Lions battles back to earn championship berth LCA earns 29-26 semi-finals win over Calvary Posted: Saturday, November 9, 2013 By Mason Wittner | LOGANVILLE — The Loganville Christian Academy Lions returned to a familiar setting Friday night as they hosted the Independent Christian Schools of Georgia-Alabama semi-final game on their own turf for the fourth straight season. As defending state champions, LCA hoped to clinch a berth in the state championship game for a second straight season. The Lions dawned specially costumed socks displaying the number 12 on them in honor of senior Grant Crawford, who has missed the last six games after an auto accident ended his season early. Despite the absence of starting quarterback senior Nic Snowden, the Lions successfully overcame a 12-point halftime deficit and held on for a 29-26 victory over the Calvary Christian Academy Knights from Columbus. They did so behind the performance of junior running back Jantsen Brinkley, who rushed for 259 yards and four touchdowns on the night. Junior linebacker Logan Forrester led the Lions on the defensive side of the ball with 14 tackles. The game got off to a lightning quick start as running back Jantsen Brinkley scored on an 80-yard run on the first play from scrimmage to give the Lions a 7-0 lead. However, the Calvary Knights had an answer in sophomore running back Anthony Santiago, who finished the night with 225 yards and two touchdowns. His first was a 43-yard score to cut the LCA lead to 7-6 with 1 minute, 9 seconds to go in the first quarter. Things continued to go downhill in the second quarter for LCA as sophomore quarterback Donavan Tate had a pass intercepted and returned 47 yards by Santiago to give Calvary a 12-7 lead with 10:26 remaining in the second quarter. With 5:12 left in the first half, the Knights took possession on their own 20-yard line and marched the ball 80 yards for a touchdown with :02 showing on the clock. The Knights took a 19-7 lead into halftime. “We told our kids that we just have to continue playing,” LCA head coach André King said when asked about what he told his players at halftime. “The first half was over and we had 24 minutes left to play. We just had to go back out there and finish.” Momentum shifted early in the third quarter back in the Lions favor. After shutting down Calvary’s opening drive, the Lions ran the ball down the field and scored on a 5-yard run by Brinkley. On the ensuing kickoff, Calvary fumbled and Trevor Calloway recovered for LCA. Brinkley scored from 6 yards out on the first play from scrimmage. The Lions were successful on the two-point conversion, giving them a 22-19 lead with 3:35 remaining in the third quarter. Brinkley was not yet done as he recorded his fourth rushing touchdown on the night with a 35-yard sprint to the end zone to give the Lions a 29-19 lead with 3:45 remaining in the game. The Knights scored again with 1:21 left in the game when quarterback Adam Gray found freshman wide out Jacquez Green in the back of the end zone and give Calvary a 29-26 deficit with 1:41 remaining. Unfortunately for the Knights, the ensuing onside kick failed and the Lions hung on for the victory. Loganville Christian Academy will have a chance to repeat as ISCGA state champions Saturday night in Columbus. waltontribune/sports/article_cf0299e4-48ff-11e3-89b2-001a4bcf887a.html?mode=image&photo=0
Posted on: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 13:15:31 +0000
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