Harrells’ Tracey Boone and Trent Jackson close in on a Wake Christian ballcarrier early in the second half.
Mike Carter | For the Independent
Harrells surges past Wake Christian for sixth straight
Harrells’ Ethan Spell looks over his offense prior to snapping the ball for the play.
Mike Carter | For the Independent
Ethan Spell breaks up a pass in the endzone to end a second half Bulldog scoring threat.
Mike Carter | For the Independent
Devin Gardner rumbles into the secondary on his way to a first half score against Wake Christian Academy.
Mike Carter | For the Independent
Harrells flanker Sam Hope stiff-arms a Wake Christian defender on a first quarter gain.
Mike Carter | For the Independent
Harrells’ Tracey Boone smothers a Bulldog fumble deep in Crusader territory, thwarting another scoring threat.
Mike Carter | For the Independent
Friday night’s gridiron contest between Harrells Christian Academy and Wake Christian Academy unfolded pretty much as expected: the Crusaders built an early lead and never looked back. With another dominating effort, Harrells took home a 46-7 victory on their home field, running their record to 6-0 and setting up a big season finale showdown in a rematch with Trinity on Friday night.
The Crusaders got things going on Friday night with back-to-back scores in the first quarter. Xavier Arrington got HCA on the board first with a 7-yard touchdown run. Ethan Spell converted the extra point to make it 7-0. Then, Isaac Underwood burst open a 38-yard run for another score, but this one yielded a missed extra point, leaving the score sitting at 13-0.
Wake Christian was able to answer back in the first quarter, getting a touchdown off the feet of Ross Burnette on a 5-yard run, who also converted the PAT to make it 13-7. But, that’s as close as things got.
13-7 was the score after one quarter of play, but, the Crusaders were on the brink of blowing things wide open.
Harrells got three scores in the second quarter, capitalizing on scores by the multitude of weapons that is Crusaders offense. Devin Gardner scored the first touchdown on a 31-yard scamper, followed by another big run of 48 yards by Underwood, and a QB Keeper by Spell. The PATs were all converted and at halftime, Harrells held a dominant 34-7 lead.
Out of the break, Gardner continued to pile on the yardage for his already stellar season. The junior running back ripped off a 62-yard run for the next Crusaders score to push the margin to 40-7.
The final tally of the game came in the fourth quarter, this time on a run by James Cavenaugh. He ran the ball into the end zone from two yards out to hit the game’s final marginal at 46-7.
The Crusaders got solid production from all over their roster. They compiled a whopping 507 yards of total offense while holding the Bulldogs to just 187.
Harrells had three different players hit 100+ yards of rushing on Friday night: Gardner with 147, Underwood with 143, and Sam Hope with 101. Arrington finished with 75 yards and Cavenaugh had 37. Trent Jackson had a game-high six tackles.
With the win, the Crusaders are now 6-0 overall with just one game left in the regular season. That game is against Trinity Christian, who absorbed a shocking 14-8 loss this past Friday against North Raleigh Christian, who they had just beaten 50-0 two weeks earlier. In their last meeting way back at the beginning of the season, HCA took a nip-and-tuck 7-6 victory.
Game time is set for 7 p.m.
Reach Sports Editor Daron Barefoot at [email protected].