Fellowship Celebrates Senior Night Victory

Senior quarterback Blais Furse rushed for three touchdowns to lead Fellowship Christian School to a 30-18 victory over Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy of College Park at Paladin Field Friday on Senior Night.

The Paladins took leads of 21-6 in the second quarter and 23-12 on a safety with 1:45 left in the third quarter as they improved to 4-4 with two games to play. The Paladins travel to Pace Academy on Friday, Oct. 28, looking to reach five wins in a season for the first time since the school finished 11-2 in 2007. The Paladins have now posted four or more victories in one season four times in school history, including 4-6 in 2008, 4-7 in 2006 and 5-6 in 2005.

 “A win is a win, and we will take it,” FCS head coach Hunter Chadwick said. “The seniors really stepped up tonight. We are 4-4, and happy about it. It’s a great place to be. I told our kids to be proud.”

The Paladins could host their crossover game at Paladin Field on Nov. 4. That game is yet to be determined, although Chadwick said it could wind up being SACA, who played a tough game on Friday.

“I knew they would play us tough,” Chadwick said. “They were very athletic, and gave us quite a game. We could see these guys again in two weeks.”

FCS scored on three of six possessions in the first half and opened up first-half leads of 14-0 and 21-6 on Friday. The Paladins notched 202 yards in the first half, including 157 yards on the ground, and finished with 286 rushing yards and 89 passing yards for the game.

“We had a productive night on offense,” Chadwick said. “We made the plays when we had to, and they didn’t.”

It was memorable night for Furse, in what could be his last game on Paladin Field.

He went 4-for-6 for 89 yards passing. Four players made one catch apiece, including junior wide receiver Conor Linneen (40 yards), senior running back Stephen Lantz (25 yards), sophomore running back Taylor Cookston (20 yards) and junior running back Tyler Hart (4 yards). Hart led FCS with 76 yards on 13 attempts, senior fullback James Wilson added 67 yards on 11 rushes and junior running back Travis Kinney collected 36 yards on eight attempts. Lantz registered 34 yards on three rushes, Furse finished with 34 yards on 14 carries and Cookston notched 32 yards on six attempts.

The Paladins scored first on Wilson’s 19-yard TD run to cap a six-play, 80-yard drive to open the game. Hart kicked the extra point as FCS took a 7-0 lead at 8:53. On consecutive plays right before the TD run, Hart collected 20 yards on a pitch play after Furse connected with Cookston on a 20-yard pass completion. The Paladins earned 15 more yards on a personal foul call that went against the Warriors.

Following a pair of turnovers — junior defensive back Conor Linneen intercepted a SACA pass at 6:24 of the first quarter and Hart lost a fumble on the next play for FCS — the Paladins stopped the Warriors on fourth down with 1:33 to play in the opening quarter.

Furse scored from 4 yards out 1:55 into the second quarter to put his team up 13-0. Hart added the extra-point kick for the Paladins, who covered 46 yards on six plays.

“We did what we had to do tonight,” said Furse, who led FCS in rushing the previous two games after missing the opener with an injury. “Our defense stepped up, and our offensive played great. They have really helped us develop our chemistry offensively. We have gotten better offensively every week.”

Following that score, the Warriors drove the ball 80 yards in six plays for a touchdown. The score came on a 30-yard run, but the Paladins stopped the two-point conversion run attempt.

FCS upped its lead to 21-6 on Furse’s 5-yard run with 4:18 to play in the half. Bryce Wells kicked the extra point to make it 21-6. The touchdown ended a 10-play, 66-yard drive that ate up over four minutes on the clock.

The Warriors returned the ensuing kickoff 75 yards for a touchdown, but FCS stopped the two-point conversion as the half ended 21-12. “You squib kick it so they can’t return it, but they did anyway,” Chadwick said.

FCS lost a fumble two plays later, but the Paladins ended the Warriors’ possession as senior lineman Bo Ibsen notched a sack on a fourth-and-13 play with 1:10 left in the half.

The only points scored in the third quarter came when FCS earned two points on a safety as the Warriors were called for a holding penalty in the end zone on a second-and-10 play from their own 1-yard-line at 1:45 of the third.

Ibsen recovered a SACA fumble on the first play from scrimmage to open the third quarter. The Paladins ate up more than eight minutes on the clock on a 16-play drive that ended as Furse’s pass attempt to Hart fell incomplete on fourth-and-goal from just inside the 4-yard-line with 3:37 to play in the third quarter.

FCS extended its lead to 30-12 on Furse’s 1-yard dive into the end zone and Wells’ extra-point kick with 6:54 to play in the fourth quarter. It capped a 17-play, 65-yard drive following the safety.

The Paladins took the ball back as senior linebacker Robert Germaine recovered a Warrior fumble with just over six minutes to play at the SACA 40-yard line.

Linneen hauled in a pass from Furse and sprinted to the end zone but the ball was ripped out of his hands by a pair of Warrior defenders. “They ripped it out of his hands,” Chadwick added.

SACA took over and scored on a 19-yard run with 3:02 to play. Once again, the Paladins stopped the two-point conversion attempt, leaving the score 30-18.

Lantz led the Paladins with four solo tackles and shared the team lead with Germaine. They had six total tackles apiece. Linneen finished with five tackles.