There is a downside to being a five-time state champion from the state’s smallest classification: No one wants to play you.
Such is life for Class A private No. 1 Eagle’s Landing Christian Academy, which has won the last five state titles. Not only do Class A teams from other regions tend to shy away from scheduling the Chargers, most teams from larger classifications do the same.
So ELCA ends up with a brutal non-region schedule, as only the best of the best will face them. That was the case again Friday night as Crisp County (3-0), the No. 3 team from Class AAA, traveled north to McDonough and left town with a 34-14 win over the Chargers.
It was the third time in four games this season that ELCA(2-2) has faced a team ranked in the top three from a larger classification. The Chargers shut out Class 5A Woodward Academy, ranked No. 3 at the time, in the season opener (14-0) and lost last week to Class 5A Blessed Trinity, ranked No. 2, 38-14.
“I’m proud of our guys,” said ELCA head coach Jonathan Gess. “From a physicality and toughness stand point, we can play with anybody and we proved that tonight. I thought we beat them up and down the field. But we made too many mistakes. This team is not ready to win a game like this.”
The game turned on two big plays midway through the fourth quarter.
With ELCA up 14-12, the Charger defense had once again forced the Cougars into a punting situation on fourth-and-12 from the Crisp 30-yard line, with just under six minutes left in the game. But Cougar punter Jackson Napier lofted a pass along the far hash mark intended for J’Kobe Harris. An ELCA defender delivered a hard, clean hit to Harris' back, and jarred the ball loose. But JJ Deriso was there to grab the deflection and raced down to the ELCA 3-yard line before being dragged down by Kaleb Anthony.
Harris was motionless for several minutes and the game was delayed about 45 minutes as an ambulance was called. He showed some movement before being taken to a local hospital. Inspired by their fallen teammate and the big play, Christopher Paul Jr. barreled into the end zone on the next play. His two-point conversion run gave Crisp a 20-14 lead.
“It was something we saw on film that we thought we could get,” Crisp head coach Brad Harber said. “Looking back on it, I’m still glad we called it. We weren’t sure about how well we would execute it because we had to play a lot of young kids tonight because of the virus.”
Harber said several starters had to stay back in Cordele under quarantine, due to the school’s strict contact tracing protocol, including starting running back Marquise Palmer.
“We’ve only had one player test positive over the summer,” Harber said. “But with the contact tracing, we had some players who were impacted. But I wouldn’t take any team over this group.”
Crisp put the game away seconds later, as the Chargers' kick returner muffed a pooch kick and the Cougars recovered at the ELCA 28-yard line. It was the fourth turnover of the night committed by the Chargers.
On the second play from scrimmage, quarterback AJ Brown followed his guard off tackle to the right, bounced outside and sprinted into the end zone from 25 yards out. His two-point conversion run made it 28-14 with a little over three minutes remaining.
“I think God is teaching us humility,” Gess said. “I think [Crisp] made us better tonight. But even though this one hurts, you can’t sulk. Just got to forget about it and get ready for next week.”
Things don’t get any easier for the Chargers, as they will travel down to Blackshear to face Class 3A Pierce County, ranked No. 6.
As for Crisp, Harber said the win was a big one, even if it was over a team from Class A.
“I’ll tell you what, there is nothing in Class A that will be able to stay with that team,” Harber. “They don’t lose often and we have a lot of respect for them. To come up here and get this win says a lot about our team. We have a lot of kids that are going to go play on the next level, but they’re all unselfish. At the end of the day, they don’t care about their offers or their stars. They just want to win.”
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