Tabernacle quarterback Landon Ingle (22) fires a pas over Matt Wade (21) and two Victory Christian defenders in Friday night’s 70-56 loss in the Christian Football Association eight-man championship game in Cottondale.

By Robert Carter

The North Jefferson News



COTTONDALE – What looked like the beginnings of a runaway victory for Tabernacle Christian turned into a disastrous run of turnovers, allowing Victory Christian of Columbus, Miss. to turn the momentum.

The result was a 70-56 loss for the Torches in the Christian Football Association’s eight-man football championship game, ending Tabernacle’s hopes of becoming the first team to successfully defend their CFA title.

The key to the Eagles’ stunning victory came at the very end of the third quarter, with Tabernacle (9-2) ready to charge in from the Victory one-yard line. Quarterback Landon Ingle charged through the line and appeared to Torches fans to have broken the plane of the goal line. But Ingle fumbles the ball, and Victory’s Justin Puckett picked up the lose ball and ran back 99 yards for a touchdown.

The play broke a 38-38 tie, and put the Eagles ahead for the first time – and for good.

“That fumble was the turning point of this game, certainly,” Victory coach Chris Hamm said. “But even when we were down in the first half, we felt like there were plenty of points to be scored.”

That was an understatement. The 126 points and 18 touchdowns were both records for a CFA title contest.

The Torches, who were seeking to avenge a regular season heartbreaker loss to Victory as well as a second straight championship, took command of the game early. Tabernacle scored on its first three possessions, with a 42-yard run by Matt Wade, a 52-yard pass form Ingle to Wade and a nine-yard pass from Ingle to Bradley White. They were up 22-0 after one quarter, during which they stopped Victory on two fourth-down conversion attempts and recovered a fumble.

Victory recovered and started to get its offense in gear in the second stanza, depending greatly on big plays, a trend which held for the remainder of the game. Daylan Hairston, the game’s most valuable player, scored the first of his five touchdowns with four minutes left in the half, leaving Tabernacle with a 30-16 intermission advantage.

That’s when the wheels started to fall off for Tabernacle.

Though the Torches seemed to regain momentum with a 28-yard scoring pass from Ingle to Frank Doganielo 89 second into the second half, Victory took command from there. Hairston scored on a 49-yard breakaway only 45 seconds later, then again on a 61-yard dash immediately after a Puckett interception.

After the Eagles held on Tabernacle’s next possession, Parker Evans connected with Landon Ellis for a 50-yard score that tied the game with three minutes left in the third quarter.

Tabernacle set up the first sustained drive – if one can call six plays “sustained” – as the quarter ran down, and found itself at the Victory seven-yard line with the first first-and-goal situation of the night. But after three plays, Ingle gave up his fateful fumble that turned the game to the Eagles’ favor.

Victory scored again after intercepting Ingle on the first play after the kickoff, but the Torches returned the favor by scoring on the first play following the subsequent kick on a 65-yard pass from Ingle to White.

Victory countered with a 45-yard scoring run, then Tabernacle came back with another touchdown pass from Ingle to White, then a 41-yard scoring strike from Ingle to White following a successful onside kick. The second touchdown would have tied the game at 56-56, but a run on the two-point conversion by White came up short.

The Eagles finished off the game with two Hairston touchdown runs for 40 and 26 yards.

Afterwards, Tabernacle coach Keith Dabbs was downcast.

“We let one get away from us. We’d hoped to have enough of a lead early that we could overcome a comeback, because we knew they could do that. But the turnovers killed us,” Dabbs said.

“That’s the most turnovers we’ve had all year. If you had told me before the game that we’d have that many turnovers, I would’ve said we would lose 175 to nothing. The adrenaline got us going in the first half, but we lost focus.”

Amazingly, the Torches racked up 566 yards total offense. Ingle was 11-for-22 with three interceptions and six touchdown passes, throwing for 325 yards. White caught seven of those tosses for 252 yards and five scores. Wade ran for 158 yards and two touchdowns.

Hairston finished with 241 yards and five touchdowns for Victory, which finishes with a perfect 11-0 record.