After a one-win campaign in College Heights Christian’s inaugural season a year ago, the Cougar football program has already surpassed last season’s win total with a 2-0 start to 2023 following a thrilling 66-60 victory over Orrick in 8-man action on Friday at Joplin High School.
“This is a huge win for us,” first-year CHC head coach John Lucas said. “Was it perfect? No, by no means. Talking to the kids, I told them we are raising the bar and I feel like that is what we’ve done. We still need to clean up the mistakes and play a little bit more sound football, but I honestly believe in these kids, their abilities and their love for each other. They love each other and they love Christ. I don’t think there is a ceiling for this team.”
“We are just building on what we started last year,” Lucas, who was an assistant last year, added. “Our kids hadn’t been in the weight room, and that was one of the big things. We got into the weight room (this offseason) and got stronger. You have to give credit to the kids because they didn’t know what a weight program was last year. This year, we’ve closed that gap a little bit on how physical and how strong we are compared to everybody else.”
The Cougars, trailing 44-36 at the intermission, took possession out of the locker room and tied the game up promptly when junior QB Logan Decker found senior Colsen Dickens for a 60-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the third quarter to make the score 44-44.
“That was huge,” Lucas said about tying it early in the second half. “I told them there was going to be some adversity. There was, and it went back and forth. I really believe that these kids are just as good as (Orrick), we just needed to minimize the mistakes. We did that in the second half.”
Orrick went back up on a 3-yard keeper from senior QB Jonathon Harris before pushing the lead to 60-44 on an 11-yard score by Miller.
Decker found room after evading the rush in the backfield and ripped off a 66-yard rushing score to trim the lead to one possession again, 60-52, with 10:48 left in the game.
College Heights’ defense came up big in the second half, forcing the Bearcats into a punt early before back-to-back turnover-on-downs late in the fourth quarter gave the Cougars’ offense a chance at the tie.
“The defense was awesome,” Lucas said. “We knew (Orrick) was bigger than us, so we had to play team football. We had to get three or four guys to the ball on every play, and that’s what we did.”
College Heights tied the game back up for the first time since the first play of the second half when Decker heaved a pass downfield to senior Caleb Quade, who made a circus grab on a jump ball before turning up field and galloping for a 54-yard passing score with 2:45 left in regulation to make the score 60-60. Sophomore Cannon Miller completed the 2-point conversion pass to Decker on some throwback trickeration.
“He was awesome,” Lucas said of Quade’s catch late. “He is just a natural athlete but he also works hard. It is cool to see someone who works as hard as he does come out and have the success he does because he deserves it.”
After the defense came up clutch once more by forcing another Bearcat punt, College Heights took possession for the final time with 1:06 to play.
Decker found Miller for a 25-yard completion to get the Cougars in rhythm before the two hooked again shortly after for another big play, only in the opposite fashion.
Like the 2-point conversion earlier that tied things up, Miller took a handoff and stalled in the backfield, allowing Decker to get downfield as a receiver. Miller heaved a pass down the near sideline with Decker reaching out and making a fingertip catch before sprinting his way to the end zone for a 37-yard go-ahead touchdown with 24 seconds left to put CHC on top for good.
“It was just athletes making plays,” Lucas said of the throwback pass. “It really is a testament to how hard (Logan) works. He pays attention to the details in everything he does, from the weight room to the practice field to the game field.”
College Heights and Orrick spent the first half putting points up in bunches.
The Cougars scored on all but two possessions, with the Bearcats converting for points on every possession but one. While the score was 44-36 at the midway point, it was obvious each possession was critical in a one-score game.
For Orrick, Harris had a 29-yard passing score to senior Lucas Walker in the first half, while Jaxon Miller highlighted the first two quarters for the Bearcats with a 19-yard rushing score, a 5-yard score on the ground and a 3-yard rushing touchdown. Junior Jeff Rohde added a 14-yard rushing touchdown and a kick-return touchdown.
Decker threw a 20-yard touchdown to Quade early in the first half before the two hooked up for a 55-yard touchdown late in the first half to trim the lead to the halftime score. Decker added a 51-yard touchdown after avoiding the initial rush and finding the edge. Junior Levi Durling added a 4-yard rushing score and senior Matt Williams, who also had a key sack on the defensive end during Orrick’s lone empty possession, had a 55-yard touchdown to wrap the Cougars’ first-half scoring.
College Heights is at Greenfield for its Week 3 matchup.
