At halftime Friday night, Christian Heritage School looked to be on track for an appearance in the Georgia High School Association Private State Football Championship’s Elite Eight, holding an 8-6 lead over Wesleyan.
But several big plays on both sides of the ball by the Wolves in the final half sealed the game for Wesleyan and ended the 2024 season for the Lions.
Christian Heritage (8-3) was defeated by Wesleyan (10-2) 22-15 at the Lions’ Den in a hard-fought, back-and-forth game to determine the third round opponent for Fellowship Christian.
The game began with a pair of unsuccessful drives by each team. Christian Heritage’s Charlie Idom made the first big play of the game when he stepped in front of a pass from Wesleyan quarterback Ben Brown for an early interception.
On the following Lions possession, senior quarterback Carter Triplett looked for Idom in the end zone. But Wesleyan’s Grayson McCollum stepped in front with an interception of his own.
Strong defensive pressure from both teams resulted in several halted drives for the remainder of the first quarter and into the second until Christian Heritage’s Duncan Carpenter jumped on a Wesleyan fumble at the Wolves’ 40-yard-line.
Triplett found Ayden Pace in the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown with 6:01 left in the first half. Sawyer Corn completed a pass to Jaylon Gay for a two-point conversion to bring the score to 8-0.
With one minute to go in the half, Wesleyan scored when Brown found Wes Vail for a 28-yard passing TD. The Wolves’ two-point attempt failed.
On Christian Heritage’s first possession of the third quarter Triplett ran 37 yards before scoring on a 1-yard rushing TD. A successful Sam Bishop point after extended the lead and capped the Lions’ scoring at 15-6 with 7:44 left.
Once again answering quickly, Wesleyan’s Brown threw a bomb to Carter Hayes from the 50-yard-line for seemingly another touchdown for the Wolves, but the celebration was short-lived when the referees ruled Hayes out-of-bounds at the Lions’ 9-yard-line. Brown found Brice Gillis for an 11-yard passing TD moments later. The point after attempt by Beau Billing was blocked by the Lions’ Jaylon Gay, leaving the score 15-12 with 5:14 left in the quarter.
The final minutes of the game featured several momentum-shifting plays by Wesleyan, beginning with a 37-yard passing TD from Brown to Vail with 6:15 left. This time, Billing’s point after was successful, and the Wolves had their first lead of the game, 19-15.
On the next Christian Heritage possession, Wesleyan’s William Wright jumped on a fumble at the Lions’ 33-yard-line. Wesleyan’s Rhett Smith made a 39-yard field goal, resulting in what would be the final score of 22-15 with 2:45 left.
Christian Heritage battled down the field in a hurried attempt to send the game into overtime, getting as far as the Wesleyan 20-yard-line, but an interception by Coleman Eldridge in the end zone with mere seconds left essentially ended the game.
In his final game as a Lion, Triplett was 17-for-34 with 243 passing yards and 75 rushing yards on 18 carries. Idom had 94 receiving yards on six receptions, while Pace had 44 receiving yards on three receptions. For Wesleyan, Brown was 17-for-30.
Wesleyan, which finished second in Region 5-A DI, moves on to the Elite Eight against Fellowship Christian, which defeated King’s Ridge Christian 35-7 Friday night.