It was a classic case of “David vs. Goliath” Friday evening at Movie Gallery Stadium in Troy as the Crenshaw Christian Academy Cougars suffered a heavy loss at the hands of the powerful Patrician Saints, 51-13, and bringing home the AISA Class A State Runner Up title.

“We did a lot more than people thought we would do,” CCA head coach Roland Jones said after the game. “We got to come here, and not everybody could say that.”

“Adversity is a part of life,” he said. “Not everything in life is going to be easy.”

And Coach Jones hit the nail on the head as the Patrician Saints did not make it easy for the Cougars to get many points on the board Friday night. By the end of the first quarter, Patrician held an 8-0 lead, one that soon expanded to 21-6 by the end of the first half.

During the second quarter, CCA’s Tyler McGough threw a 12-yard pass to Pete King for the first Cougar points of the night. The PAT was missed, but the Cougars were on the board.

But the too-powerful Saints ran a good ground game as well as getting the ball through the air, making it even more difficult for the Cougars to stand their ground.

By the end of the third quarter, Patrician had added another three touchdowns, leading CCA 43-6. The Saints added their final TD and a two-point conversion in the final quarter of the game.

But the Cougars weren’t quite done yet as Kyle Furr dove into the end zone on a one-yard run with 1:42 left in the game. Austin Brown’s PAT was good, bringing the final score to 51-13 for the night.

The CCA Cougars were presented with the AISA Class A State Runner Up trophy after the game.

“You played as hard as you could play, and you made me proud and everybody else proud,” Coach Jones said after the game.

Jones said that the Cougars’ offensive line did a “great job” throughout the game.

“We tried to confuse them a little bit,” he explained. “Patrician is very precise in what they do—we were just outmanned.”

“It was a tough night,” he said. “When things started going bad, it went really bad—but, that’s just a part of life.”

Quarterback Pete King was 4 of 9 for 42 yards passing and one interception, while Tyler McGough was 1-1 for 12 yards and one TD.

The leading receiver was Cody Moses with one catch for 18 yards, followed by Kyle Furr with 2 catches for 17 yards, and Cameron Johnson had one catch for 7 yards. Pete King had one reception for 12 yards and one TD.

The leading rusher was Nick Kilpatrick with 8 carries for 65 yards; Kyle Furr had 5 carries for 50 yards and one TD. Justin Thrash had 1

carry for 22 yards.

On defense, the leading tackler was senior Cody Moses with 11 tackles, followed by Marino

Bolling with 10 tackles, all of which came during the first half. Bolling took a hard hit and was out of the game for the second half.

Next was Darren Foster with 9 tackles, and Michael D’Arville with 7 tackles,

while Tyler McGough and Wes Johns had six tackles each. Wes Johns also had a quarterback sack. Judd Sutley and Rann Smyth each had a QB sack as well.

For senior and leading tackler Cody Moses, the night had been bittersweet.

“It felt good just to be there,” Moses said this past Monday. “It was something I’ve wanted to do my whole life–I was proud to be a part of a team that made it to the state championship.”

“But the hardest thing about playing Patrician Friday night was knowing it was my last football game ever,” he said.