This is the first of two championship previews for Class 3A-A private. Later this week, Prince Avenue Christian will be profiled.
The Hebron Christian Lions are in the program’s first championship game after beating Fellowship Christian 24-17 in the Class 3A-A private semifinals last week.
The Lions (11-2), ranked No. 3 in 3A-A private and the tournament’s 6-seed, will play the No. 2 Prince Avenue Christian Wolverines (10-3), the 5-seed. The Wolverines are going for a third consecutive championship after winning A Private the previous two seasons. The championship, to be played 1 p.m. Wed., Dec. 18 at Mercedes-Benz, will be a rematch from Nov. 1 regular season finale, when the Wolverines won 34-31 on the road, in what served as the Region 8-2A championship.
Against Fellowship Christian, the Lions took the lead with six minutes remaining on Jarvis Mathurin’s 70-yard touchdown run, which came on the first play from scrimmage after Fellowship Christian tied it at 17. The defense held the lead and the Lions withstood the Paladins’ rally.
The Lions took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter and led 17-7 at the half before the Paladins clawed back.
“The momentum was theirs,” Lions coach Jonathan Gess said. “We hadn’t scored since the first half, we’d thrown an interception, and the energy of the whole stadium was theirs. So, for Jarvis to just take it to the house on the first play of the drive, yeah, that killed their momentum and gave us the spark we needed.”
Mathurin, the team’s leading receiver, filled in at tailback after an injury to starter Devon Caldwell, and finished with 112 yards and a touchdown on eight carries, and 65 yards on five catches. Thomas Stallworth had 123 rushing yards and a touchdown on 21 carries, overcoming two interceptions on 6 of 14 passing for 67 yards. On defense, linebacker Nick Wade and safety Max Steve each had 10 tackles.
The Lions beat Fellowship Christian in a rematch for Aug. 23, when they also won, 38-18, in the second game of the season.
To win their first title, they’ll play another rematch. Prince Avenue Christian owns the all-time series over the Lions 11-1, with 11 consecutive wins after the Lions won their first meeting in 2010. However, Gess took over at Hebron Christian in 2022 and comes from another private school, Eagle’s Landing Christian Academy, where he won six state titles from 2012-2019. With ELCA, Gess beat the Prince Avenue Christian in the 2017 A semifinals and 2019 A second round on the way to championships, and lost to them in the 2020 A Private quarterfinals, with the Wolverines going on to win their first state title.
While Gess has extensive championship experience, his players have none, so he will pass along his experiences leading up to the ultimate game.
“The biggest thing is, you can’t rest your glory on the semifinal win,” he said. “Prince Avenue Christian has been there, done that. At ELCA, we’d been there, done that. So we knew the process. With Prince Avenue Christian and ELCA, we expected to be in the championship game. It’s just what we’re supposed to do. But we’re here for the first time ever, and there’s a tendency to think (the semifinals) was our championship, because of the excitement. Obviously, getting here is a great accomplishment, but you want to try and win the game, not just get to it.
“I told them, ‘Guys, you’ve had 48 hours to bask in the glory of your win, make your IG posts, and all of that. It’s time to shut the book on Fellowship Christian and get our eyes directed back to winning a state championship.’ That’s a big challenge, to get our minds refocused, and to get ourselves back up for another war, the last one.”
Caldwell, who Gess said will play in the championship, has 1,278 yards and 20 touchdowns on 161 carries, and 112 yards and a touchdown on 11 catches. Stallworth has 2,092 yards and 24 touchdowns to eight interceptions on 126-for-215 passing, and 670 yards and nine touchdowns 82 carries. Mathurin has 960 yards and 12 touchdowns on 53 catches, and 322 yards and five touchdowns on 50 carries.
Steve leads the defense with 118 tackles and Carrington Coombs has 11 sacks. Gerrit Kemp has four interceptions and nine pass breakups.
Sources: Georgia High School Football Historians Association, MaxPreps, GHSF Daily
