By Chris McCarthy, Publisher/Editor
Coosa Christian earned the third playoff seed in Class 1A, Region 6 with a 28-7 victory over Woodville last Friday (Oct. 27) in Gadsden.
The Conquerors (4-6, 3-2) travel to Cherokee on Nov. 10 for the first round of the Class 1A state playoffs.
“Getting a higher seed than fourth hasn’t been done here in a while, and that’s a credit to these kids,” said Coosa head coach Navendra Woods. “I think our kids are really buying into our program and understanding not only what it means to not only play the sport but what it means to have unity and be a part of something great.”
The Coosa defense pitched a shutout over the final three quarters after allowing a touchdown with 22 seconds left in the opening period. The Conquerors drew within 7-6 when Dartavious Britton returned a punt 59 yards for a touchdown at 4:54 of the second quarter.
Just 30 seconds later, quarterback Caiden Lipscomb scored on a 3-yard run, and his two-point conversion pass to Jackson Justus gave Coosa the lead for good.
Following a scoreless third quarter, the Conquerors scored as pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to put the game away. Britton broke free for a 68-yard touchdown run at 9:16, while Justus scored on a 1-yard run with just under eight minutes left in the game. Lipscomb passed to Delp on the two-point conversion for the final margin.
The Conquerors out-gained Woodville 234 to 197 in total yardage.
Britton finished with 165 yards on 18 carries.
Lipscomb was 4 for 13 in passing for 31 yards.
Delp had two interceptions, while Lipscomb and Britton each had one.
Justus had two sacks, while Jake McDowell and Brody Sanders each had one.
McDowell led defensively with 15 tackles, followed by Lipscomb with 11 and Sanders with seven.
Prior to their win over Gaylesville on Oct. 20, the Conquerors has lost five straight games but Woods said that his team kept battling through that adversity.
“I just told the kids to focus on going through the process and focusing on doing the small things right and paying attention to detail, and that eventually we’d get the outcome we wanted.”
Woods noted that Cherokee frequently operates out of the spread offense, so the Conquerors must be disciplined on defense and not give up too many big plays.
“The key to us winning that ballgame is to stop them on defense. I’m confident that we can score on them. But they have an explosive offense, so have to play fundamentally sound and get 11 hats on the football and stop them from moving the chains.”