Luella holds off Pace Academy 27-20, improves to 4-1 in region
In a key region matchup, the Pace Academy Knights hosted the Luella Lions as both teams entered the night riding a three game win streak and sitting at 3-1 in the region standings, a game back of Stockbridge. Offensively, both teams would struggle throughout most of the first half, however Pace would score first in the opening quarter and take a 3-0 lead thanks to a Roan Dutta field goal.
Luella would finally respond with a score of their own, however that would not happen until the second quarter as R.L. Ward would connect with Markel Aguirre for an 80 yard touchdown pass and following the extra point, the Lions would take a 7-3 lead. Prior to halftime, the Knights would get another three points as Dutta would kick his second field goal of the night and the Knights trailed 7-6 at the half.
Looking to build off the momentum, Pace would find the end zone for the first time of the night as they would put together a scoring drive capped by a Christian Johnson rushing touchdown and the Knights would take their first lead of the night, going up 13-7. In the fourth quarter, Luella would regain the lead thanks to a Ward rushing touchdown and after taking a one point lead, the Lions would add some breathing from thanks to a defensive score as Antione Reese would intercept a Terrence Kiel pass and return it for a touchdown.
Now trailing 20-13, the Knights would catch a huge break with over have the time expired in the fourth quarter when the Lions were set up for a fourth down punt and a direct snap to the up back would be mishandled setting the Knights up inside the red zone. With the clock ticking, Pace Academy would turn the opportunity into points as Jordan Burns would rush for a touchdown and with an extra point, the Knights would tie the game 20-20 with 4:08 remaining.
Plenty of time as the Lions would march the other way on the ensuing possession and with 1:12 remaining in the game, Ward would rush for his third touchdown of the night, giving Luella a 27-20 lead. Ad with a sense of urgency, the Knights would begin their final drive of the evening and with a little bit of football luck, courtesy of defensive pass interference, Pace was in the red zone and threatening. However, with five second remaining, Kiel would call his own number, but the Lions’ defense would hold him out of the end zone as they would pick up the win.
“We just made some adjustments, moved some kids around,” Luella head coach, Craig Coleman said after the win on Friday as he referenced the final defensive stance by the Lions, crediting Kiel for the threat he posed to the Luella defense. “Number one, that’s a bad man,” Coleman said of Kiel, adding that they were “prepared for him” to get the call in the final seconds, to which the Lions’ defense was able to string him out and stop him short of the goal line.
With the win, the Lions improve to 4-4 overall and 4-1 in the region standings and are now winners of four consecutive games and when asked about the team’s turnaround, Coleman credited his players for continuing to believe in he and the coaching staff and not quit and rather allow Coleman and his coaching staff to “still let us coach them when things got tough,” he added. Luella will now turn their attention to another region opponent in McDonough.
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