HIGH POINT — For the second time in as many weeks, High Point Christian Academy’s football team defeated North Raleigh Christian Academy.
Friday night’s 49-0 romp at the High Point Athletic Complex carried much bigger implications.
The top-seeded Cougars (8-1) punched their ticket to the NCISAA Division II state semifinals with their win over the eighth-seeded Knights (2-9). HPCA downed NRCA 27-6 in Raleigh a week ago to close the regular season.
HPCA hosts fourth-seeded Cannon in the state semifinals at High Point Athletic Complex on Friday night. Cannon slipped past fifth-seeded Harrells Christian 11-8 in their quarterfinal.
“We made some adjustments,” HPCA head coach Scott Bell said following Friday night’s victory. “We made some adjustments at halftime last week and some again tonight. We didn’t have a great practice before the first game and struggled a little bit. This week we really came together as a team and realized it’s do or die. If we lose we go home, so we came out and played one of our best games of the year.”
The Cougars’ defense flew around the field, forcing four turnovers, including three fumbles which were converted into touchdowns.
“Our guys executed all around,” Bell said. “Offense, defense, special teams, we played well. We really haven’t created a lot of turnovers in the last six games, and we talked about trying to get back to letting our defense get our offense in better field position to start drives. We created four turnovers, and that’s really what we wanted to do.”
After a slow start, HPCA’s Lance Boykin recovered a Knights fumble in the end zone to make it 7-0 at the end of the first quarter. The Cougars added a five-yard run from Chance Clency to pull ahead 14-0.
HPCA took command for good when Boykin raced 90 yards for a touchdown to pad the advantage to 21-0.
The Cougars extended the cushion to 42-0 after three quarters and never looked back.
HPCA’s Austin Hendley went 7 for 7 on PATs and added seven tackles and a forced fumble.
De’Shaun Taylor passed for 117 yards and two touchdowns, finding Tyeren Melton from 28 and 23 yards out. Boykin finished with 96 rushing yards and a TD. Dre Davis rushed for 84 yards, including a 55-yard touchdown.
Copeland Petitfils tallied 11 tackles for HPCA, while Winstar Allen had seven tackles and Greg Streater had seven tackles, an interception and a fumble recovery.
“Our group has been through this before,” Bell said of the Cougars, who captured the state title in a different classification last season. “Having experience in the playoffs will continue to help us down the stretch. I told them we need to have a quiet confidence. We can’t get cocky or too full of ourselves but we need confidence, and the win tonight will just give them more momentum going forward.”
HPCA 49, NORTH RALEIGH CHRISTIAN 0
Score by Quarters
1st 2nd 3rd 4th T
NRCA 0 0 0 0 0
HPCA 7 14 21 7 49
Scoring Plays
1st
HPCA-Lance Boykin fumble recovered in end zone (Hendley kick) 2:31
2nd
HPCA- Chance Clency 5 run (Hendley kick) 4:00
HPCA- Lance Boykin 90 run (Hendley kick) 0:04
3rd
HPCA- De’Shaun Taylor 28 pass to Tyeren Melton (Hendley kick) 10:46
HPCA-Taylor 23 pass to Melton (Hendley kick)
HPCA- Dre Davis 55 run (Hendley kick)
4th
HPCA- Caleb Homol 1 run (Hendley kick)
Friday night’s 49-0 romp at the High Point Athletic Complex carried much bigger implications.
The top-seeded Cougars (8-1) punched their ticket to the NCISAA Division II state semifinals with their win over the eighth-seeded Knights (2-9). HPCA downed NRCA 27-6 in Raleigh a week ago to close the regular season.
HPCA hosts fourth-seeded Cannon in the state semifinals at High Point Athletic Complex on Friday night. Cannon slipped past fifth-seeded Harrells Christian 11-8 in their quarterfinal.
“We made some adjustments,” HPCA head coach Scott Bell said following Friday night’s victory. “We made some adjustments at halftime last week and some again tonight. We didn’t have a great practice before the first game and struggled a little bit. This week we really came together as a team and realized it’s do or die. If we lose we go home, so we came out and played one of our best games of the year.”
The Cougars’ defense flew around the field, forcing four turnovers, including three fumbles which were converted into touchdowns.
“Our guys executed all around,” Bell said. “Offense, defense, special teams, we played well. We really haven’t created a lot of turnovers in the last six games, and we talked about trying to get back to letting our defense get our offense in better field position to start drives. We created four turnovers, and that’s really what we wanted to do.”
After a slow start, HPCA’s Lance Boykin recovered a Knights fumble in the end zone to make it 7-0 at the end of the first quarter. The Cougars added a five-yard run from Chance Clency to pull ahead 14-0.
HPCA took command for good when Boykin raced 90 yards for a touchdown to pad the advantage to 21-0.
The Cougars extended the cushion to 42-0 after three quarters and never looked back.
HPCA’s Austin Hendley went 7 for 7 on PATs and added seven tackles and a forced fumble.
De’Shaun Taylor passed for 117 yards and two touchdowns, finding Tyeren Melton from 28 and 23 yards out. Boykin finished with 96 rushing yards and a TD. Dre Davis rushed for 84 yards, including a 55-yard touchdown.
Copeland Petitfils tallied 11 tackles for HPCA, while Winstar Allen had seven tackles and Greg Streater had seven tackles, an interception and a fumble recovery.
“Our group has been through this before,” Bell said of the Cougars, who captured the state title in a different classification last season. “Having experience in the playoffs will continue to help us down the stretch. I told them we need to have a quiet confidence. We can’t get cocky or too full of ourselves but we need confidence, and the win tonight will just give them more momentum going forward.”
HPCA 49, NORTH RALEIGH CHRISTIAN 0
Score by Quarters
1st 2nd 3rd 4th T
NRCA 0 0 0 0 0
HPCA 7 14 21 7 49
Scoring Plays
1st
HPCA-Lance Boykin fumble recovered in end zone (Hendley kick) 2:31
2nd
HPCA- Chance Clency 5 run (Hendley kick) 4:00
HPCA- Lance Boykin 90 run (Hendley kick) 0:04
3rd
HPCA- De’Shaun Taylor 28 pass to Tyeren Melton (Hendley kick) 10:46
HPCA-Taylor 23 pass to Melton (Hendley kick)
HPCA- Dre Davis 55 run (Hendley kick)
4th
HPCA- Caleb Homol 1 run (Hendley kick)
