Anthony Sharp doesn’t want his football career to end at Victory Christian with any unfinished business.
Last season, Victory Christian lost to Tuscaloosa Christian 20-14 in the Christian Football Association title game. The loss was the Eagles’ third to the archrival Warriors in 2013.
This season, Victory Christian built a 29-point halftime lead and held a double-digit advantage in the second half only to lose in the final minutes 70-67. Despite the loss, Victory Christian (8-1, 4-1 CFA) still secured the top seed in the four-team league playoffs. That two-week sprint will kick off at 7 tonight when Victory Christian plays host to New Life Christian (2-7, 0-5). Tuscaloosa Christian will play at Tabernacle in the other semifinal. The winners will meet next week in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to decide the CFA champion.
Sharp hopes the taste of “disgust” and “disappointment” from that loss two weeks ago will fuel the Eagles tonight when they kick off their quest for a title.
“We really didn’t play the best we have all season the whole game,” Sharp said. “I think we made a lot of mental mistakes, and that really hurt us in the end.
“It is not going to be difficult (to focus). Everybody understands that if we don’t win (tonight) it is over. I think everybody is focused on (New Life Academy) because that is the game that is going to get us (to the CFA title game). I think everybody is ready.”
Sharp said Victory Christian will have to play with the same emotion and passion it has had for most of this season. He felt the Eagles were uptight in the loss to Tuscaloosa Christian, which prevented them from relaxing and just playing football. He said he hopes he will be able to keep everyone loose tonight so everyone can go out and have fun.
Victory Christian coach Chris Hamm also hopes his players can shake off the effects from the Tuscaloosa Christian game. He feels confident in his team’s chances given it has wins against New Life (34-0) and Tabernacle (64-20) this season. But he has been coaching long enough to know a regular-season victory means nothing in the playoffs. That’s why he believes the theme “unfinished business” is ideal for his team because it has more work to do to claim a CFA championship.
“We don’t want to allow the loss in a game we feel like we should have won to derail that,” Hamm said.
Sharp agrees. While he has been a part of a championships in baseball and in basketball, he and his classmates have yet to claim a football title. That also fits nicely into the narrative of “unfinished business.” To Sharp, it doesn’t matter if Victory Christian has to beat New Life Academy and Tabernacle or Tuscaloosa Christian because Victory Christian will have to work hard against either opponent.
“We want to make sure these games count and we don’t have any regrets when we leave and that we give it our all,” Sharp said. “I think if we do that we will come out on top in a couple of Fridays.”
Hamm agrees and feels the team’s off week last week will help the players re-charge their batteries and catch a breather after nine-straight weeks. He hopes the lure of playing Tabernacle or Tuscaloosa Christian in the title game serves as motivation and doesn’t cloud his players’ focus tonight. If the Eagles can stick to their game plan they will take care of any and all unfinished business that remains this season.
“I think we are ready to play,” Hamm said. “New Life started out the year pretty good and had a couple of key injuries. Right before we played them, one of their running backs got hurt in practice, so that game was kind of lopsided from the beginning I anticipate they will have most of his guys back, so I think we will be ready. It will be good to get back on the field and erase some of those negative memories from the most recent game and springboard into next week and, hopefully, everyone will stay well as far as an injury standpoint and a sickness standpoint. We seems to be in pretty good shape going into (tonight’s game).”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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