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No. 4 Ava is on pace to claim its first outright conference championship since 1986 thanks to it’s 37-13 win over Thayer Friday night.
The Bears improved to 7-0.
“It’s hard to come by,” Ava head coach Dan Swofford said. “As a coach, it doesn’t happen very often when you have an undefeated season. We still have two games to go and we’ll take each week as they come.”
Their showdown with SCA rival, No. 8 Thayer (5-2) was more of a slug-fest than the score would indicate. Ava raced out to a 7-0 lead on their first drive when Michael Lane caught a wide open touchdown from Caleb Johnson.
But Thayer didn’t let up. After turning the ball over on an interception, Thayer’s defense got the ball right back to their offense in the red zone to set up the tying score.
Then, in the second quarter, wide receiver Jett Hayden threw a touchdown to quarterback Ayden Stone. Yes, you read that right. Thayer took a 13-7 lead, their first of the night.
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Ava got the message. The Bobcats were in town for a fight.
The Bears responded before the half with a big throw from Johnson to Connor Moran down to the one yard line, and Johnson cashed in from there to tie the score at 13 before the half.
Ava’s coaching staff made sure their players realized what was at stake over the final 24 minutes.
“Coach (Riley) Schantz lit into us a bit at half time,” Johnson said. “We got going from there.”
Stephen Copeland galloped 79 yards to break the tie in the third quarter, and a two point conversion put Ava up 21-13. That was the game winning score, although Quincey McDonald added another short score, and Johnson scooped up a fumble on defense and ran uncontested into the end zone to complete the scoring.
“We’re confident in our team,” Johnson said of his undefeated squad, “but not overconfident that we think we’re just going to show up and win.”
