Crown lost

ATLANTA — Christian Heritage fell one good snap short of winning back-to-back championships on Saturday at Riverwood High School.

Trailing 16-14 and facing a fourth-and-1 on the North Georgia Falcons’ 2 with 35 seconds left in the game, the Lions set up for a Daniel Pierce 19-yard field goal. However, the snap never made it to the holder’s hands, instead going off his helmet and past him to the ground, where the Falcons recovered to earn the Glory for Christ Football League postseason championship.

“We were blessed in the fact that they had a muffed snap on their last play,” Falcons coach Roger McDaniel said. “If that doesn’t happen, the score probably doesn’t turn out this way. But the kids played hard, and I always thought the whole year that the championship game would be Christian Heritage and North Georgia.

“We’re just blessed because our kids kind of took a nap there in the fourth quarter.”

The Lions (9-2) were trying to win consecutive titles a year after going 12-0 in what was then called the Georgia Football League. Instead, the Falcons (9-3) — a home-school team based out of Canton — won their first championship since 2004.

The Lions trailed 16-7 with 5:48 remaining when they got the ball on their own 8 after a Falcons punt. Pierce, also the team’s quarterback — as well as kick returner and punter — then led the Lions on a seven-play scoring drive by completing all five of his passes, including completions of 15, 14 and 10 yards, before connecting with Cody Stansell on a 25-yard pass with 3:36 remaining.

In the first quarter on the Lions’ opening drive, Pierce connected with Stansell on a 68-yard touchdown on third-and-10 to give Christian Heritage a 7-0 lead.

Pierce kept the Lions in the game with his arm, completing 11 of his 17 passes for 260 yards when the Falcons stuffed Christian Heritage’s running game, limiting Lions leading rusher Terrell Wilson, a senior fullback, to 6 yards on seven carries.

“Daniel obviously is a quality quarterback,” Lions coach Mike Vaden said. “He throws the ball very well. He’s probably the most valuable player in this league on any team. He does more things for us than any other individual does for the other teams in the league.”

The Falcons weren’t having success on the ground either, averaging 2.48 yards on 31 carries for the game.

They too rallied behind their quarterback — Tim Howard — who threw for two scores in the second quarter. The first was a 36-yard completion to Tim Howard, but the Lions kept the lead after blocking the PAT. With less than a minute remaining in the half, Howard connected with Elijah Hiers on an 8-yard pass, giving the Falcons a 13-7 lead.

The Falcons padded their lead with a 46-yard field goal from Brett Snyder with 3:36 remaining in the third quarter.

“It was a great team effort and we made the plays when we had to,” said Howard, who finished the game 11 of 14 for 102 yards. “It’s as simple as that.”

After Pierce’s second touchdown pass, the Lions appeared to force the Falcons into a three-and-out with 2:26 remaining. However, on fourth-and-4, Snyder faked a punt and ran to the sideline with what looked to be an open field ahead, but Wilson, who also plays linebacker, caught up to the punter and grabbed him by the back of his jersey with one arm, slinging him backwards to the ground for no gain.

The Lions took over on the North Georgia 43 with 2:18 remaining. On the first play of the drive, Pierce hit Mason Sikes for a 32-yard gain, setting Christian Heritage up on the 11, and after a 3-yard gain by Wilson, Pierce rushed 6 yards up the middle to put the Lions at third-and-1 with 1:16 to play.

After a Falcons timeout, Pierce pitched to Wilson on the option for no gain, setting up what could have been the game-winning field goal.

However, Pierce said there was miscommunication before the snap, which was sent to the holder — who wasn’t yet looking for the ball — prematurely.

“We hadn’t called our cadence yet,” Pierce said. “And the snap happened and hit the holder in the head and it turned into a fumble.”

Though the Lions fell short of their goal, Vaden said they can walk away knowing they still accomplished a lot.

“It’s been a great season,” he said. “These young men deserve all the credit. We’re 9-2 and had a chance to win the championship again. And that’s special. There are eight other teams in this league that would love to be in our shoes.

“So we praise God for the opportunity to be here and represent our school and our families and I just pray that God will bless us with another opportunity next year.”

FALCONS 16, LIONS 14

SCORE BY QUARTERS

C. Heritage 7 0 0 7 — 14

N. Georgia 0 14 3 0 — 17

SCORING SUMMARY

First Quarter

CHR — Cody Stansell 68 pass from Daniel Pierce (Pierce kick), 3:55

Second Quarter

NOR — Riley Davis 36 pass from Tim Howard (kick failed), 6:31

NOR — Elijah Hiers 8 pass from Howard (Brett Snyder kick), 56.1

Third Quarter

NOR — FG Snyder 46, 49.5

Fourth Quarter

CHR — Stansell 25 pass from Pierce (Pierce kick), 3:36

YARDSTICK

CHR NOR

First Downs 11 9

Rushes-Yds. 25-97 31-77

Passing Yds. 260 102

Com.-Att.-Int. 11-17-0 11-14-0

Fumbles-Lost 4-2 0-0

Punts-Avg 3-38.3 3-32.3

Penalties-Yds. 5-40 6-50

Turnovers 2 0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Christian Heritage: Daniel Pierce 11-69, Ethan Turnmire 4-17, Terrell Wilson 7-6, Cody Stansell 3-5; North Georgia: Tim Howard 14-36, Mike Jefferson 10-25, Brian Ross 4-12, Zane McDaniel 1-3, Brett Snyder 2-1

PASSING — Christian Heritage: Pierce 11-17-0 245; North Georgia: Howard 11-14-= 102

RECEIVING — Christian Heritage: Mason Sikes 5-102, Cody Stansell 2-93, Wilson 4-65; North Georgia: Riley Davis 3-52, Elijah Hiers 2-23, Snyder 4-20, Zane McDaniel 1-7, Brian Ross 1-0

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Kings no more: Lions fall short in repeat bid

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