Alabama Christian’s season ended Friday night as they fell to Bayside Academy, 23-7. The game was close until the very end and the Eagles had opportunities to trim the Bayside lead, but could not finish drives. ACA was intercepted three times in the second half in Admiral territory.
The Eagles received the opening kickoff and marched methodically to Bayside’s 27-yard line. However, the drive stalled with consecutive negative plays to force a long fourth down from the 32-yard line. Out of field goal range and not wanting to give Bayside any momentum, ACA elected to take a delay penalty to back themselves up five more yards and punt the ball. The strategy worked as the Admiral offense did nothing with its first opportunity and punted the ball back after just three plays. Alabama Christian’s second drive of the night was its best. Christian Snipes hit Bryant Swindle and AC Walters on consecutive plays to move the ball onto Bayside’s side of the field. Next, a 15-yard run by David Ortiz-Ramirez moved the ball to the 29-yard line. The drive ended on a quick screen on the right side to Walters who ran past the defenders on his way to the end zone. With 3:49 left in the first ACA led 7-0.
Bayside would show their tenacity and lack of discipline on the next drive as they overcame five penalties, including one on the bench, to kick a field goal to cut the lead to 7-3. The Admirals held the ball for over five minutes and 13 plays that counted. After sitting for that long, the offense did not look sharp as two quarterback runs and an incomplete pass gave the ball right back to Bayside. Gaining momentum, the Admirals drove 65 yards in 10 plays to take the lead for good, 9-7 with 4:42 left in the half. ACA tried to get back on track as AC Walters ran back to back plays from the QB spot to move the ball into Bayside territory. A 14-yard pass to Jackson Burton moved the ball to the 32-yard line, but that is far as the drive would go. The next three plays combined for a loss of three yards and an incomplete pass on a fake punt turned the ball over on downs. Luckily, Bayside was unable to take advantage and the score remained 9-7 at the half.
Bayside opened the second half by driving to ACA’s 23-yard line, but would end up punting two plays later after a tackle for loss by Micah Merritt and a false start penalty. The punt was shanked badly and only traveled six yards to give ACA the ball at their own 27-yard line. The Eagles were able to move the ball on the ground on their first drive of the half and drove to Bayside’s 30-yard line. On 3rd and 8, ACA tried to set up a screen on the right side, but #13 for Bayside read it all the way and picked the pass off and might have had a pick-six if David Ortiz-Ramirez hadn’t caught him. Three plays later Bayside did score to extend the lead to 16-7 with 4:03 left in the third period. For the past two weeks this is the point of the game where ACA flipped the switch and made a furious comeback. Once again the offense moved the ball and had just made it to the plus side of the field as the third period ended.
The offense moved the ball deep into Admiral territory and faced a 2nd and 4 from the 11-yard line. A score here with ten-plus minutes left in the game would give ACA a fighting chance to win this thing. Unfortunately, #13 made another incredible play for the Bayside defense as he picked off an attempted swing pass to end the Eagle threat. ACA would have the ball three more times in the game, but were unable to put up any points. The only serious threat ended with an all too familiar theme of interception. Bayside ran out the clock after the last pick for the win.
Micah Merritt led the defense with nine tackles and a sack while Broderick Williams and Jackson Burton each had seven tackles. Levi Summers finished with six tackles followed by Cooper Milner with five. AC Walters had 50 yards rushing on 10 carries and 59 yards receiving on five catches. David Ortiz-Ramirez had 48 yards rushing on 12 attempts. Jackson Burton led the team with six receptions for 69 yards. Christian Snipes was 16 of 27 for 136 yards and a touchdown.
We thank Coach Summers and his staff along with the players for a spectacular season. You brought the Eagle nation a lot of thrills and memories. We also appreciate the sportsmanship and class you showed during the season even when your opponent may not have been. Special thanks to Cathy Moorer for allowing me to use her pictures in the articles.