There’s just something about Tuscaloosa Christian that gets to Bo McCrary and Shane Bradford.
The Victory Christian football players don’t know exactly what it is about their archrivals that they dislike so much. Upon further review, McCrary and Bradford know hyperbole and bombast typically are associated with heated rivals. They want to assure you there is no need for those things in this rivalry because the teams know how serious matters are when they meet.
“If we lose every game in the season and win that game, it is a good season,” McCrary said.
That isn’t the case for either squad this year, as the Eagles (9-1) and the Warriors (9-3) have advanced to the title game of the Christian Football Association at 7 p.m. Friday in Cottondale, Alabama. Top-seeded Victory Christian advanced to the championship game thanks to a 45-6 victory against fourth-seeded New Life Christian, while third-seeded Tuscaloosa Christian beat Tabernacle 25-6.
For Victory Christian, the title game will offer a chance to end a three-game playoff losing streak to Tuscaloosa Christian. The Warriors beat the Eagles three times last season, including a 20-14 victory in the CFA title game. They also beat the Eagles twice in 2012, including a 52-42 decision in the CFA semifinals, and 24-20 in the 2010 CFA title game. That victory snapped Victory Christian’s 30-game winning streak that featured CFA titles in 2008 and 2009.
McCrary offers the slightest of smiles when asked what makes playing Tuscaloosa Christian so special. He recalls his first year playing football when the Warriors beat the Eagles and someone from Tuscaloosa Christian came to Columbus and hung a championship T-shirt on Victory Christian’s bus. A note left with the shirt asked Victory Christian coach Chris Hamm if he had any championship T-shirts left to sell.
Hamm said somehow Tuscaloosa Christian fans believed Victory Christian already had made T-shirts in advance of its latest title. He said Tuscaloosa Christian fans might have seen Victory Christian fans wearing past championship T-shirts and thought the school already believed it has another title wrapped up. Hamm said things like that have been a part of a rivalry that started out as a “friendly” endeavor but has morphed into an intense matchup that often determines the CFA’s best team that season.
“We have all talked about playing Tuscaloosa Christian (again after a 70-67 loss in the regular season),” McCrary said. “We all said we didn’t care if we won, but if we got to choose it would by Tuscaloosa. We want to prove we can beat them. That is the first thing that came to my mind. I am glad we got them. I want us to prove we can beat them.”
Victory Christian will shoot for its first CFA title since 2009, when it went 10-0 and completed its second-consecutive unbeaten season. Bradford, who also is a senior and is well accustomed to the intensity of the rivalry, said he, too, is tired of losing to Tuscaloosa Christian. He agrees this week will be different as the Eagles and the Warriors manage the anticipation of the game Friday night.
“We can’t slack up,” Bradford said. “I know this past game we were up by a pretty good bit (29 points) and everybody was like, ‘Oh, we have got it.’ They proved we didn’t have it. We can’t let up and keep going.”
Hamm, who has coached the football team every year (except 2003) since its inception in 1994, said Victory Christian played far from its best game in the first meeting, even though it built a huge lead. In reviewing film, he identified numerous areas in which the Eagles can correct and fine-tune to prevent the Warriors from handing the Eagles another loss. He anticipates Tuscaloosa Christian also will have changed some things, which is to be expected when archrivals who know each other get together. On Friday, though, Hamm hopes his team can maintain a focus that has carried it to this point and help it realize its ultimate goal. He also knows past results won’t have any bearing on the outcome. In 2010, Victory Christian beat Tuscaloosa Christian 55-30 in the regular season and then lost in the title game. In 2011, Victory Christian beat North River 58-14 in the regular season and lost to the same team 28-16 in the semifinals of the CFA playoffs.
“Most of the recent games we have played them we have been equal to them or better than them in our minds and we still have trouble getting over the hump with them,” Hamm said. “If you lose to a team that is far superior to you — like Evangel last year — that is one thing. But when you keep knocking your head against a wall and think, ‘Hey, we ought to be taking care of this bunch,’ that’s what makes it difficult.”
Girls Basketball
n Jackson Prep 32, Starkville Academy 22: Anna McKell scored 14 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, and had three steals in the Lady Volunteers’ loss.
Sarah Morgan Pellum added five points and three rebounds for Starkville Academy.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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