Prattville Christian Academy enjoyed an early lead in Tuesday’s game against Fort Dale.

When the second quarter started, however, so did the Fort Dale offense. When the Eagles were done, so were Prattville’s hopes of continuing post-season play. Fort Dale won in a landslide victory, 61-45.

Coach William Johnson called it an “unbelievable effort.”

“This team had beaten us by double digits earlier in the year, but we felt that wasn’t our best effort,” Johnson said. “If they could beat us while we gave our best effort, then they would have truly beaten us instead of our team beating itself.”

The Eagle’s “best effort” included 21 total points by Luke Hutchinson and 15 points from Wesley Burkett.

The Eagles were down by 2 after the first quarter, but by halftime they had increased their lead to 14. The third quarter brought with it more points, putting Fort Dale ahead 45-27.

Hutcheson said the atmosphere of the game was “wild.”

“We didn’t have anything to lose,” Hutcheson said. “We played though too many games where we let the other team come back, and we decided we weren’t going to let that happen anymore.”

Though Fort Dale gave up 22 points in the fourth quarter, it was not enough to let history repeat itself.

The Eagles advance to the Elite Eight and will return to Huntingdon College on Friday to face Macon-East at 11:30 a.m.