By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor

ALABASTER – After two consecutive losses that saw the Evangel Lightning offense score just six points in each game, the Lightning were in need of a big confidence boost when they played host to Freedom Academy on Friday, Sept. 7.

While it wasn’t a conference game for Evangel, it was the team’s first 8-man game of the season, and not only did the Lightning get that confidence back, they showed why they are so good in 8-man football with a 60-40 victory against the Cowboys.

Coming into the game, Freedom had won two consecutive games to start the season, including wins of 72-45 and 50-20, showing they were bringing a lot of confidence into the game, but the Lightning have the confidence of being the defending ACSC state champion and it showed off.

After two sub-par weeks, they clearly wanted to make a statement and looked much more like the team that started the season with a 48-0 shutout against Evangel Christian Academy out of Montgomery.

The Lightning needed to see the offense get on track to get some confidence back, and that’s exactly what happened, quickly totaling their game total from the previous two weeks on their way to a season high in points through four games.

A big reason for that was the success of quarterback Tyler Henderson, who hadn’t had a break out game yet this season. That changed in this one, as the playmaker threw for four touchdown passes and ran for an additional three touchdowns, giving him seven of Evangels touchdowns on the night.

He finished with a total of 143 yards passing and 103 yards rushing.

Three of those touchdown passes went to Dawson Humphries, who had three catches for 74 yards, making all three of his catches in the game for a touchdown.

Samuel Graham had one touchdown catch of 45 yards as well, as the passing game really opened up for Evangel in the win.

One of the most anticipated matchups of the season will come in the Lightning’s next game on Sept. 14, when they take on Ezekiel.

That’s who Evangel beat by just seven points in the regular season last year, before beating them again in the state championship by a final of 55-14.

The Knights are currently 2-1 on the season and will be coming off a bye week, while Evangel sits at 2-2 overall this year.