Christian Heritage stumbles to season-opening loss to Heritage

Published 11:15 pm Saturday, August 17, 2024

One of the big question marks surrounding the Heritage Generals coming into the 2024 season would be how sophomore quarterback Caden Hight would handle the transition to varsity starter.

And thanks to receivers like Cody Bryan, Hight aced his first test.

Facing a Christian Heritage team on Saturday night that hopes to challenge for a Region 7-A DI title this fall, the Hight-Bryan connection put on a two-man highlight reel in a 42-17 season-opening victory for the Generals at Jeff Sims Field. The game was originally scheduled for Friday, but had to be postponed due to inclement weather.

Hight was picked off once near the goal line in the waning seconds of the first half, but otherwise looked like a polished veteran against the Lions. He completed his first nine passes and finished 13 of 16 for 273 yards and three touchdowns.

And nearly all of it to Bryan.

The junior speedster caught 10 passes for 257 yards and was on the receiving end of all three of Hight’s touchdowns as he tortured Christian Heritage with his hands, his feet and his playmaking ability. and that playmaking ability wasn’t limited to just offense as he also returned a fumble 38 yards to give him four scores on the night.

Christian Heritage put up the first three points of the night on a 24-yard field goal by Sam Bishop following a 56-yard drive. However, the Generals hit the accelerator after that, running off 42 straight points.

A nice play-action pass went to Bryan on a crossing route as he scored from 36 yards out at the 3:02 mark of the first quarter. The Heritage defense stepped up just three plays later as senior Tristan Simmons stepped in front of a Carter Triplett pass and returned it 35 yards to add to the Generals lead.

After forcing the Lions to punt early in the second quarter, Hight threw down the line to his right and hit Bryan with a screen pass. Bryan did the rest, splitting two defenders and out running the defense for a 90-yard score that made it 21-0.

The Lions got a 51-yard catch by Charlie Idom on their next possession and moved the ball inside the Heritage 15, but a spectacular diving interception by inside linebacker Cooper Chappelear thwarted the drive at the 2-yard line.

The ensuing drive went 98 yards, highlighted by a 57-yard grab by Bryan on a go route. Brayden Slaughter ran five times on the march for 36 yards with the final two making it 28-3 with 5:45 left in the half.

Bryan’s third TD of the night came on his fumble return, making it 35-3 with 2:35 left before halftime and that would be the way the score stood at intermission.

A second Lions’ fumble early in the third gave the ball to the Generals near midfield and this time the Navy-and-Red went 53 yards in 10 plays and scored in spectacular fashion. On third-and-15 from the Christian Heritage 21, Hight lofted the ball toward the end zone and right into the hands of Bryan, despite the best efforts of a pair of defenders who had tried to blanket the receiver with double coverage.

The Lions finally got in the end zone against the Heritage second team defense as a 5-yard TD pass from Triplett to Idom capped an 80-yard drive late in the third quarter, while the final points for the visitors came with 9:42 remaining in the game as Jaylon Gay blocked a punt and returned 10 yards.

Heritage finished the night with 427 yards of offense, 154 coming on the ground. Slaughter ran 16 times for 101 yards and Jacob Bradley had five carries for 55 yards in the last half of the fourth quarter.

Jake Collett had a big game on special teams for Heritage. He made all six of his extra point attempts and punted twice for an average of 41.5 yards. He also put three kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks.

Triplett, the senior dual threat signal-caller, completed 14 of 27 passes for 162 yards with two interceptions and ran 11 times for 75 yards. However, the rest of his team was held to 18 yards on 14 carries. Idom had a team-high six catches for a team-high 106 yards and Bronx Stallion hauled in four passes good for 33 yards.

Heritage (1-0) will host cross-county rival LFO this Friday night, while Christian Heritage (0-1) will have a short turnaround as they get set to host Cherokee Christian this coming Thursday at 7 p.m.