What We Saw: Christ Church 11, Southside Christian 7

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>GREENVILLE | </strong>Christ Church badly needed one big play.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1013068' first='Tucker' last='Hendrix']</strong> made two. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Taking over at the Southside Christian 34 down 7-4 with 2:04 to play, Hendrix lofted a perfect pass to <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='816751' first='Jude' last='Hall']</strong> for a 24-yard gain, then found the end zone from 10 yards out for the Cavaliers only touchdown of the night as Christ Church survived to win 11-7.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"We had to try to find a way to get Jude the ball," Hendrix said. "He made a great play to stay inbounds, and then he just went up and got it. I tried to throw it in a way that he would be the only one who could catch that ball."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hall was happy for the opportunity.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"Tucker threw it up a couple times and I didn't make the play," Hall said. "Right there, I just got in the mindset that I had to make the play if we wanted to win the game. I just went up and got it."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>On the touchdown, Hendrix made the most of some pressure brought by Southside Christian.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"It broke down a little bit, I got outside of the pocket and thought I saw a lane, and I just took off."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hendrix had a bit of a rough night, even giving way to backup <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1199124' first='Judd' last='Windham']</strong> at one point. But coach Quinn Hatfield said his starter's best attribute was on full display at the end.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"He's a competitor," Hatfield said. "He's a leader. He's got a lot of resiliency. He's hung in there for us. We took him out of the game tonight, and he didn't get his head down. He came back in and made a huge play there at the end when we had to have it. And that's just who he is."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Both defenses were lights out all night. Southside Christian did a particularly good job up front, as <strong>Jeremiah Jackson</strong>, <strong>Richie Maxwell</strong>, and the defensive line generally made life miserable for the Cavaliers, allowing just 25 rushing yards on 20 carries. On the back end, <strong>Bryson Duck</strong> frustrated Hall for most of the night, shadowing him all over the field and breaking up four passes. The Sabres allowed just 135 total yards and forced three turnovers on the night.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Christ Church was almost as good, and came up huge when it mattered. Southside Christian managed 209 yards of offense, but 48 of that was on one play, a second-quarter touchdown from <strong>Jack Criswell </strong>to <strong>Jackson Connolly </strong>that gave the Sabres a 7-4 lead after a pair of errant punt snaps had put them in a hole early. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1012695' first='Acie' last='Hatfield']</strong> and <strong>Hayes Lyman</strong> gave up next to nothing downfield, <strong>Ford Glenn</strong> made play after play from his spot at LB, and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1734501' first='George' last='Michael Stathakis']</strong> and the Cavaliers' pass rush never allowed Criswell to get comfortable. Stathakis had sacks on each of the Sabres' last two possessions, one to force the punt that set up Christ Church's scoring drive, and another that brought up fourth down and panic mode for Southside Christian.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"We came out here to try to fight," Stathakis said. "We're not the biggest (defensive line), but we had our scheme and we stuck to it. We might be smaller, but we're faster, and we got after it."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>His quarterback noticed.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"Defense won us that game," Hendrix scored. "We scored at the end, but the defense did everything. They deserve all the credit for that game. We struggled offensively, but our defense kept us in the game. They just kept making plays, and made enough to give us the chance to go and score on that last drive."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->