RTCA Into Championship

The Crusaders of Robert Toombs Christian Academy hosted the Trojans of Fullington Academy last Friday night in Lyons in the semifinals of the GIAA State Football Playoffs. It was a big night for RTCA as they punched their ticket to the State Championship with a 41-23 win.

In the first quarter of the game RTCA had big runs by Justin Powell and Jashaun Powell as they moved the ball down the field. Elijah Baker went for 25 yards to the Trojans' 23-yard line with just under eight minutes left in the first quarter. A penalty moved the Crusaders back, but then TJ Stanley hit Justin Powell for a 34-yard touchdown pass with 6:25 left in the first quarter. Justin Bowers added the extra point for a 7-0 lead.

Fullington was moving the ball well on their next possession, but a costly fumble which was recovered by Jayden Toole set up RTCA at their own 35yard line. Just a few plays later on a fourth-and-1, Justin Powell went 58 yards for a touchdown with 43 seconds left in the first quarter. Bowers tacked on the PAT for a 14-0 lead for the Crusaders.

In the second quarter Stanley connected with Jashaun Powell for a 42yard touchdown with 8:28 left in the fist half. Bowers added the extra point for a 21-0 lead for RTCA.

Fullington did get in for a touchdown with 2:43 left in the first half to close the lead to 21-7. With just 23 seconds left in the first half RTCA answered with a touchdown by Jashaun Powell. The extra point was blocked, but RTCA led 27-7.

Fullington managed to move the ball quickly down the field on just two big plays and kicked a 34-yard field goal as time expired to make the score at halftime, 27-10, with RTCA on top.

In the third quarter Fullington closed the lead to 27-16 with just over eight minutes left in the third quarter.

With just 1:38 left in the third quarter, Justin Powell had a 55-yard run for another RTCA touchdown. That put RTCA on top 34-16 after the extra point by Bowers.

In the fourth quarter the RTCA defense had a huge goal-line stand as they stopped the Trojans at the 1-yard line. RTCA took over there with 99 yards to go for a score with 10:02 left in the game. RTCA quickly moved the ball out past the 30-yard line. They kept moving the ball and capped off the 99– continued from page

yard drive with a 26-yard run by Baker for the touchdown. Hayden Meeks added the extra point to put RTCA on top 41-16 with just over five minutes left in the game.

With just 1:49 left in the game the Trojans added a touchdown to close the lead to 41-23, but that was as close as they got with RTCA taking the victory.

RTCA amassed 561 total yards of offense in the game with Stanley throwing for 254 yards in the game.

RTCA will have this week off for the Thanksgiving holiday and will play for the State Championship next week. The Championship Game will be on Thursday at Mercer University in Macon against Thomas Jefferson. It is a matchup of the #1 Thomas Jefferson and #2 RTCA in the state rankings. RTCA gave TJ their only loss of the season in a 35-34 upset on October 28 in Lyons. Kickoff is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.