes left before the half. The potent Trojan offense tied the contest 14-14 with 2:47 left in the second.
For the second week in a row, ACA endured a disastrous ending to the first half. The game officials didn’t do the Eagles any favors with their botched handling of the clock. As the drive stalled, St James used their timeouts and got the ball back with 1:21 left. The 81 seconds left was plenty of time as St James scored in just half that time. A 38-yard scoring pass gave St James a 21-14 lead heading to the locker room.
The second half did not start the way ACA wanted as they lost three yards on their first possession to punt the ball back to St James. The visitor’s offense continued to click as they scored again on another long pass play for a 28-14 cushion with 7:20 left in the third. Down two scores the offense mustered another long, impressive drive. AC Walters left the field injured during the drive, but the offense finished it off to cut the lead to 28-20. Another fourth down conversion was crucial to the score as Christian Snipes connected with David Ortiz-Ramirez for a 16-yard drive extender.
The next Trojan drive produced the decisive play of the game. Down just one score, the defense looked like they had stopped St James on a fourth down to give the ball back to the offense. The ball was fumbled by the Trojan runner well behind the first down marker, but the ball went out of bounds beyond the line to gain. After a lengthy delay and several conferences with each other and both coaches, the officials determined the ball should be placed where it went out of bounds and awarded a first down to St James.
The Trojans took advantage of the break given them and scored early in the final period to take a 35-20 lead. ACA could not overcome the bad break and gave the ball back to the visitors after three plays. St James stretched the lead two plays later and led 42-20 with 9:18 left. The Eagles tried to put together one final effort to cut the score, but the drive ended at the Trojan 13-yard line with 5:11 left in the game. St James took their time and ran off the final minutes of the game for the three score win.
AC Walters led the team in rushing and receiving with 92 yards on the ground and 42 yards in receptions. Christian Snipes finished with 50 yards rushing with a touchdown and 69 yards passing. David Ortiz-Ramirez had 41 yards rushing and 19 yards receiving on the night. Jaylan McCovery led the defense with six tackles. William Milner and Lane Smith both had five tackles while Ari Bowman and Mariner Smith both had four.
Next week, Alabama Christian travels to PCA in a very important Region matchup.