- April 25, 2024
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Front: Coach Darrell Jones, D.J. Murray, Jordan Mills and coach Charlie Washington. Back: Coach Dennis Murray and coach Vince Smith. Photo by Ray Boone
A Crusader carries the ball in a game against Countryside. Courtesy photo
The Crusaders' defense brings down an opposing player during a regular season win. Courtesy photo
First Baptist Christian Academy, a small, K-12 private school in Bunnell, didn’t have a football team — of any level — until the fall of 2017, when the Crusaders managed to piece together a functional varsity high school team and fought their way to a 5-5 record.
What the Crusaders lacked, however, was a consistent flow of athletes coming into the program, so varsity head coach Charlie Washington came to FBCA Headmaster Jason Harrison with an idea.
“We needed a feeder program to continue success with our varsity team,” Washington said. “We looked at the statistics: We had a lot more of our middle school kids who could fill out a roster than we did for the high school.”
Washington’s discussion with Harrison gave birth to a new FBCA team: the Crusaders’ middle school 8-on-8 football team.
The expectations were low when practice started in Spring 2018. The roster included 16 players — many of whom had never played competitive, much less tackle, football.
How do you teach a roster of sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade boys to be part of a successful team?
“It’s challenging,” said Dennis Murray, the team’s offensive coordinator. “It takes a lot of repetition, a lot of discipline, a lot of hard work.”
* * *
The Crusaders expected to compete in their inaugural season, but did they expect to win? No.
Then came the first game of the 2018 season. The Crusaders pounded Countryside, last year’s state runner-up, 53-0. Then, in Game 3, they went on to beat Eagleview, last year’s state champions, 20-14.
“That was an eye-opener,” said Washington, a defensive coach for the team. “It was like, were we really doing this?”
* * *
The Crusaders’ middle school football team went 7-0 during the regular season. One team declined to play them in the opening round of the playoffs because of the beating the Crusaders put on them earlier in the season.
As a result, they advanced to play Newberry in the middle school state championship on the night of Friday, Nov. 9, in Bunnell.
Playing in front of their home crowd, the Crusaders cruised to a 20-6 halftime lead. That lead extended to 20 points in the third quarter. Then Newberry went on a run, scoring 20 straight points to tie the game with 70 seconds left.
Newberry had a chance to take the lead, but the Crusaders’ defense came up with a crucial stop on the extra point.
The Crusaders’ offense started with the ball near midfield with a chance to win the game in regulation or to play it safe and send the game into overtime.
“I think they were expecting us to continue to run in and send it into overtime,” Washington said. “But we needed to win that game in regulation.”
On first down, the Crusaders handed the ball to running back Elijah Gilyard, who coaches call the team’s “offensive stud.” He picked up 7 yards.
On second down, the Crusaders’ D.J. Murray dropped back for a pass, but threw it right into the chest of a defender — who dropped the would-be interception.
On third-and-2 with 35 seconds remaining, Murray dropped back to pass again, and this time he had somebody open. Receiver Jordan Mills ran a go route. He beat the defensive back almost immediately with a quick move. Murray noticed his teammate streaking down the field toward the end zone and lofted the ball into the air.
As Mills looked over his shoulder to find the ball, he was blinded by the field’s lights. He had no idea were the ball was. With a hope and a prayer, he held out his hands.
“I was just hoping that God would let me catch it,” he said.
The slender seventh-grader was at the 5-yard line when he secured the catch. When he entered the end zone and the referee signaled “touchdown,” his teammates dog-piled him.
“I couldn’t really feel anything. I just saw everyone jumping on me,” Mills said. “I had so much adrenaline pumping through me.”
But with 30 seconds still on the clock, the Crusaders still had to play defense.
Murray sacked Newberry’s quarterback on first down. The game ended when Newberry attempted a jet sweep and threw an illegal forward pass with 5 seconds remaining.
In the first year of the program, the Crusaders won a state title.
* * *
FBCA has a student population of around 400.
Due to the small size of the school, many of the teams rely on athletes who play multiple sports in order to fill out a roster. In fact, while the Crusaders were getting ready for their state championship game against Newberry, some of the team’s players were also starting basketball practice.
“There’s a lot of wear and tear on the gym. And then to keep their grades up and have their social lives is very difficult,” said Ian Hamm, a Bible teacher and baseball coach who became FBCA’s athletics director this year. “These coaches and players have a lot of flexibility. We have to all work together to make it happen.”
* * *
The Crusaders’ head coach, Vince Smith, has been coaching youth football for the past 30 years.
FBCA’s win over Newberry was the first time he’d been part of a state title.
The key, he said, was getting the players to buy into the program.
“Football is a family thing,” he said. “If you don’t buy into the next person standing next to you, you’re out of luck. You can’t win by yourself. It’s a team sport, and it takes all eight guys on that field to do what we do.
“We’re a family here. We live as a family. We die as a family.”
