Isaac Anderson (30) and Tony Galbraith (28) line up in the backfield last season during a Tabernacle Christian home game in Moncrief Park. 

The start could not have been scripted any better for the Tabernacle Christian football team on Friday night in the 2018 season opener at Ezekiel. The Torches recovered a pair of onside kicks and a fumble in the first half, but posted only 12 points prior to intermission, and a severe lack of depth glared for the next 30 minutes.

The Knights pulled away and eventually claimed a 44-26 victory.

“Overall, I thought we competed, but our lack of depth really showed in the second half,” said Tabernacle head coach Keith Dabbs. “We’ve got eight guys we can run out there and be competitive, but after that it falls off.”

Sitting at 0-1, Dabbs is still looking for a quarterback to replace Micah Miller, who took the snaps in Gardendale for much of the last two years. Senior Carson Starkey (9 of 19 for 140 yards passing, one touchdown and one interception) and sophomore Drew Peters (4 of 7 for 56 yards and an interception) took turns breaking the huddle last week, but Dabbs expects a third party to arrive this Friday against Hope Christian.

Dabbs on the quarterback situation: “It’s still kind of up in the air. Isaac Anderson, another senior that plays tight end/receiver, is going to get reps at quarterback just because he’s an athlete on the team that can bring a running threat. If you look at the stats, our quarterbacks produced no yards running the ball last night and it was frustrating that we couldn’t get any run out of our quarterback spot.”

He expects Starkey to get most of the first-team reps at practice this week.

Not much is expected to change between Week 1 and Week 2 in the backfield, as juniors Tony Galbraith and Josiah Davis vie for carries. Davis led the way against Ezekiel with 81 yards and a touchdown on 16 calls. Galbraith ran for 65 yards and a score on 18 carries, but struggled with leg cramps in the second half.

Dabbs is toying with the idea of running Davis more in the first half this Friday in the home opener in order to get Galbraith into the second half with fresh legs.

He scheduled only eight regular season games this season, hopefully aiding his lack of roster depth.

“It gives us a chance to try to figure it out,” said Dabbs of shorter schedule. “I think we can be competitive in our league. I think we’ve legitimately got a chance to be a playoff team.”

To do so, Tabernacle will need big leadership from a slim senior class which includes Starkey, Anderson, Andrew English and Rod Cogmon. The remaining roster spots belong to six juniors, three sophomores, one freshman and two eighth-graders.