Last Friday night, the CCA Patriots scored a program record 61 points against Fullington Academy. This week, they followed that performance with the second most points a CCA team has scored with a 52-6 win over the Grace Christian Academy Cougars at Patriot Field in Douglas.
CCA had the game in hand from the very beginning. A Cougar fumble on the opening kick led to a Patriot touchdown – an 18-yard run by Clay Phillips. Bo Roberts converted the two-point attempt for an 8-0 CCA lead less than a minute and a half into the game. A few minutes later, Dalton Rogers scored on a two-yard run. Sam Ables made the two-point conversion for a 16-8 lead with 7:08 left in the first quarter.
Early in the second quarter, Ables threw an eight-yard touchdown pass to Tyson Crosby. The conversion was no good but the Patriots were still up 22-0 and in control. At the end of the half, Connor Reckley ran it in from two yards out for another CCA score. Roberts added two more points to put the Patriots up 30-0.
The Cougars answered before halftime, scoring on a 68-yard throw and catch to go into halftime trailing CCA 30-6.
In the second half, the Patriots scored 22 unanswered points on touchdowns from Ables (27-yard run), Rogers (three-yard run), and Ethan Duran (27-yard catch from Phillips as time expired).
Just like last week, the CCA defense was physical and intimidating, never letting the Cougars gain any kind of momentum.
Rogers finished with 10 carries for 158 yards and two touchdowns. Tyson Crosby had two carries for 22 yards and one reception for an eight-yard touchdown. He also made one two-point conversion. Ables was 3-5 for 62 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. Phillips completed one pass, a 24-yard touchdown to Ethan Duran. Phillips and Reckley also had rushing touchdowns.
“I’m seeing some really physical football. And that has me fired up. That’ll take you a long way. It wasn’t a perfect game. We had some penalties that really hurt us. We had two really bad plays defensively but besides that, my guys are playing hard. And that’s how you win games, man. You just be more physical and take care of the football,” said CCA head coach Jed Marsh after the game.
When asked if his team was where he wanted them to be at this point in the season, he just smiled and said, “I’ll tell you on Monday after I watch the film.”
The Patriots are 5-1 overall and 3-1 in region play. CCA has three more games left: Next week on the road against John Hancock, October 16 against Vidalia Heritage at home, and October 23 at Westwood.
The Patriots are currently #2 in the GIAA 8-Man standings, trailing undefeated David Emanuel Academy. At the time of this writing, Vidalia Heritage sits at #3, John Hancock is #8, and Westwood is #5.
