King's Ridge Downs Pace Academy, 48-20

King's Ridge Christian's offensive line had to fight off the rough play of Pace Academy before the Tigers settled down and took control of the varsity football game, winning 48-20.

The play was so rough at one point, a Pace player was ejected from the game after a personal foul penalty was called when a King's Ridge player's helmet was ripped off.

Pace got on the scoreboard fist after a miscue by the Tigers, resulting in a lost fumble. The TD was good, but the PAT failed, putting Pace ahead 6-0.

On their next offensive possession the Tigers again fumbled. And again Pace turned that fumble recovery into a score with 3:42 left in the first quarter. This time the PAT kick was good, putting Pace ahead 13-0.

Finally, King's Ridge put together a successful scoring drive, culminating in a 40-yard TD pass by Bailey Miller to Julian Champ. The kick was good, bringing the Tigers to within a TD, 13-7.

But with two minutes left in the quarter, Pace relied on a speedy Kameron Uter to turn a pass reception into a TD. That put Pace up 20-7. The Owls didn't know it, but those would be their last points of the game.

The Tigers' Jordan Harris put hs team into great position to anwer those points, running back the kickoff to the 42-yard lie. It wasn't long before Tarez Miller took the ball and ran for 58 yards to score. And King's Ridge was back in the thick of things, trailing 20-14.

On the kickoff, Pace returned the ball to the 22-yard line. A timeout by the Tigers might have added to nerves by the Owls, as a lateral was dropped and King's Ridge recovered at the 9.

It didn't take long before Connor Burns ran 9 yards in three plays, scoring the TD. He wasn't done scoring on this drive. As the Tigers' kicker, he put up the AT to make the score 21-20. King's Ridge had taken a lead it would not relinquish.

The defense continued to push against the Pace offense. Austin Higgingbotham intercepted a Pace pass.

It was on this drive that a Pace lineman was ejected from the game. Offensive lineman for the Tigers kept having their helmets ripped off, forcing them off the field for a play before they could return to the game. A personal foul ended the Pace player's night.

Quarterback Bailey Miller responded with a 20-yard TD pass to Benaiah Franklin, and Burns kicked the extra point through the uprights to make it 28-20.

Franklin got back on the field for defense this time, and broke up an attempted 40-yard Pace pass.

Before too long the Tigers were running down the field getting ready to score. That came with a 20-yard pass to Tarez Miller and Burns again hitting the PAT. The score was 35-20 with 2:28 left in the half.

With less than 30 seconds left in the first half, Pace looked ready to score. But Franklin intercepted in the end zone and King's Ridge killed the clock.

The Tigers got into the end zone on their second drive of the second half with a few runs and a pass. Then Julian Champ took a pass on the sideline and tiptoed in for another touchdown.

King's Ridge woud score one more time against Pace on a one-yard run by Connor Henderson.

Tarez Miller had 21 carries for 200 yards and 2 TDs. Quarterback Bailey Miller went 8 of 10 for 173 yards and 3 TDs. Julian Champ pulled in two TD catches.