RTCA Gets Win Over Briarwood
Courtesy of RTCA
The Crusaders football team of Robert Toombs Christian Academy traveled to Warrenton on Friday night to take on the Briarwood Academy Buccaneers. Coming off a nail biting, 6-overtime game vs AAAA opponent Bulloch Academy, the Crusaders were looking for a win going into their bye week.
Projected as the two score underdogs, RTCA had a mission to come out strong and make a statement to the rest of the GIAA about who they are. With a weekly team mantra to “Quiet the Cannon” the Crusaders were battle ready.
The Crusaders kicked off to the Bucs to start the game and came up empty handed on their first possession with a big stand defensively by the Crusaders. However, the first quarter would be a battle at midfield with neither team able to breach the red zone leaving the score 0-0 after the first quarter.
Finally, the Crusaders broke the deadlock when sophomore quarterback Drew Edwards found senior receiver Brittan Tabor in the end zone for a 32-yard touchdown pass. The extra point was good by senior place kicker Hayden Meeks giving the Crusaders a 7-0 lead going into halftime.
Both offenses came alive in the second half with the teams trading touchdowns in the third quarter. RTCA got their score on an 8-yard touchdown pass from Edwards to Anthony Cook. Meeks tacked on the extra point, and at the end of the third the score was 14-12 in favor of the Crusaders.
Starting off the fourth quarter it was still anyone's game. Edwards had a big fourth quarter, though, as RTCA pulled away for the win. Edwards picked up he first score of the fourth on a 14-yard run that pushed the lead to 20-12. He added a 3-yard run later in the fourth to extend the lead to 27-12, but Briarwood answered with a touchdown to close the lead to 27-20.
RTCA capped off the night with another score from Edwards, this time from 55-yards. Meeks added the extra point to give RTCA a 34-20 victory.
Edwards led the way with 301 total yards, 159 rushing and 142 passing. continued from page
Other notable stats were senior Jordan Brown with 44 yards rushing, Tabor with 63 receiving yards, Cook with 38 receiving yards, and Meeks with 36 receiving yards. Defensively, the top tacklers were Blake Durden and Brody Randall with 6 solo tackles a piece and Jordan Brown with 3 pass breakups.
Head Coach Matthew Meeks had this to say about his team, 'There were MANY positive things to take away from this past Friday, first and foremost being that we took another step up the mountain that we are asking the guys to conquer. We will continue to work on our team's mental prowess. We are relying on leadership from our 10 seniors and our captains to continue pushing us through the rest of the season.”
The Crusaders finished the first half of the season with a 2-3 record and will spend the next two weeks gearing up for the latter half of their season. Their next game will be for Homecoming Friday, September 26 at McLendon field against the AAA classification St. Andrews Lions from Savannah.
