Crusaders Win Region Title
The Robert Toombs Christian Academy Crusaders football team claimed the Region Championship last Thursday night at against the Matadors of Memorial Day. It was the Crusaders first Region Championship since 2016. RTCA was coming off an upset win over Thomas Jefferson the week before and just had to defeat the Matadors to earn the Region Championship. They did that in dominating fashion in a 43-6 blowout. RTCA had the ball to start the game, and on the first play quarterback TJ Stanley hit Jashaun Powell for a 61-yard touchdown pass. Powell caught the ball 20 yards downfield and outran the defense for the score. Stanley then hit Powell for the two-point conversion to put the Crusaders on top 8- 0. Memorial had a few positive plays on their first possession, but the RTCA defense settled down and forced the ball over on downs. RTCA took over at their own 38-yard line. Elijah Baker had a good run on the first play, and Justin Powell got the call and broke five tackles and kept his balance down the sideline for a big run to the 18-yard line. Justin Powell then took it in for the score with 7:33 left in the first quarter. Justin Bowers added the extra point to make it 15-0.
RTCA took the ball back over with just over four minutes to go in the first quarter. They took it all the way to the Matadors’ 26-yard line but stalled there and turned the ball over on downs with just over 30 seconds left in the quarter. In the second quarter the Crusaders came up with a big pass play from Stanley to Jashaun Powell for 60 yards and the touchdown. RTCA added the extra point to make it 22-0. RTCA added another touchdown pass on a 40-yard completion from continued from page
Stanley to Justin Powell with five minutes to go in the first half of the game. With the PAT, it was 29-0 with RTCA well out in front.
With just a few seconds to go in the first half Stanley found Jayden Toole for a 20-yard touchdown completion. Hayden Meeks added the extra point to make it 36-0 heading to halftime.
There was a running clock in the entire second half with RTCA well out in front. In the third quarter with 5:30 on the clock, Toole came up with an interception for the Crusaders. That led to a touchdown pass from Stanley to Tripp Durden with 1:30 left in the third. Meeks added the extra point to make it 43-0 with RTCA in complete control.
In the fourth quarter the Matadors finally got on the board on a pass with eight minutes left in the game. They failed on the two-point conversion, but RTCA was still in front 43-6. Neither team scored over the remainder of the game as RTCA was able to get in a lot of younger players. The Crusaders took the win 43-6 over Memorial to take the Region Title.
RTCA has a bye this week in the first round of the GIAA State A Playoffs. Next week RTCA will play the winner of the Fullington Academy and Grace Christian game. RTCA will play the winner of that game in the Final 4 of the playoffs at home at 7:30 p.m.
