The fact that Alabama Christian essentially plays all of its football games on the road is generally not a big deal. They do get to play, but not practice, on a new, shiny field and the scoreboard has a lot of bells and whistles on it. I guess that should count for something. However, Homecoming has a different feel to it. Former players, cheerleaders, and band members want to come back to the field they performed on at the campus they attended to relive great memories. Although the field where the Eagles currently play their home games is just across the ditch, it’s not our field at our school.
A victory on Homecoming night is always sweet, but when it is a come from behind thriller, it’s even better. Wadley is a perennial 1A powerhouse who made it to the State championship game last year. ACA knew this would be a tough matchup and a win would be hard earned. The Bulldogs took the opening kickoff and drove 56 yards in nine plays, eating up almost five minutes of game clock to score the first touchdown of the night. After the two-point conversion, Wadley led 8-0. The ACA offense responded with a seven play drive of its own that was capped off by a 10-yard Micah Merritt touchdown run. The big play on the drive was a 17-yard pass from Mason Henry to Ethan Dabney. The Eagles decided to chase the points and went for two, but failed. ACA trailed 6-8 with 3:21 left in the first. Back from his European tour, David Johnson made the ball dance on the onside kick as Alabama Christian recovered the ball on Wadley’s 44-yard line to steal a possession from the visitors. ACA scored in five plays aided by three Wadley offsides calls. Merritt once again took it in, this time from two yards out and ACA led 14-8 after a quarter.
Wadley was on the move again to start the second period. The Bulldogs faced a 4th and 2 at the Eagles 16-yard line and decided to go for it. Cooper Milner made sure the drive stopped there with a tackle for loss forcing a turnover on downs. Mason Henry connected with Levi Summers on two of the first three plays of the next drive covering 64 yards. Once inside the ten, Micah Merritt punched it in to build the ACA lead to 21-8 with 5:16 left in the half. The visitors again drove the ball the length of the field and looked poised to score before the half. The Eagle defense turned them away as they stopped a fake field goal attempt. With less than a minute to go in the half. It would seem the prudent move would be to take a knee and go to the half with a thirteen point lead. Maybe that was Wadley’s thinking, also. The Bulldog defense seemed surprised when Henry threw a quick pass to Bryson Dabney on the left sideline. The senior receiver raced 78 yards before the defense caught him. Once again, the prudent move would be to take the three points from there, but the Eagles scored on the last play of the half on a nine-yard pass from Henry to Summers to take a 28-8 lead to the locker room.
The second half started innocently enough with ACA gaining two first downs on its first drive. As the offense faced a 3rd and 11 at Wadley’s 33-yard line, a bad snap cost the team nineteen yards and forced a punt. The Bulldogs first drive of the second half looked very similar to the one that started the game. Wadley covered 84 yards in seven plays, all runs, to cut the lead to 28-16 with 4:52 left in the third. ACA was forced to punt when snapping disaster struck again. The Eagles lost 37-yards on this snap and gift wrapped a Wadley possession that started on the ACA 5-yard line. Wadley scored three plays later to make it 28-22 with 1:42 left in the quarter.
The fourth period started with ACA’s third straight series with a disastrous snap. This time the loose ball was recovered by Wadley and all the momentum seemed to be on the visitors side of the field. The Bulldogs scored two plays later to retake the lead for the first time since the first quarter, 30-28. With 10:38 left in the game, there was plenty of time left in the game for both teams. Wadley intercepted a pass in the end zone to stop ACA’s next drive with 7:56 left. The defense stood strong and forced a three and out to get the ball back to the offense. With 5:36 left in the game, ACA began its game winning march at its own 48-yard line. Mason Henry hooked up with Ethan Dabney for a 27-yard pass play to start the series. Micah Merritt then ran it four times in a row to make it to the visitor’s 11-yard line. On 3rd and 8, Henry threw to Levi Summers in the end zone for the go-ahead score. With 3:00 left in the game, ACA led 36-30. Three minutes is a lot of time, but tough to manage if you are primarily a running team. Wadley’s first three plays took almost half of the time left in the game. The Bulldogs converted two fourth downs to keep the final drive alive, but in the end turned it over on downs to secure the home team’s victory celebration.
Mason Henry finished the night with a career high 286 yards as he completed 17 of his 22 pass attempts with two touchdowns. Henry’s favorite target was Levi Summers who finished with eight receptions for 112 yards and two scores. Ethan Dabney added four catches for 55 yards. Micah Merritt ran the ball 19 times for 86 yards and three touchdowns. On defense, Summers led the team with eight tackles followed by Keenan McCarthy with six tackles. Cooper Milner and Bryson Dabney both contributed four tackles.