It’s always good to finish the season with a win. The CCA Patriots did that very thing Friday night, beating the Stewart County Knights 21-18 in front of a home crowd in their season finale. The Patriots, who defeated the Knights earlier in the year 20-6 in a torrential downpour, finished their first varsity football season in 18 years with a 4-6 record.
It wasn’t a given that CCA would win. They trailed 6-0 early in the first quarter, built a lead by as many as nine on two different occasions, then ultimately won by three. “We fought through a game where we weren’t up the whole time. We fought through some adversity. But we’ve been through that as a community. We’ve battled adversity all year. I hope our guys learned a lesson from that,” said CCA head coach Jed Marsh following the game.
The Knights were a much-improved team Friday night. They wanted to avenge the early season loss to the Patriots and they made an early statement, taking the ball on their first possession and marching downfield. The drive ended with a five-yard touchdown run. Stewart County went for two but Luke Russ intercepted the Knights’ pass to kill the play. With 6:36 left in the first quarter, Stewart led 6-0.
The two teams traded possessions then the Patriots took over. Starting at their own 24, quarterback Sam Ables took his team 76 yards, finishing things off with a six-yard touchdown pass to Tyson Crosby. CCA also went for two and Crosby made it to the end zone for the conversion. The Patriots were up 8-6 with 5:14 remaining in the second quarter.
On the Knights’ ensuing possession, they faced a fourth down deep in their own territory. They opted to go for it but the Patriots came through with a sack at the Stewart County one yard line. One play later, Tyson scored his second touchdown of the night on a one-yard run out of the wildcat. Ethan Duran’s point-after attempt was good and late in the first half, the Patriots held a 15-6 advantage. The two teams took that score into the locker room for halftime.
When the third quarter began, the Patriots took the opening kick but ended up punting. The Knights wanted to make a statement early and they showed they weren’t dead yet. A couple of plays into their first drive, Tytrevious Thomas took a handoff and broke free for a 61-yard touchdown. The Knights missed out on another two-point conversion but they had narrowed CCA’s lead to 15-12 with 8:17 in the third quarter.
The Knights ended the third quarter and began the fourth with a long, methodical drive that looked like it might end in the end zone. However, the CCA defense stiffened and forced a fourth down on the Patriots’ 20-yard line. Bo Roberts sacked the Stewart quarterback for a four-yard loss stopping the drive and giving the Patriots the ball on their own 24.
Ables and company set off on another 76-yard drive, helped inside the red zone by a series of costly offsides calls that put the Patriots at the Knights’ two. Ables scored on a quarterback keeper to put CCA up 21-12 with 8:31 remaining (the two-point attempt was no good).
But there was a lot of time left and the Knights weren’t done. After the kick, they took over at their own 32 and went the length of the field. Keon Scales got Stewart back in the game with a 13-yard touchdown run. The Knights opted to go for two again; this time, Beckett Waldron made a big tackle that saved the conversion and held the score at 21-18 with 4:45 left.
The Patriots began their fourth and final drive of the half at their own 40 and moved down field, keeping the ball on the ground and milking the clock. With less than a minute left, the Patriots were looking at a third and three. A first down would effectively end the game. It they didn’t get it, the Knights could potentially have one more shot to tie or win the game. Ables took the snap and handed it off to senior Jayden Kirkland, who barreled through the Knights’ defense for the first down and the win.
“I couldn’t be prouder. All summer, starting from the spring, they worked hard for this moment right here, to play great. From the beginning to now, we’re a better team and it’s because they worked every day. Brick by brick, we’re going to build something. The standard this year was to compete and we did that. Now we’ve got to raise the bar next year. I need a little more competing. I want to set high standards for our program and that’s what we’re going to do,” said Coach Marsh.