Trinity Christian’s 'X-Man' aiming for special season with Crusaders
Rodd Baxley
The Fayetteville Observer
Xavier Tubbs-Matthews hasn’t gotten much rest this summer.
A two-sport star as a basketball and football player at Trinity Christian School in Fayetteville, Tubbs-Matthews has been busy turning heads on the summer hoops circuit.
That “crazy” grind, the junior said, almost made him forget that it would soon be football season.
“I was back and forth like, ‘Am I gonna play football, am I not going to?’ Then school started calling about football during the summer and I told Coach Chuck (Webster) I wanted to play for him again,” Tubbs-Matthews said.
“He was just like, ‘It’s your decision because you came out last year, did what you had to do and then you got hurt, so I’m all in with you if you decide to come out here and play for me.’ ”
Despite injuring his knee in a shortened sophomore season as a quarterback, running back and receiver for the Crusaders on the football field, Tubbs-Matthews couldn’t resist the urge to get back on the gridiron for the 2021 fall campaign.
“You can’t beat Friday night lights. You just can’t beat that,” he said with a smile.
“We don’t got a band, but you can’t beat Friday night lights. Football is fun.”
Through four games for the Crusaders, who finished with a 3-4 record in the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season, Tubbs-Matthews had 10 touchdowns to power the offense. He finished with a pair of touchdown passes, five rushing scores and three receiving touchdowns in his sophomore season.
“I wish he would’ve came a little earlier, but I appreciate the kid a lot and him wanting to come back out. I feel like he’s sacrificed a lot for this football program and he’s a big basketball kid,” head coach Chuck Webster said.
“He’s a state champion, so that was a little different. He’s paid the price. He and I talked ... he’s going to be special.”
As Webster pointed out, Tubbs-Matthews played as a freshman when the Crusaders won the NCISAA Division III state title for the program’s first state crown in a decade.
Trinity went three consecutive seasons without losing a game in NCISAA Big East Conference before dropping three league games in 2020.
Tubbs-Matthews, who averaged 13 points and 3.7 assists per game on the basketball court as a sophomore, hopes to help the Crusaders rebound on the football field before shifting his attention to the court.
“I set all my goals for basketball and now I’m gonna have a meeting with Coach Chuck to set some goals for football,” he said.
“We already won a state championship with him, so I’m trying to get another one. … I’m trying to win player of the year in the conference for both sports, in basketball and football.”
Rodd Baxley
The Fayetteville Observer
Xavier Tubbs-Matthews hasn’t gotten much rest this summer.
A two-sport star as a basketball and football player at Trinity Christian School in Fayetteville, Tubbs-Matthews has been busy turning heads on the summer hoops circuit.
That “crazy” grind, the junior said, almost made him forget that it would soon be football season.
“I was back and forth like, ‘Am I gonna play football, am I not going to?’ Then school started calling about football during the summer and I told Coach Chuck (Webster) I wanted to play for him again,” Tubbs-Matthews said.
“He was just like, ‘It’s your decision because you came out last year, did what you had to do and then you got hurt, so I’m all in with you if you decide to come out here and play for me.’ ”
Despite injuring his knee in a shortened sophomore season as a quarterback, running back and receiver for the Crusaders on the football field, Tubbs-Matthews couldn’t resist the urge to get back on the gridiron for the 2021 fall campaign.
“You can’t beat Friday night lights. You just can’t beat that,” he said with a smile.
“We don’t got a band, but you can’t beat Friday night lights. Football is fun.”
Through four games for the Crusaders, who finished with a 3-4 record in the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season, Tubbs-Matthews had 10 touchdowns to power the offense. He finished with a pair of touchdown passes, five rushing scores and three receiving touchdowns in his sophomore season.
“I wish he would’ve came a little earlier, but I appreciate the kid a lot and him wanting to come back out. I feel like he’s sacrificed a lot for this football program and he’s a big basketball kid,” head coach Chuck Webster said.
“He’s a state champion, so that was a little different. He’s paid the price. He and I talked ... he’s going to be special.”
As Webster pointed out, Tubbs-Matthews played as a freshman when the Crusaders won the NCISAA Division III state title for the program’s first state crown in a decade.
Trinity went three consecutive seasons without losing a game in NCISAA Big East Conference before dropping three league games in 2020.
Tubbs-Matthews, who averaged 13 points and 3.7 assists per game on the basketball court as a sophomore, hopes to help the Crusaders rebound on the football field before shifting his attention to the court.
“I set all my goals for basketball and now I’m gonna have a meeting with Coach Chuck to set some goals for football,” he said.
“We already won a state championship with him, so I’m trying to get another one. … I’m trying to win player of the year in the conference for both sports, in basketball and football.”
