Victory Christian Bests Tabernacle 38-12 to Pick Up 2nd Region Win

By Jackson Hillis

COLUMBUS, MS – The Victory Christian Academy Eagles hosted the Tabernacle Torches in a physical conference matchup on Friday. The Torches entered their 5th straight regional matchup coming off a 38-0 loss at home against the Russell Christian Academy Warriors. The contest was anticipated as a pivotal point in regional play for both teams, with the Eagles coming out on top in the end.

For Torches fans, the match was looked forward to as the first varsity start for sophomore quarterback Landn Ervin, who took the reins of the offense from 2-year senior starter Aaron Peters following the concussion which the latter sustained against Russell Christian, which is expected to sideline him for the rest of the year. This stands as only one of the slew of casualties that the Torches have sustained over the past few weeks, losing a handful of senior and junior starters to various injuries.

Despite their condition, the Torches were able to produce a good amount of offense, reaching the endzone twice and sustaining a handful of long drives. Ultimately, though, Tabernacle’s offense fell victim to a lack of consistent offensive line play, which plagued them throughout the night and produced negative plays that regularly served to completely halt their momentum. Still, they did execute on offense when able to consistently block, as Ervin amassed 81 passing yards on the night, as well as 71 on the ground with two rushing touchdowns. He shook out to be the Torches’ main offensive catalyst on the night, completing a number of long throws and runs to extend drives.

Defensively, the Torches played with generally sound fundamentals, producing their fair share of negative plays in the contest. They did, penultimately, fall victim to the occasional explosive downfield plays produced by the Eagles’ offense, as the majority of the latter team’s scoring came on long passes and runs. Senior lineman Alex Tank sat as co-leader of the team in tackles, tying the aforementioned Ervin, who also recorded a fumble recovery, with 6 on the night. Junior Ian Anderson fell close behind the tandem, tallying 5 stops of his own.

The Torches, now entering the final stretch of their 2024-2025 schedule, will return home to face the Tuscaloosa Christian School Warriors in a homecoming night game for Tabernacle. The Eagles will look to wrap their season up with two conference games as they gear up to make a final run for the CFA Playoffs.