Photo: Coosa Christian’s Clay Waites (2) runs for yardage after a catch as Gaylesville’s Tristen Payne (6) pursues during the Conquerors’ 34-6 victory last Friday (Oct. 12) in Gadsden. (Wayne Butterworth)
By Chris McCarthy, Publisher/Editor
Coosa Christian’s homecoming game against Gaylesville last Friday (Oct. 12) was shorter than expected for the host team.
With the Conquerors leading 28-0 at halftime, both head coaches agreed on a running clock for the second half as well as shortening the fourth quarter to six minutes.
In approximately 10 minutes of live action in the second half, each team scored a touchdown for a final score of 34-6 in Class 1A, Region 6 action in Gadsden.
Coosa improved to 3-3 overall and evened its region record to 2-2. The Trojans fell to 2-5 and 1-3.
After the game, Coosa Christian head coach Nevandra Woods had second thoughts about agreeing to the running clock.
“I take the blame for that and I won’t do it again, because I robbed my younger guys from having the opportunity to play. But I felt that this was the most complete game we’ve played all season. We executed on both sides of the ball and I feel like we responded after coming off [a 43-point loss to Falkville] last week. Our game plan was to mix up the run and the pass, and we were able to do that. Overall, our kids did great job tonight. I feel like from this point on, we’re going to be hitting on all cylinders.”
Coosa junior halfback Dartavious Britton rushed for 202 yards and three touchdowns on only 11 carries.
“Dartavious is a special kid,” said Woods. “We can run him between the tackles and on the outside and he can catch the ball, so he’s a great weapon to have.”
Coosa quarterback Caiden Lipscomb turned in a solid performance, completing 9 of 12 passes for 232 yards and two touchdowns. Waites caught four passes for 78 yards.
The Conquerors finished with 398 yards of offense to Gaylesville’s 235. Coosa limited the visitors to 77 yards in the ground.
The Conqueror defense held Gaylesville at bay over the first 24 minutes. Out of the Trojans’ five first-half possessions, two ended in failed fourth down conversion attempt, two on punts and one on a lost fumble.
Meanwhile, it took the hosts only three plays from scrimmage to hit pay dirt. Following a 17-yard Lipscomb-to Clay Waites pass and a 15-yard scamper by Britton, the latter took it to the house from 23 yards out for a 6-0 lead at 8:33 of the first quarter.
Backed up to their own 10-yard line later in the period, the Conquerors used four plays to reach midfield, from where Lipscomb and Waites connected on a 48-yard touchdown pass. Waites
caught a two-point conversion pass from Britton for a 14-point lead at 2:12.
The visitors answered with their longest drive of the night, moving from their own 35 to the Coosa 3 in nine plays, the most important of which was Braden Stordahl’s 31-yard pass to Colby Scott on a first down and 30.
But the series abruptly ended when the Trojans fumbled the ball into the end zone and Coosa’s Evan Delp recovered.
Delp finished what he started two plays later when he caught a short pass and eluded the Gaylesville defense for a 67-yard score. Seung-min Cho’s PAT was good, making it 21-0 at the 8:17 mark of the second quarter.
A 31-yard run by Britton set up the final Coosa touchdown of the half, a 5-yard rush up the middle by Britton that sent the hosts into the locker room ahead 28-0.
With the game clocking running except for the quarter break, Gayelsville avoided the shutout when an interception eventually resulted in Scott’s 5-yard TD run with about three minutes remaining.
Britton capped his outstanding night with a 75-yard touchdown in the final minute.
Caiden Lipscomb led the Conquerors defensively with nine tackles, followed by Chase Burger with five.
“When you play people like that, you’ve got to score with them,” said Gaylesville head coach Kyle Garmon. I thought offensively we did a pretty good job moving the football. We just never
scored.”
Coosa resumes region play this Friday (Oct. 19) with a visit to Woodville.