Friday night was a proud night for Jacksonville Christian coach Tommy Miller. Before the game, the football field was named in his honor. After the game, while the Thunder did suffer a 42-22 loss to Alabama School for the Deaf, Miller said he was very proud of the effort his team gave.
“Sure, we wanted to win,” he said, “but knowing what we’re up against, it was hard to be too tore up.”
Jacksonville Christian is dealing with a team that has inexperience at many different positions and on top of that can only put a little more than a dozen players on the field.
With those kind of disadvantages, Miller said he was the proudest when he watched his team rally from a 30-6 deficit and pull within as close as 30-22 before ultimately falling in the season opener for both teams.
Joshua Snow was the toughest for the Thunder to contain. With championship-caliber speed in the 100 and 200 meters, Snow ran for two touchdowns (one was a 37-yarder on the game’s opening drive, the other was a 62-yard dash). He finished with six carries for 129 yards.
“We just can’t compete with that kind of speed,” Miller said.
Jacksonville Christian got touchdowns from Payton Green (1-yard dive, first touchdown), and a 21-yard pass from quarterback Stephen Hurst to Jacob Bollinger to cut the ASD lead to 30-14. JCA added another touchdown and a safety before its scoring was done.
Despite the disadvantages, it was turnovers that ultimately spelled doom for the Thunder. JCA outgained ASD both with first downs (14 to 8) and total yardage (275 to 235). JCA threw two interceptions and had one fumble, to zero turnovers by the Silent Warriors.
In the late stages of the game, while JCA was still hanging tough in the fourth quarter, ASD picked off a pass and returned it 50 yards to set the final.
Jacksonville Christian begins region play this week as it travels to play Appalachian. While Appalachian is also 0-1, Miller points out that the team had Spring Garden (which he says has one its best teams ever) in a 7-6 game in the fourth quarter on Friday night, before ultimately falling.
Before the season kicked off on Friday night, Miller’s name was attached to the stadium that he has put so much effort into both building and obtaining for the school.
Miller said his name going on the stadium wasn’t a surprise on Friday night, but it almost was. He said he heard it was a possibility, but didn’t find out about it until during the middle of game week. The only surprise there, was that they were able to keep it a secret that long, considering Miller is also the school’s principal.
“I was real proud,” Miller said. “And I was glad they let me know. I would have been surprised right when I was getting ready to play a ballgame.”
