Alabama Christian Academy

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ACA Drops Both Games of Tri-match

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ACA hosted Carver and Pike Road Thursday night and were defeated by both teams. The Lady Eagles were beaten by Carver in the first match, 21-25, 24-26. The night was finished with a tough three set loss to Pike Road, 23-25, 25-19, 13-15. Carver was able to defeat Pike Road in the other match to finish undefeated on the night.

Emily Thornton led the Eagles on the night with eight kills and 23 assists. Monica Willingham, seeing her first action of the year, added seven kills. Bailey DiNunzio had four aces and Savannah Fonville finished with a team high 18 digs.

The Lady Eagles (1-3) will continue play this weekend as they compete in the Mayor’s Cup.

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ACA Earns First Victory of the Year Over Elmore County

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The Lady Eagles evened their record to 1-1 on the season with a 25-17, 19-25, 26-24, 25-18 defeat of Elmore County. ACA showed improvement in their second game of the year. Coach Manuel Guice liked the progress he saw and knows that time on the court is what this team needs with all of the new players this year.

With the score tied 3-3 in game one, the Lady Eagles took charge and took a 19-11 lead and went on to win by eight. After falling behind early in game two, ACA could get no closer than four points. It looked as if Elmore County was going to take game three leading 21-24 late, but in the pivotal moment of the match the Eagles ran off five straight points and took the game, 26-24. The Eagles closed out the match in the fourth game for the hard earned victory.

Alyson Thornton led the offense with 12 kills and had three aces in her serve game. Emily Thornton had 20 assists while Savannah Fonville added 18 digs. Aniya Jackson and Alyson Thornton led the team at the net with three blocks each.

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Alabama Christian Defeats Saks in Season Opener

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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.

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Judd Hardin Wins Trinity Trailblazer at AUM

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Judd Hardin began Alabama Christian’s 2019 cross country campaign with a top finish in the Trinity Trailblazer at AUM Saturday morning. Hardin, a senior, reclaimed the title he won two years ago with a time of 17:10 in the 5K race. Hardin is one of the top runners in 4A and is looking forward to a great season. In the girl’s race, Kyndall Foley had the Eagles best finish, placing fifth.

Coach Michael Britton was very pleased with the teams first outing. He stated the team was right where it needs to be and feels it will get stronger as the season progresses. Coach Britton was also very proud of Hardin and appreciates his leadership on the team.

ACA’s next meet will be September 7th in Oakville for the Chickasaw Trails Invitational.

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ACA Loses Season Opener at PCA

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The Lady Eagles traveled to Prattville and lost the season opener in four games to Prattville Christian. ACA’s starting rotation looked drastically different as seven seniors were lost to graduation from last year’s squad. Emily Thornton was the lone starter left from a team that advanced to the Final Four last year.

The match was tight through the first half of game one, but with the score tied 13-13, PCA pulled away and took the first game, 25-22. In game two, the Lady Lions jumped out to a 9-3 advantage and never trailed in route to a 25-17 win.

The Lady Eagles fought back in game three as Emily Thornton helped to build an early 7-0 lead. Thornton served on ten of the team’s 25 points as ACA won its only game, 25-21. Alabama Christian again jumped out to an early lead in game four, but were unable to hold it and fell 25-22.

Emily Thornton led the team with seven aces and 16 assists. Alyson Thornton added a team high ten kills while Savannah Fonville contributed 16 digs.

ACA will host Elmore County next Tuesday in their home opener.