First CCS home football game, vs. NC team, in drizzle
Just eight days after making school history by winning its first-ever varsity football game, Concord Christian School made a little more history Saturday afternoon, Sept. 28.
The Lions hosted their first varsity game on campus in program history on a dreary and drizzly afternoon, but things didn’t go in their favor scoreboard-wise.
“I wish we would’ve put on a better show,” Concord head coach Steve Matthews said after CCS dropped a 37-16 decision against Hayesville, North Carolina, before a spirited crowd on the campus of First Baptist Church, Concord. “Sometimes you need games like this for a wake-up call.
“We’re 5-1 in our games now and I think we can win four of our last five games, so we’re looking at probably going 8-2, and that will be a pretty good year,” the Lions coach added. “(Hayesville) is a very experienced team and they have a lot of juniors and seniors, and we’re mostly freshmen and sophomores.”
CCS, which last attempted to field a varsity team in 2018, began this season with four junior varsity games and posted victories over Christian Academy of Knoxville, Kingston, Cocke County and Sequoyah.
The Lions took the field as a varsity team for the first time since 2017 on Friday, Sept. 20, and they outlasted Providence Academy, 34-27, at Daniel Boone High School in Gray. It was the school’s first varsity win in 31 tries, so a spirited crowd braved some intermittent sprinkles and a little wind to watch the Lions play a true home game for the first time.
It was the only varsity home game scheduled, so CCS celebrated homecoming and honored its seniors before the game against the Yellow Jackets (1-4).
Things started on a high note for the Lions, who fielding the opening kickoff at their own 41-yard line and engineered a drive that landed them inside the Hayesville 20. They scored the first points of the game on a 27-yard field goal by Pedro Sabat, a sophomore kicker, with 8 minutes, 58 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
Though stopped on downs inside the opponents’ 10 yard-llne, the Lions took the lead early in the second stanza when sophomore linebacker Andrew Lumsdaine intercepted a pass and returned it to the end zone. Sabat added the extra point and CCS regained the upper hand, 10-8.
But it was all downhill from there. Concord freshman Oakley Helton had a 26-yard scoring dash early in the final frame.
The Lions next will travel to play Copper Basin starting at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Oct. 11.
