With a conference championship on the line, the Victory Christian Academy football team played its worst game of the season.
Victory Christian fumbled five times for a loss of 46 yards and managed just 130 yards of offense Thursday night in a 40-12 loss to Tuscaloosa Christian Academy.
The victory helped Tuscaloosa Christian (5-4) clinch the Alabama Christian Football Association title with a 3-1 record. The win was its second this season against Victory Christian (6-3, 3-1), which will play host to Tabernacle next week in the first round of the CFA playoffs.
Three weeks ago, Victory Christian took Tuscaloosa Christian to triple overtime before falling 38-32.
On Thursday, the Eagles found it hard to register first downs, much less find the end zone. Following a loss in which 1,000-yard tailback Anthony Sharp was held to less than 100 yards and quarterback Reed Fulgham was sacked five times, coach Chris Hamm was puzzled by his team’s lethargic performance.
“We came out flat. We all did,” Hamm said. “No one player is responsible for how we played tonight. We’re all responsible. I’m not sure what it was. We do have a young team, and maybe that was it. We had good practices this week, so I’m not sure what it was.”
Victory Christian managed just three first downs at the half, one of which came via penalty. Fulgham was pressured all night and often threw off his back foot. When he did find open receivers, the Eagles had three second-half drops.
Compounding the issue was a string of bad shotgun snaps that resulted in more than 35 negative yards. With center Shane Bradford struggling to snap the ball, Hamm faced a dilemma of moving Fulgham under center and shrinking the playbook.
“This was the first time we’ve had this issue this year,” Hamm said. “I’m not sure if it was nerves or the field conditions. We need the gun for our offense to work. Working under center affected us.”
TCA (5-4, 3-1) wasn’t without its issues, as it had two procedural penalties and a holding call on its first possession. Hunter Sample, who finished with 261 rushing yards and five touchdowns, scampered untouched for 67 yards and the game’s first touchdown after the three penalties.
It was that kind of night for the Warriors, who didn’t change much from the first meeting against the Eagles, coach David Arsenault said.
“We saw a few things here and there we could do differently, but for the most part we just executed better than we did the first time around,” Arsenault said. “Guys made great blocks, and when you get Sample on the edge he’s hard to bring down.”
Sample added a 63-yard run on the Warriors’ next possession to push the lead to 14-6.
“We got deflated after that,” Sharp said. “Our motto is ‘win the next play’, and we didn’t do that tonight.”
Sample has 25 touchdowns this season. His total of 285 rushing yards is a season-high. He entered the game with 661 yards.
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