The ZCA Warriors had to dig out of a
22-7 hole in the fi rst half to steal a win
away from the Zarephath

BY ANDY WARRENER
Sports Reporter

They were supposed to cruise through this one.
The visiting Zarephath Eagles have 6-3, 215-pound
lefty quarterback Jordan Durham, currently with three
scholarship off ers but not much else. Well, the Eagles
also have pint-sized but speedy Terrell Brant and it
was Brant that lit up the Warrior defense and nearly
took a game from the Warriors.
The Warriors suff ered from some plain old bad
luck early on. A holding penalty scuttled their opening drive and a fl uke play where a defended pass
defl ected off another ZCA defender, right into the
hands of Zarephath’s Jamez Williams’s hands. A short reception by Joshua Jones and two-point conversion made it 8-0 Eagles in the fi rst quarter.
“We knew about him (Durham) since he
was a freshman,” head coach Mike Smith said.
“He started as a seventh grader and he has like
900 yards already this season but we felt like we
could beat them (Eagles) up front.”
The bad luck continued. The Eagles don’t
have a kicker, at least not one that they are comfortable even kicking extra points with. ZCA
knew they would try onside kicks most of the
night. They put their hands team in, coaches
told players over and over that it was going to
be an onside kick. It was indeed an onside kick
but the oblong football almost never takes a predictable trajectory. It didn’t and the Eagles recovered the kick.
On the Eagles’ fi rst play of the drive, Brant
burned the Warrior defense with a 40-yard
touchdown. That conversion failed and it was
14-0, still with more than fi ve minutes left in the
fi rst quarter.
“We have not been very good in pass coverage this season,” Smith said. “We knew what
they did well went against our weaknesses.”
Things went from bad to worse as the Warriors suddenly couldn’t fi gure out the quarterback-center exchange. That led to a turnover but
the Warrior defense stopped the Eagles on the
ensuing possession.
The Warriors fi nally got it going on their
third drive of the game. Some strong running
from Alexavier Hairston kept the chains moving. A critical conversion on a 4th-and-11 at the
Eagle 32-yard line by Amarri Range kept the
drive alive for a 16-yard run from Hairston for a
touchdown and to whittle the lead to seven.
The Eagles very much took control of the
game on their next possession. A 19-play drive
that consumed almost eight minutes of clock,
culminating in a one-yard quarterback sneak
from Durham, made it 22-7 with just 4:25 left to
play in the half.
The Warriors needed something before the
half. They got it. A 15-yard run by Kendall Johnson and an eight-yard reception buttressed by
a personal foul penalty, set the Warriors up in
striking distance, only for Range to haul in a 21-
yard touchdown from Parker Stirnkorb.
The Warriors had a chance to even it up
before half as they avenged an Eagle interception with one of their own from Kameron Battle.
The Warriors had the ball at the Eagle 20-yard
line with 20 seconds left but fumbled it away on
their third play, leaving the 22-13 score intact for
halftime.
The Warriors went to the well and the well
was well fi lled early in the second half. Hairston continued to grind out yards and the Warriors snuck the dangerous Johnson in at wildcat
quarterback and between the two of them, they
sliced and diced their way in for a touchdown.
The touchdown itself was a sparkling play
by Johnson on a 4th-and-6 from the 12-yard line.
Johnson made the catch and ran straight for the
pylon, almost slam dunking the football right
in the front corner of the end zone as defenders
fl ew past and over him. The Warriors had cut
the lead to 22-19.
An awful punt after a three-and-out set the
Warriors up with great field position and again it was a tango between Hairston and Johnson, Hairston punching in a one-yard touchdown run that put the Warriors up 25-22 after a
blocked extra point.
The Eagles looked as though they would
take it right back as a great kick return set their
off ense up at the ZCA 35-yard line. Zarephath’s
Davion Brown looked like he was destined to
score after a short completion and he juked 10
of the ZCA defenders. He missed one of them
and Johnson made one of two touchdown-saving tackles on the night.
His effort stuck as the Warrior defense
bowed on a 4th-and-goal from the six-yard
line. Joshua Casarez got pressure on Durham,
Brayden Larson got his hands on Durham and
Joshua Silva caught up and the three of them
brought Durham down to force a turnover on
downs.
From their own 16-yard line, the Warriors
would march down the fi eld and take control of
the game. Hairston ripped off gains of 18 and
16, they ran a jet sweep with Gavin Davis and
picked up 20 more. That’s when Johnson caught
a 13-yard touchdown and then kicked the ensuing point after to make it 32-22 Warriors with
8:59 left to play.
Brant hadn’t gone away for the Eagles. He
emerged again in the fourth quarter, hauling in
an 80-yard touchdown to make it 32-30 with 8:44
left.
The Warriors failed to score on their next
possession but they did manage to drain most
of the rest of the clock away. Aided by a pass interference and a personal foul penalty, the Warriors marched on a 12-play drive that made
the Eagle 25-yard line before turning it over on
downs with less than a minute to play. A defended pass by Rogers Jones and a great stop by Larson forced an Eagle turnover on downs as time
expired.
“We just had to pull it together, we knew we
were the better ball club,” Smith said.
The Warriors survived to improve to 5-2 on the
season with a bye week upcoming. They could
certainly use the week off as freshman quarterback Myles Mcdonald and receiver/return man
Jayden Ramos were both out on Friday. There
were also some mental breakdowns on the fi eld
Friday both during and after plays. A week off
would serve well to address some of these issues.
That being said, some things are coming together nicely for the Warriors. After Javier Lopez took the rushing load early in the season,
Hairston is now emerging as the primary runner. Hairston ran for 166 yards and two touchdowns on Friday and is closing in on 500 yards
for the season. Johnson has emerged as a dynamic player, averaging more than 18 yards per
carry in the run game and boasting 32 receptions
for 585 yards and get this, 13 touchdowns. He’s
got 818 total yards seven games into the season.
The Warriors have been experimenting
with Johnson at wildcat quarterback, too. This
could provide headaches for opposing players
and nightmares for opposing coaches. Johnson
also punts (38.8-yard average with fi ve downed
inside the 20) and kicks field goals (four of six)
and extra points.
“The kid (Johnson) is ridiculous,” Smith
said.

BY ANDY WARRENER
Sports Reporter

Twitter: @jawarrener