ROSWELL, Ga. - The Hebron Christian Academy football team advanced to the GHSA Private State Championship for the first time in program history after defeating Fellowship Christian Academy 24-17 Friday evening at Bob Lord Field.
As the No. 6 seed, Hebron punches its ticket to Mercedes-Benz Stadium where the Lions will play No. 5 Prince Avenue in the state title on Wednesday, Dec. 18th at 1 p.m.
After defeating Fellowship Christian 38-18 back in August, the Lions needed a second win against the Paladins to extend their season, and they did just that, ending the FCA's 2024 campaign at 11-3 overall.
"We had to overcome a lot of mistakes and we did," said head coach Jonathan Gess. "We fought and that's how the semifinals are. It is really surreal to be going to the Mercedes Benz, I wanted it so bad for our school. These semifinal victories are the sweetest."
Hebron came out strong in the first half with a rushing touchdown from quarterback Thomas Stallworth on the first drive of the game. With 3:01 left in the first quarter, Devon Caldwell broke multiple tackles and found the end zone from 21 yards out to give the Lions a 14-0 lead.
After FCA got on the board with a touchdown in the second quarter, the Lions capped the first-half with a Cam Eblen 33-yard field goal with three second left to send HCA to the locker room with a 17-6 lead.
The Paladins marched down the field to open the second quarter, but the HCA defense stood strong in the red zone and forced a field goal to make it 17-9. Both offenses struggled to sustain drives in the third quarter, but Fellowship scored another touchdown in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter and converted the two-point conversion to tie the game at 17-17 with 9:13 remaining.
With all the momentum shifted to the FCA sideline, Jarvis Mathurin took matters into his own hands.
On the ensuing drive, Mathurin found a hole and went 77 yards for a touchdown to give Hebron the lead right back with 8:51 left in the fourth quarter.
The Lion defense held strong after the Paladins went for it on fourth and long late in the game. Max Steve led the charge as he sacked FCA's Jonathan Granby to give possession back to the Lions and eventually send Hebron to victory formation.
HCA had quite the run game after rushing 39 times for 306 yards. Stallworth led the rushing attack with 22 carries for 125 yards and a score. Mathurin had eight rushing for 118 yards, while Caldwell had 59 rushing yards on six carries.
While Hebron makes its first appearance in the GHSA State Championship, Coach Gess returns to the title game looking for his seventh crown after winning six state championships at Eagles Landing Christian Academy, including five straight titles from 2015-2019.
The State Championship game against Prince Avenue will be a rematch of the Region Championship at Burlingame Field where the Wolverines squeaked out a 34-31 victory over the Lions.
The title game will be televised live on Georgia Public Broadcasting and tickets to the game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium are available for $23 by clicking here.
