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Cornerstone overcame one of its most difficult tests of the season as the Chargers emerged from a back-and-forth road battle against Evangel-Montgomery with the victory. (For the Reporter/Mandy Sanders)

By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

MONTGOMERY — The Cornerstone Christian Chargers faced one of their toughest tests of the season and passed it to keep their perfect season going.

The Chargers held off a spirited effort from the Evangel-Montgomery Lions for a 34-28 win on Oct. 18 at Evangel Christian Academy to improve to 8-0 on the season.

“My boys played hard tonight,” Cornerstone coach James Lee said. “Evangel played their best game of the season but our guys persevered.”

The Chargers got off to one of their trademark fast starts, outpacing the Lions for three scores en route to a 20-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.

However, that’s when the offense started to meet some resistance from Evangel. Cornerstone went scoreless in the entire second quarter, but its defense also continued to step up and shut out the Lions in the remaining time before the half.

Evangel wasted little time cutting into the 20-6 halftime deficit at the start of the second half, taking the fight to the Chargers defense.

The Lions scored on the ground with eight minutes left in the third. They missed the ensuing point-after, but that made it a one-score game at 20-12.

Cornerstone couldn’t find the end zone on its next drive, and Evangel continued riding its positive momentum.

The Lions found the end zone with a rushing touchdown and broke the plain again for a 2-point conversion, tying up the game at 20-20 with four minutes left in the third.

That left the undefeated Chargers facing some of their biggest adversity of the season with the game tied in the second half.

Cornerstone rose to the challenge and a minute later, the offense reached the goal line with a rushing touchdown, retaking a 26-20 lead going into the fourth quarter.

However, the threat wasn’t over yet. Evangel scored on the ground with nine minutes left to tie the game back up at 26-26.

The defense came up big with a stop on the 2-point conversion run to keep the game tied, and that gave the offense a chance to respond on the other end of the field.

Two minutes after the Lions scored, the Chargers ran into the end zone and completed the 2-point conversion to claim the 34-26 lead.

Cornerstone’s defense then held Evangel scoreless for the final seven minutes to seal the 8-point win and remain perfect.

Zeke Adams went 4-for-12 passing for 137 yards and two touchdowns, although four of those incompletions were dropped passes. He also rushed for 122 yards and a touchdown off 22 carries.

Both of Adams’ touchdown passes went to fellow senior Noah Schober, and those scoring receptions were his lone receptions of the night, going for 65 total receiving yards.

Hampton Etheredge caught the other two passes for 72 yards.

Jackson Moore took seven carries for 59 yards and two touchdowns, and Drake Dunning had seven touches for 32 yards to round out 350 yards of total offense for Cornerstone.

The Chargers defense had three total turnovers, including two interceptions from Adams and one from Mason Hoehn. Adams added 10 tackles to the picks, including two tackles for loss, and Hoehn earned a pair of tackles as well.

Malachi Adams led the defense with 13 tackles, including two sacks and three tackles for loss. Etheredge earned 11 tackles, Dunning had 10 tackles, including two tackles for loss, and Landon Alexander secured seven tackles.

The Chargers will have another big test on their hands as they will face Macon-East Academy on Oct 25, with the winner clinching the AISA Class A regular season title and the top seed heading into the playoffs.

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