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The Cornerstone Christian Chargers set a record for the largest margin of victory in program history as they rolled to a shutout victory against North River Christian in their first game of AISA play. (For the Reporter/Mandy Sanders)

By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

TUSCALOOSA – The Cornerstone Christian Chargers took all the momentum from their season-opening win at Lighthouse and put together another dominant performance on the road at the North River Christian Chargers.

Cornerstone shut out North River 70-0 on Friday, Aug. 30 to grab a win in their opening game of AISA Class A play as well as a record for the largest margin of victory in program history.

The win was Cornerstone’s second-straight victory over the other set of Chargers in its region, and this time, the margin of victory was much greater than 2023’s 46-12 win at Cornerstone Christian School.

Coming off a red-hot defensive start where Cornerstone secured four pick-sixes, it kept North River off the scoreboard for the entirety of the game thanks to some big turnovers.

Cornerstone recovered four fumbles over the course of the game, and freshman Jadon Dixon picked up two of those. He returned one of those two fumble recoveries for a touchdown to give the defense a scoop-and-score play after it had multiple defensive touchdowns in Week 1.

Malachi Adams and Hampton Etheredge each also had a fumble recovery to give the defense four turnovers on the night.

Adams led the defense with six tackles, and three of those were tackles for loss and one was a sack. Drake Dunning and Cohen Hewitt also had six tackles with two tackles for loss each, and both of Dunning’s tackles for loss were sacks.

Keaton Keef finished the night with five tackles and Etheredge had three tackles and one tackle for loss to go with his fumble recovery.

That gave the offense plenty of room to work with to have another great performance: 70 points, the second-most points in team history behind only last season’s 72-6 win over Meadowview Christian and the 72-51 victory over the same North River team in the 2022 first round.

It was a balanced performance from both the passing and running game as Cornerstone scored four touchdowns on the ground and four more in the air.

All four of those touchdowns came from different running backs, including a 75-yard scoring run from Dunning, a 54-yard touchdown run from Cohen Hewitt and rushing touchdowns from Zeke Adams and Jackson Moore. Zeke had four rushes for 18 yards overall and Moore had three carries for 30 yards.

Both Zeke and TC Sanders had efficient days from the quarterback spot as Zeke went 5-for-6 for 110 passing yards and three touchdowns before turning it over to Sanders, who completed both of his pass attempts while going for 30 yards and a touchdown.

Noah Schober led the way for the receivers with two receptions for 50 yards and a touchdown. Mason Hoehn hauled in a pair of catches for 30 yards and a score. Etheredge also had a 34-yard receiving touchdown and Seth Dillard scored on a 20-yard catch.

With that performance in its back pocket, Cornerstone is now 1-0 in AISA Class A play and extended its 8-man win streak to 13.

Cornerstone will return to Columbiana for its home opener and the first of four straight home games in five weeks as it faces Meadowview Christian on Sept. 6 at 7 p.m. at Cornerstone Christian School.

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