Fellowship Christian Loses to Riverside Military Academy

Submitted by John Heid, sports information director at Fellowship Christian

It can be a challenge to play three consecutive AA opponents to start the high school football season for a Single A school like Fellowship Christian.

But the Paladins varsity football team has been up for the task. Take away a 60-yard interception return and FCS was within four points of beating their second consecutive larger opponent.

On the night of Friday, Aug. 29 under the lights at Paladin Field, FCS fell to Riverside Military Academy, 20-10, in a hard-fought football game. The Paladins (1-1 overall) defeated AA Armuchee High School in Rome on Aug. 22 to kick off the season.

“We will have to learn from games like this one,” head coach Al Morrell said. “That team was fast and talented. They have the same kind of speed and talent that Mount Pisgah and some of our Region opponents have, so we will watch the film, make adjustments and be ready for our upcoming games. Hopefully we’ll grow. The team we play next (Chattooga High School) is good too. They have a talented team with plenty of skilled players.”

Junior Jackson Pryor pounced on a Riverside fumble on the opening drive of the second half to set up FCS’ lone TD scoring drive of the game.

The Paladins took over at their 40-yard-line with just over eight minutes left in the quarter. On the drive’s ninth play, FCS caught a break as Riverside was called for roughing punter Jake Williamson on his boot from the Eagle 44-yard-line. That gave FCS the ball at the RMA 29. Following a short run by sophomore quarterback Jack Hardin, a pass interference penalty on RMA, sophomore Andrew Minkert scored his fourth touchdown of the season on a 15-yard sweep play with 3:30 left in the third quarter. Jake Williamson kicked the extra point to pull the Paladins to within three points of Riverside at 13-10.

Minkert led the Paladins with 68 yards on 13 carries. Overall, the Paladins gained 210 yards on the ground on 46 carries.

FCS took over four plays from scrimmage following Minkert’s score as senior David Bostater stopped a RMA runner short on a 4th-and-2 play. But the Eagles got the ball back five plays later as JJ McCallston collected the second of two interceptions.

Riverside connected on its second offensive TD of the game on the first play from scrimmage following that turnover on a 27-yard pass play. The Eagles added the extra point and took a 20-10 lead less than a minute into the fourth quarter.

Hardin, who made his first varsity start at QB against RMA, led the Paladins down the field but the 73-yard drive, aided by a pass interference call on the Eagles, stalled as Jake Williamson’s field-goal attempt missed the mark with 5:20 to play.

Fellowship stopped the Eagles on their next drive, but Hardin was stopped a yard shot on his scramble on a 4th-and-10 play with less than two minutes to play inside RMA territory.

The Paladins started off well offensively under the direction of Hardin. The team drove down the field before junior Jake Williamson kicked a 32-yard field goal to give FCS the 3-0 lead.

Hardin led the Paladins with 132 all-purpose yards, including 72 yards in the air as he connected on 9-of-23 pass attempts and two interceptions. He also collected 60 yards on 16 rushing attempts.

“Jack played a good game,” Morrell said. “He made a couple of mistakes, but he’ll make adjustments and he’ll be fine.”

Riverside Military, which opened the season with a 28-0 win over Armuchee on Aug. 15, led 6-3 following the first quarter. The Eagles had a 20-yard TD play in the first quarter, and tacked on another score on Tarik Holmes’ 60-yard interception return about one minute into the second quarter. RMA tacked on the extra point to take a 10-point lead at 13-3.

“We couldn’t ever get totally in sync offensively,” Morrell said. “Our kids played hard, but we just couldn’t finish players or drives consistently. But our kids never quit. They played hard for four quarters. We will start getting ready for Chattooga, correct our mistakes and work on getting better. Chattooga is a lot like Riverside. They have the same offense, speed and talent at the skilled positions.”

Nine Paladin receivers caught at least one pass against the Eagles, led by sophomore Ryan Reid with five for nine yards. Senior Dalton Depew led the team with 27 receiving yards on four catches. Six players ran the ball at least once for FCS, including sophomore Ryan Reid (three for 35), senior Austin Bell (nine for 24), junior Tyler Matthesen (four for 19) and Bo Wynn (one for four).

Senior Deklan Reid led the Paladin defense with seven tackles, including six assisted stops. Junior Clay Buchweitz and Ryan Reid both had six total tackles. Buchweitz and Deklan Reid each shared the team lead with six assisted tackles each. Jake Williamson had one blocked field goal in the first quarter.

FCS returns to action on Sept. 12 against Chattooga at Paladin Field on Sept. 12 at 7:30 p.m.

(Photo credit: Patch file)