Decatur Heritage’s Savarius Evans (24) tackles Coosa Christian’s Ty Sims (23) at the line of scrimmage while Jake Belcher (56), Dylan Reed (55) and Trey Letson (77) battle around them at West Morgan on Thursday. Photo by Tristan Holmes of the Decatur Daily
Class 1A No. 10 Decatur Heritage held a 14-point lead late in the first half, but Coosa Christian tied the score before halftime and outlasted the Eagles 35-21 on Thursday night at West Morgan.
Savarius Evans and Julio Thomas each rushed for a Decatur Heritage touchdown. Bo Solley had a scoring pass to Paxton Tarver.
“Little mistakes,” Decatur Heritage coach Nikita Stover said. “We’ve got to polish up mistakes. As a coach I’m going to work harder on that.”
Jy Mostella led Coosa Christian (2-2, 2-0) with three touchdown runs and a kick return for a score. J.D. Justus had two scoring tosses to Jacoby Butler.
After Coosa Christian scored first on a Mostella 15-yard run at the 8:08 mark of the opening period, Solley connected with Tarver for an 81-yard touchdown to tie the game at 7-7 with 6:40 left in the first quarter.
Evans added a one-yard TD run (5:52 in the second quarter) and Thomas broke free for a 52-yard rushing score (2:42) DHCA led 21-7.
Mostella returned the kickoff after Thomas’ score 95 yards for a score with 2:21 left in the second quarter. Coosa Christian tied Decatur Heritage 21-21 with13.7 seconds left in the first half on a six-yard pass from Justus to Butler.
The Conquerors outscored Decatur Heritage 14-0 in the second half.
“We’re coming together,” Coosa Christian coach Mark O’Bryant said. “It’s big for us because this is the first ranked team we’ve ever beaten in the history of our school.”
Decatur Heritage (2-2, 0-2) will travel to Cedar Bluff on Sept. 16 for a region game. Coosa Christian will host region opponent Valley Head.