Homecoming Heroes
It was about as perfect an ending as you could have scripted for Lake Oconee Academy’s 15-14 win over Loganville Christian Academy last Friday night at Tucker Field.
The atmosphere was electric, and the school’s homecoming festivities were in full swing, which seemed to give a lot of the Titans’ players confidence as the game progressed.
Head coach Patrick Stewart attributed the result to his players’ ability to keep pushing forward each week and attack the challenges in front of them.
“Every week, we just want to get better at something, so our main thing was resiliency this week,” Stewart said. “I think they responded very well to the adversity, because most teams if they get scored on first, get quieted down, but our guys kept pushing, and I’m proud of how hard they fought.”
The fight started from the first whistle.
The Lions struck first with a touchdown to go up seven at the end of the first quarter, but Titans’ sophomore Cameron Kelley was able to respond with a touchdown of his own toward the end of the second quarter.
Senior Harrison Tolleson kept the Lions from taking the lead before the first half concluded by intercepting a pass in his own end zone. Lake Oconee Academy and Loganville Christian Academy were tied 7-7 heading into the locker room before the homecoming court was recognized during halftime.
The second half started similarly to the first, and the Lions took an early third-quarter lead. It wasn’t until the last minute of the game that the Titans were able to respond, and this came after a crucial stop for Stewart’s defense.
“During the fourth quarter, we got a big three-and- out, and that’s when we drove all the way down the field on the eventual game-winning drive,” Stewart said. “Right before that stop on defense, I told our guys, ‘If we make this stop, we’ll win the game,’ and there you go, we did just that.”
Not only were the Titans able to come back late in the fourth quarter, but they secured the victory by going for two instead of taking the contest into overtime with an extra point.
The Lake Oconee Academy defense was able to hold Loganville Christian Academy on its last possession of the game to win the game 15-14.
The homecoming crowd played into the performance all night, and Stewart believes that’s one of the reasons his team has a winning record at home this year.
“There’s a lot of people in the community that are so happy that LOA has a football team now, and the guys love it,” Stewart said. “We also have people come and watch just to kind of ‘hate on us’ I guess you could say, so it’s also good to prove those people wrong when you have the opportunity.”
The Titans’ next opportunity to show out in front of their home crowd will be later this week when the team hosts Cherokee Christian for the first time in program history.
The Warriors are currently 3-2 on the year and have a well-balanced roster. Over its last two games, Cherokee Christian has outscored opponents 91-12, so the Warriors are effective on both sides of the ball.
Overall, Stewart is just excited for his guys to get back out on the field, especially since their next game will mark the most games the Titans have ever played in one season.
The team finished 2-4 last year, exactly matching their current win-loss record, and Stewart is excited to see how his team responds now that they believe in themselves.
“They’re just playing with confidence and are realizing that they can play with anybody. Compared to last year, everything was new to them, so they didn’t realize they deserved to be out there, but now they do.”