HCA Football Finds Offensive Groove Against North Raleigh

The Harrells Christian Academy football team bounced back from last week's loss at Wake Christian with a convincing 42-14 victory over North Raleigh Christian Academy on Homecoming Night.

The Crusaders got back on track by getting back to the basics of Crusader football: blocking and running through the holes the linemen create. HCA stepped up on the defensive side of the ball by only allowing one offensive touchdown by the Knights.

The Crusaders started out the game with the ball but were soon halted by the North Raleigh defense. The HCA defense came up big with a fumble recovery by Nathan Casteen to give the Crusaders the ball back on their own 47 yard line. HCA reached deep into their playbook to convert on a 40 yard touchdown reception from OH Rouse to Davonta Best to give the Crusaders an early 7-0 lead.

The Crusader defense came up with a stop on fourth down to set up a 9 yard touchdown run by Davonta Best for his second score of the game.

The Knights answered with a 87 yard kickoff return for a touchdown to tighten the Crusader lead to 14-7. Marcus Scarborough answered right back for the Crusaders with a 88 yard kickoff return for a touchdown ,of his own, to extend the HCA lead to 21-7.

Marcus Scarborough found the end zone again for the Crusaders from 1 yard out to lengthen the lead to 28-7. Cole Hardison then came up with a huge interception for the Crusaders just as the Knights began to gain some offensive momentum. HCA quickly took advantage of the turnover on a 35 yard touchdown run by Marcus Scarborough for his third score of the game.

The Crusader defense came up with another stop on fourth down to set up a 4 yard touchdown run by Quinton Faison to push the lead to 42-7 heading into the half.

North Raleigh came out firing in the second half by scoring on their first drive on a 35 yard touchdown pass to shorten the Crusader lead to 42-14.

Neither team found the end zone in the latter stages of the game allowing HCA to cruise to a 42-14 victory over North Raleigh to improve their record to 5-2 (1-1) on the season.

OH Rouse led the Crusaders on defense with 7 total
tackles and one sack.

Marcus Scarborough finished the game with 223 all purpose yards. Scarborough rushed for 116 yards on 13 carries and 2 touchdowns. The junior totaled 107 total return yards and 1 touchdown to help propel the Crusaders to victory.

The Crusaders clinched a playoff spot with Friday's win over the Knights and look to strengthen their résumé in their next matchup at home against Q Foundation on Friday, October 17 for Senior Night.