STEENS — The Immanuel Christian football team made history Friday night, slipping by Houlka 14-13 for the program”s first 11-man victory.
The victory also means Immanuel Christian (3-4) has won its most games in a season since 2005, when it went 3-4.
The Rams scored the game”s first 14 points and held on. When Houlka tried a two-point conversion on a third-quarter touchdown, Immanuel Christian”s James Riley and Josh Davidson made the game-winning stop to preserve the victory.
Michael Tate scored Immanuel Christian”s first touchdown on a 19-yard run at the 10-minute, 4-second mark in the first quarter. Norris Harris followed with an 11-yard touchdown run at the 5:55 mark.
Joel Meek kicked both extra points for the Rams.
Tate had a team-high 95 rushing yards on 19 carries. Harris rushed 16 times for 45 yards. Ross Moore had seven carries for 39 yards and Wesley Lake had 25 yards on two carries.
Tate, James Riley, Josh Dantzler, and Dustin White each had five tackles, while Zack Kimbrell and Wesley Lake each had three.
Immanuel Christian travels Friday to Heidelberg.
n Victory Christian 82, Heritage (Brantley, Ala.) 14: At Columbus, The two-time defending Christian Football Association champion Eagles (5-0) stretched their winning streak to 27.
Landon Ellis paced the Eagles with four touchdowns — two rushing, one on special teams, and one on defense. Kaleb Holliness scored twice, once on offense and once on defense, and Tayler Frye had two rushing touchdowns.
Holliness started the scoring with an 8-yard run to help Victory Christian build a 37-0 first-quarter lead. Frye scored his touchdowns on runs of 20 and 37 yards in the first quarter. Ellis added a 32-yard run and caught a 61-yard pass from Marcus Sims. Brandon Foster also had a 5-yard run.
The only second-quarter points came on a 22-yard interception return by Tyler Jones that helped the Eagles build a 44-6 halftime lead.
On the kickoff to open the second half, Ellis scored from 80 yards. Jones intercepted another Heritage pass and returned it 65 yards for a touchdown.
Ben Williams went 9 yards for Victory Christian to stretch the lead to 63-14. Ellis intercepted a Heritage pass for a 50-yard touchdown return.
In the fourth quarter, the Eagles scored on Jay Pace”s 7-yard run and Holliness” 40-yard interception return.
Nick Hairston paced the Eagles with 17 tackles and seven sacks. Pace followed with 10 tackles and Paul Blair added nine tackles
Victory Christian is off next week and then will play host to North River on Oct. 15.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.