Pictured above, Coosa Christian’s Dartavious Britton
By Adam Crocker/Sports Correspondent
Coosa Christian (1-1) picked up a 36-13 win over Appalachian in the school’s home opener last Friday (Sep. 1) at Phillip Ellen Field.
The visiting Eagles kicked the game off with the ball, but that did not last long. Jasper Hutchens pass was intercepted by Will Foster with only 1:03 expired off the clock.
The teams traded possessions until the 11:24 mark of the second quarter when Connor Belyeu came up with an interception to set up the inaugural score of the game.
The Coosa offense took possession at the visitors’ 42-yard line. Junior quarterback Caiden Lipscomb scrambled for six yards to set up sophomore Dartavious Britton’s 36-yard score on the ground with 10:30 left in the first half. Britton ran the ball 25 times for 211 yards.
“Dartavious is a big-time player for us, and we have high expectations for him,” said Coosa head coach Nevandra Woods. “He’s the guy we want to get the ball to.”
Coosa added three more points after a 25-yard field goal by Jackson Justus, making it 10-0 with 1:27 remaining in the first half.
The Wills Creek squad kicked off the second half with the ball, and senior Brody Sanders polished off the eight-play, 51-yard drive by punching it in from a half-yard out at the 7:34 mark of the third quarter. Noah Davidson’s PAT was good, making it 17-0.
A subsequent Eagle fumble was forced and recovered by Jake McDowell, and the turnover set up a home team score. Receptions by Justus and Ashton Clemmons and runs by Britton and Sanders led to a three-yard scoring dash by Lipscomb. That score made it 23-0 with 2:17 remaining in the third.
After a minute of elapsed play, McDowell recovered yet another fumble to give the hosts
possession at the 1:17 mark of the third.
A 15-yard touchdown pass from Lipscomb to Justus soon added another six points for the home team. Davidson’s PAT made it 30-0 with 11:53 remaining in the contest.
Appalachian finally got on the scoreboard courtesy of a 30-yard scoring run by junior Alton Giles at the 9:40 mark. Noah Moss’ PAT was good, making it 30-7.
An interception ran back for a touchdown by Jasper Hutchens then trimmed the Conqueror lead to 30-13 with 8:28 remaining in the game.
Appalachian recovered a fumble on the following kickoff return, but Hutchens’ pass was intercepted and returned 92 yards for a touchdown by Coosa freshman Evan Delp, making it 36-13 with 6:28 remaining in the contest.
The Conquerors finished with 359 total yards while holding Appalachian to 124.
“We started to let some of our younger guys get their feet wet a little bit,” said Woods regarding the two late scores by the Eagles. “We [made] a couple of mistakes, so we got our starters back in and finished out the ball game. I feel like we’re battle-tested now.”
Lipscomb went 10-for-21 for 121 yards, while Justus had five receptions for 76 yards.
McDowell had nine tackles, while Sanders had six with two sacks.
Coosa travels to Valley Head this week to begin Class 1A, Region 6 play.