Friday night’s first-round playoff game between the CCA Patriots and the Fullington Academy Trojans started out like it was going to be an old-fashioned beatdown – with the Patriots coming out on top.
But that only lasted for one quarter. The rest of the game belonged to Fullington. The Trojans survived to fight another week with a 28-20 win over the Patriots in Douglas.
“I can’t say enough about how hard these kids have worked this year. We just made enough mistakes to lose tonight. It wasn’t the effort. We played four hard quarters in this game. We just made some mistakes and lost the game,” said CCA head coach Jed Marsh after the game.
The Patriots were tired, depleted, banged up, and shorthanded on Friday night. If any team in the region, and maybe even the state, needed a week off to heal and recover, it was CCA. Unfortunately, the Patriots didn’t have that luxury. Their loss to Westwood last week knocked them out of a first-round bye and pitted them against a hungry Fullington team bound and determined to avenge a loss they suffered earlier this season to CCA.
Still, when the game began, it looked like the Patriots had things under control. CCA jumped out to an 8-0 lead with 9:28 in the first quarter when Dalton Rogers broke a 56-yard touchdown and quarterback Sam Ables connected with Tyson Crosby for the two-point conversion. The Trojans scored next and tied the game at eight apiece. The Patriots pulled ahead 20-8 on touchdowns from Jonah Hall (80 yards) and Ables (58 yards).
But that is all CCA would get.
Neither team scored in the second quarter. The Trojans, however, scored 20 unanswered points in the second half to win 28-20. Blake Hendrickson scored on runs of 53 yards (7:04 in the third quarter) and 21 yards (3:19 in the third quarter). Augie Harris caught a four-yard touchdown pass and trotted into the end zone for the two-point conversion (6:21 in the fourth quarter) to take the lead for the first time all night. CCA was never able to generate any second-half momentum and slowly watched the season slip away as the game wore on.
Rogers rushed for 183 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries. Ables was 7-9 passing for 117 yards and an interception. Crosby caught five passes for 88 yards. Damian Duran and Bo Roberts led the defense in tackles.
Penalties and turnovers proved to be the Patriots’ undoing. CCA was penalized seven times for 65 yards. The Patriots also lost two of four fumbles.
“I knew the first day of football camp that I had a squad this year. I had a great team and making a run at the playoffs was our standard as a team. So as a team, we missed the mark a little bit because of mistakes and injuries. If you ask most people, they would say we’re ahead of schedule. I’m proud of all the work the whole school has put in. I wish things would have turned out better. We’d still be playing football if they had. Our guys work hard. I love them. We’ve just got to keep working,” said Coach Marsh.
The Patriots finished the season with a 7-4 record and earned a playoff spot in their first year of postseason eligibility. It’s also the first playoff game a CCA football team has ever played.
The Trojans will face the #2-ranked Vidalia Heritage Academy Eagles next weekend in Vidalia. Last week, the Eagles defeated the Trojans 58-20 in Pinehurst.