Photo: Coosa Christian’s Caleb Cates had over 100 rushing yards in the Conquerors’ 71-14 victory over Valley Head last Friday (Oct. 26) in Gadsden. (Wayne Butterworth/Messenger file photo)
By Mike Goodson/Sports Correspondent
The Coosa Christian Conquerors proved to be just that last Friday (Oct. 26) at the expense of the Valley Head Tigers, 71-14, in Class 1A, Region 7 action at Phillip Ellen Field in Gadsden.
The game was both an offensive explosion and a defensive beat-down for Coosa Christian, as the Conquerors (6-3, 4-2) exploded for 547 yards of total offense while holding the Tigers (1-8, 0-6).
Valley Head won the toss and elected to receive, which proved to be disastrous decision for the visitors. Three plays lost 18 yards, bringing up fourth and 28 from the Tiger 17-yard line. A high snap over the punter’s head gave Coosa the ball at the 2-yard line. Masaki Nakamura scored on a 2-yard run to give Coosa a 7-0 lead.
The roof then caved in on Valley Head, as a pair of touchdown passes from Caiden Lipscomb built the lead to 21-8 after nine minutes of play. The first was a 13-yard pass to Caleb Cates and the second a 36-yard strike to Evan Delp, which was followed by Lipscomb’s two-point conversion pass to Clay Waits.
Coosa Christian added four touchdowns in the second quarter as the lead exploded to 49-8 at the end of the first half. Cates ran it in from seven yards out, Lipscomb and Delp connected for a 61-yard strike, Waits caught a 49-yard scoring pass and Dartavious Britton notched a 13-yard TD run. Seung-min Cho connected all on four extra point attempts.
Coosa head coach Navendra Woods was happy with his team’s effort, which broke the school’s single-game scoring record set in 1985.
“This was a great game for our seniors Everyone played hard, and all of our coaches did a great job.”
The Conquerors tacked on two more touchdowns early in the third quarter – a 36-yard Lipscomb-to-Waits pass and cates’ 1-yard run – as they built a 62-8 lead with 7:35 to go in the third. Cho kicked a 34-yard field goal to close out the period and give the Conquerors a 65-8 lead.
Valley Head put one last score on the board with 9:18 remaining to cut the margin to 65-14. With 3:13 left and facing a fourth down, Coosa faked a punt to keep their last drive alive. Lipscomb threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Carston Lipscomb four plays later for the final 57-point margin.
Cates led Coosa in rushing with 106 yards rushing on nine carries. He was followed by Britton with 100 yards on seven attempts.
Caiden Lipscomb was 10-of-12 in passing for 272 yards. Delp caught five passes for 154 yards, while Waits had four receptions for 76 yards.
Karter Robert led in tackles with 15, followed by Caiden Lipscomb and Cates with 10 each, Trevor Horne and Hunter Price with eight each and Noah Davison with five. Waits also had a sack, while he, Horne and Davidson each had a fumble recovery.
The Conquerors close out the regular season this week at home against New Hope and travel to Donoho for the first round of the state playoffs on Nov. 9.