Louisiana: No. 8 Evangel Eagles Hosts No. 5 Airline Vikings
Written by Charlie Beuttel
It’s Week Eight of the Louisiana high school football season and the two frontrunners in District 1-5A, Evangel and Airline, are set to face off at Rodney Duron Field on the campus of Evangel Christian Academy on Friday night.
Evangel wants to win district in their first year in the 5A classification since 2004. They haven’t lost a home district game since 1990 and this streak will be jeopardy on Friday as they host the undefeated Airline Vikings.
The Airline Vikings (7-0, 3-0) look to keep their schedule unblemished while the Evangel Eagles (6-1, 3-0) have hopes of getting into first place and clinching another district title for their historic program.
Both teams have used their high-scoring offenses and lock down defenses to dominate their opponents through the first seven weeks of the season.
Airline’s offense is averaging 43.85 points a game through the first seven weeks. The Vikings have relied on their running game all year but during the past few weeks they have tried to make their offense more balanced. Their running back tandem includes senior Shun’cee Thomas, who has 818 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns, and junior Brian Fielding, who has 376 yards and six touchdowns. Along with Thomas, senior quarterback Thomas McKain is the other leader of this offense. McKain has thrown for 642 yards and seven touchdowns.
The key to the Vikings offense is the play of their talented and experienced offensive line led by Texas A&M commit, Colton Prater (6’4”, 275 pounds).
Evangel also has an explosive offense as the Eagles are scoring 39.4 points a game. Junior quarterback Connor Curry is one of the leaders on offense for Evangel. Curry has thrown for 1,050 yards and 13 touchdowns and has 274 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns through the first six weeks of the season. The junior sign caller has a very talented wide receiving corps that he throws to each week including senior Corey Henderson, a Tennessee commit, and junior Tanner Ash. Henderson has 327 receiving yards and two touchdowns while Ash has 332 yards and seven touchdowns. Another leader of the Eagles offense is senior running Jamarquez Mims who has rushed for 759 yards and nine touchdowns thus far this season.
The Vikings defense has locked down opponents all season as they have shutout three different teams and are only giving up 10.7 points a game. Senior defensive end Tyler McCallister and linebacker Vertrain Allen are the leaders of Airline’s strong front seven which has been playing well all season. Another strength of their defense is the Viking’s secondary which includes defensive backs Tyrice Neal, Deangelo Pouncey and Xavier Johnson have the athleticism to knock down or intercept any opponent’s throw.
The Eagles have one of the best defenses in the state as they are allowing opponents to score eight points a game. Evangel has a mixture of senior leadership like A.C. Gilliam and Jeremias Houston and rising stars including sophomores Micah Baskerville and Davin Cotton in their front seven. Gilliam has 32 tackles including seven tackles for a loss and three sacks while Baskerville has 25 tackles including eight tackles for a loss. The leaders of the Eagles secondary are senior Orlando Puryear and sophomore Ardarius Washington. Both players have two interceptions while Washington has a fumble recovery.
Players on both teams are preparing very hard for this highly anticipated matchup. Reaching out to various members on both teams to get their thoughts on the game, Evangel junior wide receiver Tanner Ash stated, “We know Airline is a very good football team and we will have to be on top of things to compete with them. I am very confident in my team and I believe that if we keep God first and stay focused, we will be good to go.”
Evangel senior linebacker A.C. Gilliam added, “We are focused on going to the next level and we know we are facing a great team Friday so it’s key that we play great fundamental football.”
Airline senior running back Shun’cee Thomas is locked in for the game adding, “I’m preparing to face Evangel like I prepare for everyone else and that is staying focus, run hard, and stay falling forward. I’m so confident in my team with this game.” Airline safety Tyrice Neal’s confidence in his team is high stating, “We’re going to prepare like we have every week. We just need to eliminate more mistakes. We’re so confident that we all feel like we have all the guys to stop anyone in our district as well as the state.”
This game will be a fight to the finish and whoever wins this game will have definitely earned the victory.
Will Airline stay undefeated and prove they are one of the best teams in the state or will Evangel defend their home turf and become the frontrunner in District 1-5A? Only time will tell.
Photo credit: twitter.com; No. 3 Evangel wide receiver Corey Henderson.