Week #10 Faith Christian Academy Lions Upsets Colonial Hills 46-42

October 31, 2010

By Alan Richards of Griffin, Georgia High School Football


Faith Christian Goal Met: Lions rock Rams, 46-42 in opening round to advance to semifinals Friday against archrival CrossPointe


LITHIA SPRINGS, Ga. - Four different players scored touchdowns and the defense stood tall when it had to as Faith Christian Academy rallied to upset Colonial Hills Christian on the road 46-42 Saturday afternoon in the opening round of the ICSGA eight-man football playoffs.

"Anybody who thinks they didn't get their money's worth out of that doesn't know anything about football," Lions head coach Nelson Grist told both teams at midfield after the game.

Nic Williams ran for touchdowns of 15, 18 and 77 yards to pave the way for third-seeded Faith Christian's upset second-seeded Colonial Hills (8-2).

The eighth-grader ended the afternoon with a game-high 169 yards rushing on 17 carries in a game where the Colonial Hills head coach said three of his players received concussions.

However, it was a 29-yard touchdown run by sophomore quarterback Brandon Ray with 4:54 left to play that proved to be the difference.

Faith Christian's defense - which stopped the Rams on fourth-and-goal from the 3 1/2 in the third quarter - stopped them with under :40 seconds left again from the 3 1/2 to preserve the victory.

"It took every one of you to win today," Grist told his team which now advances to a semifinal-round game Friday against archrival CrossPointe Christian Academy - a team FCA lost to 44-34 on Oct. 8 at Skipstone Academy.

Saturday's game, however, started out well for Faith Christian as senior Robert Jackson tossed a 45-yard touchdown pass to Ray and Williams scored on runs of 15 and 18 yards to leave the Lions up 20-13 heading into the second quarter.

There Collins Hill scored twice to take a 21-20 lead before FCA's Corin Jones scored on an 8-yard run with :48 left to put his team ahead 28-21 after he also punched in a two-point conversion run.

Then lightning struck as the Rams scored on a 28-yard TD pass and two-point conversion with :23.8 left to take a 29-28 lead which they extended when they picked off a pass and returned it 55 yards for another score with no time left on the clock to give their team a 36-28 edge at the half after a successful extra point.

The Rams scored first on a 3-yard run in the second half to up their lead to 42-28 with 8:56 to play in the third quarter before Jackson ripped off a 5-yard TD run with 7:07 to play to narrow Colonial Hills' lead to 42-34 after the two-point conversion run failed.

Williams broke off a 77-yard touchdown run with 2:58 left in the third that further cut CH's lead to 42-40 after another two-point conversion run failed before Ray's victory-clinching TD run.

First-seeded CrossPointe advanced a night earlier by knocking off Heritage 30-14. The winner of the Faith Christian-CrossPointe game Friday will take on the winner of the Trinity-Ballard game for the championship in two weeks.

Trinity won its opening-round game 67-0 against Lafayette, while Ballard topped Praise 58-24.

Regardless of what happens in the next round, Faith Christian has already met its goal set at the first of the year - to go further in the playoffs than any team in school history.

Faith Christian, however, now has visions of reaching the state under their first-year coach. The Lions felt they CrossPointe game earlier this season get away from them. A week of poorly attended practices and several injuries hampered their efforts going into the game where two late turnovers cost them in a game they led 28-22 in the third quarter.