Grace Baptist Rises To The Occasion, Defeats Lancaster Christian

When Dizzle Bragg scooped up the opening kickoff in the end zone and Deuce Bragg threw a two-point conversion, the Grace Baptist Golden Eagles were in a position they were unfamiliar with—trailing an opponent.

But as the home crowd at Hunter Middle soon saw, such a situation was temporary.

Lancaster Christian Academy’s best shot wasn’t enough to down the best team in the South, and Grace fired back and won 40-14.

Six minutes after the Braggs combined to put Lancaster Christian up by eight, two-way stud Cooper Knecht took matters into his own hands. The senior picked off Bragg for a pick six, and then closed out the first quarter with a 33 yard pass to Caleb Adams.

Mason Long raced through Lancaster’s overmatched defense for a 76 yard score to begin the second quarter, and then Knecht showed he had wheels too. The dual-threat passer ran for 10th and 11th touchdowns of the year with a 42 yard burst and three yard run in the second and third quarters.

Mason Long finished the scoring with a pick-six in the third quarter, a play that epitomized the well-balanced nature of the Grace Baptist team. Although Knecht directs an offense that puts up gaudy offensive statistics, the defensive side of the ball is just as impressive.

Lancaster went in reverse on the ground, rushing for negative 41 yards on 16 attempts. Cole Mason had himself a ballgame, bagging the quarterback two and a half times and contributing four and a half tackles for loss.

Piece Smith had a sack and a half along with three tackles for loss, and Tyler Parrott had two tackles behind the line of scrimmage. And Knecht picked off two Bragg passes whenever he wasn’t quarterbacking an attack that accounted for 238 rushing yards.

The previously-undefeated Lancaster goes to 3-1 while Grace Baptist improves to 6-0. Coach Bob Ateca’s Golden Eagles host another Christian Academy (Zion of Columbia) next week.

GAME SUMMARY/STATISTICS

LANCASTER:                                        08        06        00        00        -           14

GRACE BAPTIST:                                 14        14        12        00        -           40

SCORING SUMMARY:

First Quarter:

LC 11:49 Dizzle Bragg fumble recovery (2pt Conv. Good)

GB 5:06 Cooper Knecht interception return (2pt Conv. No Good)

GB 0:07 Cooper Knecht 33yd pass to Caleb Adams (2pt Conv. Good)

Second Quarter:

GB 10:11 Mason Long 76yd run (2pt Conv. No Good)

GB 1:10 Cooper Knecht 42yd run (2pt Conv. Good)

LC 0:02 Duece Bragg 37yd pass to Caleb Kozinski (2pt Conv. No Good)

Third Quarter:

GB 2:30 Cooper Knecht 3yd run (2pt Conv. No Good)

GB 1:15 Mason Long interception return (2pt Conv. No Good)

STATISTICS:

                                    LC                    GB

FIRST DOWNS:            8                      14

RUSHING YARDS:        -41                   238

PASSING YARDS:         133                  109

PASSING:                     14-27-3           9-16-0

TOTAL YARDS:             92                    347

INDIVIDUAL STATS:

RUSHING:

LANCASTER RUSHING: Albert Clark 3-1, Elijah Moore 1-0, Lane Spurlock 2-(-2), Devon Hargrove 1-(-3), Duece Bragg 9-(-37)

GRACE RUSHING: Cooper Knecht 17-121-2tds, Mason Long 1-76-1yd, Tyler Parrott 10-30, Caleb Adams 3-15, Cole Mason 1-13, Team 3-(-17)

PASSING:

LANCASTER PASSING: Duece Bragg 14-27-133yds-1td-3ints

GRACE PASSING: Cooper Knecht 9-16-109-1td

RECEIVING:

LANCASTER RECEIVING: Caleb Kozinski 4-56-1td, Albert Clark 2-36, Devon Hargrove 2-17, Lane Spurlock 4-17, Reese Kloes 1-9, Elijah Moore 1-(-2)

GRACE RECEIVING: Caleb Adams 4-51-1td, Mason Long 2-32, Tyler Parrott 3-26