Anthony Sharp likes the championship taste.
It has been nearly two months since the Victory Christian Academy football team defeated Tuscaloosa Christian 44-8 to win the Christian Football Association championship.
For a senior like Sharp, who hadn’t won a title in football, the experience was sweet. That it came against an archrival and that he had a chance to savor it with classmates Cody Bolton, Shane Bradford, Burkley Jernigan, and Bo McCrary made it doubly special.
If there ever was a game when a senior went out with a bang, it was that Nov. 7 night when Sharp scored all six of the team’s touchdowns. In the process, Sharp earned CFA Offensive Player of the Year honors.
But true to Sharp’s nature, he didn’t make a big deal about his accomplishment in November or months later when he reflected on his contributions to the title run.
“It was a real challenge because after Landon (Ellis) and his class left, we had a rebuilding process,” Sharp said. “We got close, but we never got there. The school has always had a lot of success (in football), so we always felt like we were letting them down because we were younger guys. Junior year, we came really close but didn’t get it done, so we were real determined.”
Sharp was the driving force behind that determination. He rushed for 1,658 yards and 35 touchdowns. He had 35 catches for 905 yards and 14 touchdowns. He also threw for 209 yards and two touchdowns and finished with 2,911 total yards and 320 points in a 10-1 season.
For his accomplishments, Sharp is The Dispatch’s Small Schools Player of the Year. He is sharing the award this season with Aberdeen High School’s Josh Williams and Columbus Christian Academy’s KC Cunningham.
Despite the gaudy statistics, Sharp never projected a me-first attitude on or off the field. This season, he played a variety of roles and solidified his place as a leader. In fact, he even tried to become more of a vocal leader, even though he and Victory Christian coach Chris Hamm admitted that isn’t in his nature.
Even if Sharp isn’t a rah-rah player on the field, his actions on it make an impression. How he handles himself afterward makes an even bigger mark.
“Every time I got the ball I felt like I could score,” Sharp said. “That was my objective. It didn’t happen, but my role also was not to bring a cockiness or an arrogance. The seniors tried to stay humble and set a good example for the guys because it takes just everybody. You have to have all eight guys working.”
Hamm said there were times in previous years when Sharp was too unselfish. Often the best athlete on the field, Sharp has a mix of speed and power that is special. Those talents are magnified in eight-man football, where a one-step advantage can lead to a lot of open space and a touchdown. Sharp usually had more than a step edge on the players who were guarding him.
“This year, he took on more of a leadership role,” Hamm said. “You assumed he would be one of the leaders, but because of his nature he always wanted to include the team. He always has been selfless. He evolved into a leader and was selfish when he needed to be. That is what really helped the team.”
Hamm said this season was different in that Sharp spoke up when he wanted the ball. That came through in the victory against Tuscaloosa Christian in the CFA title game. Sharp blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown to set the tone for the rout. He caught two touchdown passes from quarterback Reed Fulgham and had scoring runs of 3, 11, and 7 yards to earn a football championship. That title goes well with the baseball title he won as a junior.
This season, the school’s boys basketball team is undefeated as it begins 2015, so Sharp said it would make his senior year even more memorable if the Eagles could add another piece of hardware.
For that to happen, Sharp will have to help set the tone. Hamm said Sharp’s teammates in football responded to him to help the Eagles realize their goal.
“The players always looked to him for leadership because of his ability,” Hamm said. “When he had to be vocal and do the things like that to fire them up at practice, I feel they responded to him and felt they did it for him because he was the best player on the team and they knew he wasn’t an all-about me kind of person, either. That was very instrumental in the team following him.
Sharp feels the team’s ability to remain humble set a good example for the younger players. He said injuries he suffered as a freshman and as a sophomore helped him keep that attitude and allowed him to realize the success could end at any moment. Fortunately, Sharp stayed healthy long enough to break Ellis’ touchdown record, which is another bonus to what has been a season to remember. He said waited until after the season to kid Ellis about the fact he now holds the record. As much as he likes to hold that over Ellis’ head, he gets more satisfaction from helping the team win the title.
“I wanted to make sure everybody felt like they were a part of it,” Sharp said. “I have seen it in the past where guys with that me-first attitude doesn’t work. I felt like I could score, but I knew if we didn’t have other pieces it wasn’t going to happen because they could just key in on one. With us, you couldn’t even key in on three people.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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