Homecoming Win For VHA

It was Homecoming last Friday night at Vidalia Heritage Academy and the Eagles got the win over Grace Christian to improve their record to 4-1 on the season. It was a high scoring contest with a total of 93 points being scored, the majority of those by Heritage as they racked up 567 total yards on offense. During halftime of the game Heritage brought out all of the Homecoming candidates from both the middle and high schools. Torie Lane was crowned Homecoming Queen with Jacob Thompson named Homecoming King. Lauren Cook was crowned Homecoming Princess and James Hutcheson was named Homecoming Prince. Grace Christian had the ball to start the game and quickly went in for a touchdown with 9:53 still on the clock. VHA stopped the two-point conversion, but the Cougars were on top 6-0. Heritage began at the 37-yard line on their first drive with Ledger Curl getting the call on the first play. He carried the ball out to the 48-yard line. A face mask moved it across midfield, and then a run by Jackson Williamson went to the 28-yard line. On the next play Williamson went in for the score with 7:57 left in the first. Williamson also took it in for the two-point conversion to put Heritage up 8-6.

Heritage tried an onside kick, but did not recover it with Grace starting their drive at midfield. A penalty and a run moved Grace to the 32-yard line, but a leaping interception by Williamson gave Heritage the ball at their own 8-yard line. Thompson hit Ethan Sikes, who tiptoed the sideline out to the 49yard line. Thompson then had a good run to the 23-yard line. Williamson took it to the 2 on the next play with Curl pounding it in continued from page

for the score with 3:58 to go in the first quarter. Curl passed the ball to Sikes for the two-point conversion to put Heritage up 16-6.

Heritage forced a punt on the Cougars' next possession. Heritage was moving the ball, but a fumble turned the ball over at the Cougar 43 with just over a minute to play in the first quarter. The Heritage defense stopped them and got the ball back for the offense near midfield.

Curl had a tough run as he bounced off several tacklers all the way to the 19-yard line. But two plays later another fumble gave the ball back to Grace at their 23-yard line.

Austin Wynns and JT Cofield combined for a big sack back to the 10-yard line, and the Cougars were forced to punt. On that punt another fumble by the Eagles was scooped up and taken back for a touchdown. They added the PAT to make it 16-13 with just over nine minutes to play in the first half.

Just two a few plays into their next drive Williamson broke free and went 52 yards for a touchdown. The twopoint conversion failed, but Heritage was up 22-13 with eight minutes to play in the first half. Heritage added a touchdown with just 5:04 left in the half to make it 30-13 with the two-point conversion. They quickly got a turnover on the kickoff and put another score on the board less than 20 seconds later. They again got the two-point try to go ahead 38- 13. The Cougars scored with 1:32 left in the half on a deep pass as they closed the lead to 38-19. Heritage found the end zone one more time in the first half. Cofield caught a 58yard pass from Thompson for a touchdown with 58 seconds on the clock. That made it 44- 19. The Cougars scored on more time in the half on another long pass with 10 seconds to go. They added the two-point conversion to make the score at halftime 44-27.

In the second half of the game the defense settled down and did not allow the Cougars into the end zone again. The Eagles found the end zone three more times as they continued to rack up yardage on their way to a 66-27 Homecoming victory.

Freshman Curl led the Eagles defence with 12 tackles and 2 sacks, he also carried his load on offense at full back with 129 yards of rushing. Senior quarterback Thomson was 4-6 passing for 113 yards in the air. Senior Williamson also did his part with 209 yards on the ground.

Head Coach Seth Sitzman said, “Homecoming week always comes with tons of distractions when it comes to playing sharp football. We definitely showed signs of nervousness and distraction in the opening half of the game.”

The Eagles moved to 4-1 on the year beating Grace Academy 67-27 and are off this this week. The Eagles will pick things back up October 9 at home against People’s Academy as they look to lock themselves into the playoffs with a Region win.

(L to R): Princess Lauren Cook, Queen Torie Lane, King Jacob Thompson, and Price James Hutcheson.Photo by Mike Branch

Heritage quarterback Jacob Thompson breaks a big run during Homecoming against Grace Christian.Photo by Mike Branch