HILTON HEAD ISLAND - It was only one play, but Hilton Head Christian Academy coach Tommy Lewis feared it might carry a disproportionate amount of weight on his team’s collective psyche entering the locker room at halftime.

Scores just before the end of the half have a tendency to do that and Orangeburg Prep quarterback Cap Thackston’s tenacious touchdown run, bouncing off one Eagle defender after another and plowing into the end zone, was the kind of play that can turn a game.

"I don’t know if the kids could read it in me, but I was concerned," Lewis said. "They had a little momentum there, and they were getting the ball. The thing we talked about in the locker room is we tried to keep it positive, because we were in the lead and we had a great first half, except for one play. I wanted to make sure our guys knew that did not negate an entire half of work.

The message sunk in and the Eagles backed up a solid first half with an even more impressive second half to beat OPS 31-7 on Friday for their first victory against a SCISA Class 3-A opponent since the undefeated 2004 regular season.

The Eagles jumped out to a 17-0 lead on a pair of 3-yard touchdown runs by junior quarterback Luke Sirgo and a 34-yard field goal by Shea Watkins. But Thackston’s 9-yard scoring run as the half wound down gave the Indians (2-5, 0-2) some hope of a comeback.

"We knew they were going to have some momentum going into the second half," said Zac Lenns, who led the Eagles’ offense with 75 rushing yards and 83 receiving yards on seven catches. "We talked about that in the locker room. We just needed to come out and play our game. We had a good defensive game plan, and we got the ball back and put it in the end zone."

The defense did plenty of getting the ball back for the Eagles, forcing six turnovers. Michael Hull’s recovery of a fumbled pitch set up Hilton Head Christian Academy’s first score of the second half, a 9-yard run by JaBrook Tucker, and the first of James Berl’s two second-half interceptions set up Sirgo’s 8-yard touchdown pass to Ethan Gort less than two minutes later.

Facing a big deficit, the Indians did not stand much of a chance of staging a comeback against a Hilton Head Christian defense that has shut down everyone since its season-opening loss to Wilson Hall. The Eagles (6-1, 4-0) limited OPS to 214 yards of total offense and held running back Walker Smith to 90 yards on 25 carries.

The reigning Orangeburg Touchdown Club Offensive Player of the Week came in averaging 120 yards per game.

"To be able to bottle that guy up as well as we did is a testament not only to (defensive coordinator) Vinnie (Emery), but the kids have to carry out the game plan," Lewis said. "Our kids are doing a great job of absorbing it, and then carrying out the game plan."

The Eagles’ offense wasn’t too shabby, either. Sirgo completed 17-22 passes for 198 yards and a touchdown and ran for two more scores, Lenns was a factor in the running game and the passing game, catching a team-high

seven passes for 83 yards and breaking a 71-yard run to finish with 75 yards on five carries.

The offense that struggled to get in sync early in the season has put up 30 points or more in five consecutive games.

"It’s getting there," Lewis said. "I still would like to be a little more effective running between the tackles, but even so, our receivers and Luke and the line and backs are all on the same page and starting to get that rhythm now."

OPS will resume Region 2-AAA football on Oct. 16 at home against Wilson Hall.

"We’re not playing Orangeburg Prep football," Indians coach Adam Holmes said. "It’s the same mistakes over and over that we keep making, and we’ve just got to get them corrected. Give Hilton Head Christian credit. They played hard. They wanted it more than we did, pretty much."

You must be logged in to comment.