Staff Reports

The North Jefferson News



The Tabernacle Torches took their powerful offense on the road Friday night to Columbus, Miss.

However, Victory Christian’s offense was slightly better and beat the Torches 50-42 for Tabernacle’s first loss of the year.

The Torches looked good in the first quarter with two successful scoring drives and successful two-point conversions. Landon Ingle had a 3-yard touchdown run and was followed later by a 38-yard touchdown pass from Dylan Hargreaves to Bradley White.

The Torches led after the first quarter, 16-13.

Victory Christian would rebound in the second quarter and put 29 points on the board while limiting the Torches to just one successful scoring drive, courtesy of a 23-yard pass from Hargreaves to Jared Higginbotham. The Torches’ 2-point conversion failed after the score.

After the half, the Tabernacle came back strong and put 12 points on the board from two touchdown passes from Ingle to Matt Wade and again to White, all while shutting down Victory in the quarter.

Victory and Tabernacle evened up in the fourth quarter with both teams putting 8 points on the board. Tabernacle’s last scoring drive would come in the form of a 2-yard run from Ingle, followed by a successful 2-point conversion from Hargreaves.

All told, the Torches had 343 total yards on the night. Ingle represented the offensive firepower for the Torches, picking up 46 rushing yards on 18 attempts and 115 passing yards on seven attempts. Wade picked up 84 yards on 19 carries.

Elsewhere, White had five catches for 73 yards and two touchdowns. White and Wade also combined defensively for 11 total tackles on the night and three forced fumbles.

The loss may not hurt the Torches chances of playing at home in the first round of the playoffs, but they likely would need help to win the regular season CFA title.

The Torches will play Calvary at home next Friday.