Things didn’t go the Eagles’ way when they opened their season against Metro League rival Holy Family back in September.
Faith Christian held a 13-0 lead midway through the third quarter when disaster struck.
“Somehow, we let them come back into it,” Faith Christian junior running back Dustin Albright said. “We didn’t come out passionate in the second half.”
The Eagles, who dropped that game 21-13, can have the last laugh when they travel to Holy Family (12-0) to play for the Class 2A state championship at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 27.
“It’s going to be a tough game,” Eagles’ senior running back Jacob Lewis said. “But if our defense holds up to its potential, I think we’ll win.”
After getting off to a slow 2-2 start, Faith’s defense has been dominant, holding opponents to 38 points while the offense has rolled up 356 in its last eight games.
Faith already avenged their only other loss when they beat Kent Denver 25-14 in the quarterfinals.
After rolling over Brush 40-18 in the semifinals, Faith can bring home the second state championship in school history by winning their grudge match against the Tigers. The Eagles won a state title in 1998 and haven’t been back to the finals since.
“It’s a lot easier to get a team up for another team when you’ve lost to them earlier in the year,” Faith coach Blair Hubbard said. “You never want to lose a game early in the season, but I know I don’t have to do a lot of motivational speeches this week.”
Hubbard said his team has played with a sense of urgency since its 2-2 start.
“From then on out it was a playoff game every week,” he said. “If we got a third league loss we probably would’ve been done for.”
Faith’s strong defense is paired with a multi-faceted rushing attack that often seems to come from all directions at once.
The Eagles have four running backs that have rushed for over 500 yards this season and quarterback Joby Schaffer has contributed 344 rushing yards of his own. Albright, Lewis, Schaffer and running backs Tyler Vigil and Stephen Wilson have combined for 2907 rushing yards, including 292 last weekend against Brush.
The motivated Eagles are playing their best football of the year, and Vigil, who along with the other seniors will be playing his final game in the maroon and gold, won’t let this one slip away without a fight.
“Payback, that’s all I’ve got to say is payback,” he said. “If we go play our game, we’ll be good.”