Mark Monosky

For The North Jefferson News



GARDENDALE — For the third time in school history, the Tabernacle Torches will play for a 8-man state football title. Friday night, Tabernacle won its semifinal playoff game over the Victory Christian Academy Eagles 58-18. Next week the Torches will face off against Tuscaloosa Christian in Tuscaloosa for the Christian Football Association’s 8-man title.

“We played well. I’m excited about the rematch with Tuscaloosa. I guess it’s all we hoped for,” Tabernacle coach Keith Dabbs said. “They beat us the last time we were there (in the championship game). But we aren’t going to use that as motivation. This is a new team and a new opportunity. Our guys are really excited about going back and playing. I thought we played really well tonight. Offensively we did what we wanted to do.”

The scoring began on Tabernacle’s opening drive of the game. The Torches’ running back Matt Wade ran 44 yards for a touchdown to complete a 5-play, 69-yard drive. This made the score 6-0.

A few minutes later, Tabernacle scored again. After Luke Kaetz recover an Eagle fumble at the 30 yard line, the Torches offensive drove the ball 30 yards in 9 plays. Tabernacle’s Will Lankford capped off the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run to make the score 12-0.

Victory Christian got on the scoreboard to make it 12-6 with less than two minutes to go in the first quarter.

The Torches quickly answered back on the first play of the second quarter when quarterback Daniel Whaley threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Bradley White. This made the score 18-6.

Tabernacle scored again later in the second quarter. After Will Lankford intercepted an Eagle pass, the Torches drove the ball 55 yards in 11 plays. Lankford scored his second touchdown of the game from 6 yards out to finish the drive and make the score 24-6.

The Torches scored once more with less than two minutes to go in the half. This time Landon Ingle ran it in from 4 yards out for a touchdown. The score completed an 8-play, 45-yard drive for Tabernacle and gave the Torches the halftime lead 30-6.

In the third quarter, Tabernacle continued their dominance of the game. After shutting down the Victory Christian offense on the opening drive of the half, the Torches Matt Wade ran it in from 31 yards out for a touchdown. The touchdown run completed a 2-play, 37-yard drive for Tabernacle. Daniel Whaley passed to Steven White for the two point conversion to make the score 38-6.

Later in the quarter, after Victory Christian fumbled the ball out of the back of the end zone, Matt Wade ran in his third touchdown of the game from 65 yards out. Wade even caught the 2-point conversion pass from Landon Ingle to make the score 46-6.

Three plays after a fumble recovery, Landon Ingle ran it in from 1-yard out to make the score 52-6.

After Dylan Hargreaves recovered a Victory Christian fumble on the Eagle’s 8-yard line, Frank Doganiero ran it in from 8 yards out to make the score 58-12.