Eagles soar in first-round state playoff game

ALBANY — Five years ago, Sherwood Christian Academy’s Pete McSwain and Stephen Cannady were members of SCA’s unbeaten JV team. But time was not kind to that squad. Attrition, transfers and moves took their toll. Now in their senior season, McSwain and Cannady find themselves as the only players remaining from that once promising bunch.

And on Friday night, their hard work and persistence paid off.

Sherwood scored on its first five possessions to roll to a 41-8 opening round GISA Class AA victory against outmatched Nathanael Greene Academy, improving to 8-2 on the year and marking SCA’s first home field playoff victory in 15-plus years football.

“This feels great.” McSwain said. “Stephen and I have been here since we were freshmen. Now that we are seniors, I couldn’t want anything more than for us to keep playing right now.”

And play on they shall.

With the win, Sherwood will now play host to either Edmund Burke or Arlington Christian next Friday in the second round of the AA playoffs.

Sherwood wasted little time setting the game’s tone when Dontavious Brown scored the first of his three TDs on a 62-yard run on the game’s first play. Then on Nat Greene’s opening possession, Brown also handled business on defense, returning an interception 55 yards for a touchdown. After a Nat Greene fumble on the following possession, Brown then scored from 18 yards out to make it 21-0 with 7:22 remaining in the opening period.

Brown, who pushed his season totals to 1590 yards rushing and 21 touchdowns, sat the rest of the night.

The Eagles increased their lead to 28-0 at the end of the first period on two-yard run by Jay Cunningham, and padded their cushion to 35-0 at the half when Derrick Allen scored on an 11-yard run.

The Eagles even took a knee on their final possession before halftime, already up by five scores, in an effort to not run up the score anymore.

SCA closed its scoring late in the third quarter when Terrance Burnette hooked up with Cannady on a 65-yard scoring pass.

“At the first of the year it seemed like it was just me and Pete,” Cannady said. “But now it feels like everybody has been here all along. This is a team sport and we are here right now because of all of us. We’ve really come together as a team.”

Greene, which dressed just 14 players for the contest, finally got on the scoreboard with 4:30 remaining in the game on a 13-yard run by quarterback Chris Brown.

“The first home playoff win, well these people deserve this win,” first year coach Reginald Mitchell said, looking toward SCA’s fans. “These are good people. They stayed the course. They stuck with their program. We are very fortunate to be where we are right now and these folks had a lot to do with it.”

Mitchell then paused before adding: “It gets harder and harder now, there are no more gimmes. Three more weeks. That’s how long we need to keep playing to win a state championship. We have come a long way in a short time, but we still have a ways to go.”

Before the game, Sherwood Headmaster Glen Shultz summed up the feelings of the SCA faithful.

“This is exciting, it shows our kids that with hard work, you can accomplish great things if you stay focused,” Shultz said. “This has really pulled the whole school together.”