Playoffs are supposed to be tough.
But the Victory Christian football team hasn”t had many things go against it in the past three seasons en route to consecutive Christian Football Association titles and 29 victories in a row.
Landon Ellis and Tyler Jones led the charge Friday night to ensure the Eagles overcame some unaccustomed adversity and preserved another run at perfection.
Ellis rushed for 247 yards and three touchdowns and returned an interception for another one, and Jones rushed for two scores and had two interceptions to lead Victory Christian to a 64-26 victory against Tabernacle Christian in the first round of the CFA playoffs at Coleman Robertson Field.
The Eagles (8-0) will try to complete their third undefeated season and win their 31st game in a row at 7 p.m. Friday when they play at Tuscaloosa Christian, which defeated North River 84-30 Friday in the other first-round game, in Cottondale, Ala.
Ellis ran for four touchdowns and caught a pass for another in a 55-30 victory against Tuscaloosa Christian on Oct. 22. Ellis had 18 carries for 185 yards to help Victory Christian earn the top seed.
Senior leaders Ellis and Jones joined classmate Ben Williams (two rushing touchdowns) in leading the charge on an evening in which the Eagles lost three of five fumbles and threw an interception.
“I was real proud,” Victory Christian coach Chris Hamm said. “You can”t take anything away from them. (Tabernacle Christian junior running back Freddy) Goodgame ran as hard and as tough as I have seen him run all year, but our guys did step up. We had to sort of feel our way through and find some defense that worked.”
Tabernacle Christian, which lost to Victory Christian 49-14 on Sept. 10, capitalized on things Hamm said earlier in the week — cold weather, slippery footballs and turnovers — that might hurt his team. The Rams” mistakes helped put the Torches in position to tie the game in the third quarter, only to have Ellis make a play that turned the momentum.
Goodgame”s 58-yard touchdown run and a failed two-point conversion left Tabernacle trailing 34-26 with 7 minutes, 22 seconds to play in the third quarter. The Torches then recovered the onside kick and took over at the Eagles” 48. Goodgame gained 14 yards on the first two plays to get his team moving again. But Tabernacle Christian coach Wayne Dabbs went against the grain, opting for a pass on first-and-10 from the Victory Christian 34.
It was a play he regretted after the game.
Ellis stepped in front of a Goodgame pass around the Eagles” 15-yard line and weaved his way through traffic. He received a flattening block from Williams on the way to an 85-yard touchdown return that turned the tide.
“Columbus is a veteran team, they”re a well-coached team, and they have the two best athletes in the league No. 21 Landon (Ellis) and No. 22 (Tyler Jones),” Dabbs said. “We had all of the momentum … and I take the blame for a bone-headed decision. We threw the ball right at Landon. We came in knowing we couldn”t do that.”
Dabbs thought Ellis would have went in motion with the receiver, but Ellis adjusted with Kaleb Holliness in the defensive backfield, dropped into zone coverage, and read what was going to happen.
“I was thinking, ”Dang, we have got to step it up as seniors,” ” Ellis said. “If we step up and show intensity, the younger guys, even the other seniors, are going to follow.”
Victory Christian poured it on from there. Jones” interception on the Torches” next possession helped set up an 8-yard scoring run by Williams. A penalty erased the extra point and forced Victory Christian to convert a conversion pass from Marcus Sims to Jones.
A fumble on Tabernacle Christian”s next series compounded disaster. Sims connected with Ellis on a 33-yard pass on fourth-and-9 to keep the drive alive before Williams cashed in a 1-yard run.
Jones, who attended a baseball tryout at Delta State on Saturday, made a leaping interception in front of the left corner of the end zone to snuff out a final Tabernacle Christian scoring threat. Three plays later, Ellis was off to the races on an 85-yard touchdown run that sealed the deal.
“Our defense is great,” Jones said. “You need to run the ball, but you have to have defense to win games.”
Goodgame did all he could to keep the Torches in the game. He had 42 rushes for 371 yards and three touchdowns, including a 74-yard run. But Tabernacle Christian lost two fumbles and threw four interceptions that helped seal its fate.
As explosive as the Eagles have been the past two seasons, Ellis said defense has been its “main thing” and that the team has fed off the defense.
It was easy to see why Friday on a night when the Eagles” best offense at times was its defense.
“They (stepped up as leaders) tonight,” Hamm said of Ellis, Jones, and Ben Williams. “They knew this was their last game on this field, and they played their hearts out and overcame a lot of adversity.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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