STEENS — Columbus Christian Academy’s Beau Kemp had a lane.
Starting on the left side of the field, Kemp took the opening kickoff of Friday’s game against Delta Streets Academy 60-plus yards for a touchdown to give the Rams an early spark in their second game of the season.
“He caught the ball; I think they might have been trying to onside kick it, but Beau made a good cut,” CCA head coach Jason Williams said. “Next thing you know, he’s behind everybody, and he did a good job taking that one back.”
But CCA (0-2) couldn’t sustain the momentum and allowed 34 unanswered points in a 34-14 loss in its home opener.
“We just have to keep playing, getting experience and coming off the football,” Williams said. “We’re young, and everybody played today. I thought everybody played hard and nobody quit. We gave it effort, and I’m proud of that.”
The Rams struggled to supplement the early kickoff return score with more points, allowing multiple sacks throughout the night that stalled drives. Defensively, DSA finished off drives thanks to multiple big plays generated by its spread offense.
“We’re just young on defense in spots,” Williams said. “Some of those tackles, there was a lot of effort on them. I’m really proud of the effort.”
Trailing 16-6 with less than a minute remaining before halftime, CCA was stopped on a fourth-and-3 on the DSA 5-yard line, then DSA mounted a 95-yard scoring drive in less than a minute to take a 22-6 lead into the break.
In the third quarter, Kemp took an earth-shattering hit on an outside run and appeared to sustain a lower-body injury. He did not return to action, but Williams said the diagnosis appeared OK. Kemp finished with 115 rushing yards.
“I think Beau’s OK. We’re going to get that checked out,” Williams said. “Initially we were worried about an ACL or maybe thinking it was some type of twist. We’re hoping he just took a bad bruise.”
CCA mounted one last touchdown drive with less than 30 seconds remaining as Lahndon Townley had a 5-yard rushing touchdown with 23 seconds left. Townley finished with 23 yards on the day, while Tyler Looney picked up 25. Defensively, Looney had five tackles, while Townley recorded four.
The Rams face Lee Academy (Ark.) next week in an attempt to pick up their first win of the season.
“Tonight we played better (than last week), I think,” Williams said. “First of all, we didn’t quit. We got a lot of people some playing time, and the guys we put in off the bench responded well. I was proud of everybody. We just have a young team; we lost seven out of eight starters on defense and six out of eight on offense. We have to keep improving.”
Delta Streets Academy 34, Columbus Christian Academy 14
DSA 8 14 6 6 — 34
CCA 6 0 0 8 — 14
Hodge is the former sports editor for The Dispatch.
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