The Tomball Christian Warriors beat the Austin Crusaders 79-0
The Tomball Christian Warriors beat the Austin Crusaders 79-0 on September 17, 2022. It was their second straight win against another homeschool team and the defense shut out the opponent once again. Both sides of the ball were extremely productive, with the offense scoring 7 touchdowns and the defense scoring 4 touchdowns and a safety. The Warriors will continue their season with a record of 2-2.
The Warriors scored 30 points in the first quarter while playing 4 offensive series and 4 defensive series. After a kickoff to CB/RB Anthony Carias, the ball was placed at the TCW 32 yard line and RB/OLB Garrett England ran for 9 yards on the first play. The drive continued with a 19 yard rush by TE/QB Ezra Criswell and a 37 yard run by RB/OLB Caleb Harmon. A defender ripped off half of his jersey and he wore CB/S Will Cseszko’s #42 for the rest of the evening. Garrett England ended the series with a 1 yard rushing touchdown that would be the first of 12 scores by the Warriors. K/WR Ethan Rice made the extra point and kicked off to the Crusaders. On the next 2 plays, DE/T/DT Mark Haynes pushed them back 20 yards with a sack and a TFL. The Crusader offense went three and out and punted to RB/CB Daniel Abraham, who took the ball to the 22 yard line. From there, Daniel started the series with a 16 yard run and FB/DT Joe Cassidy entered the end zone 4 plays later. The score was 14-0 with 5:30 left in the first quarter. Ethan Rice kicked off and pinned back the Crusaders within their own red zone. On the next play, Mark Haynes recovered a fumble at the Crusader 16 yard line and took the ball into the end zone, scoring his first touchdown of the season. His contribution to the scoreboard put the Warriors ahead 21-0 after Ethan Rice’s extra point. There was 5:15 left in the first quarter. Ethan kicked off and DT/RB Josiah Damiani and Daniel Abraham tackled the runner at the 13 yard line. 3 plays into the next drive, OLB/TE Reagan Zbylot intercepted a pass and returned possession to the Warrior offense. A 21 yard run by Ezra Criswell on the third play of the series added another touchdown to the scoreboard, which now read 28-0. Ethan’s extra point was good with 2:33 left in the first quarter. He kicked off and Daniel Abraham tackled the returner at the 9 yard line. Garrett England had a safety a few plays later to make the score 30-0. The first quarter ended in the middle of a Warrior offensive drive.
In the second quarter, the defense saw the field 5 times and the offense played 4 series. QB Drew Harrison’s only 3 pass attempts of the game came on the drive continued from the first quarter. WR/SS Josiah Stavinoha caught a 30 yard pass that set up the Warriors in the red zone, where Garrett England recorded his third score of the night with a 5 yard rushing touchdown. Ethan Rice kicked the extra point to put the Warriors ahead 37-0 with 10:23 left in the second quarter. He kicked off and the Crusaders received the ball at their own 23 yard line. Their offense went three and out and punted to Daniel Abraham, who returned the ball to the Crusader 39 yard line. The Warriors weren’t able to convert on fourth down and gave the ball to the Crusaders at their 34 yard line. Back to back TFLs by DE/OLB/RB Kevin Snaider and Joe Cassidy helped to get their offense off the field after 6 plays. The Crusaders punted and Daniel Abraham brought the ball to their 48 yard line. Immediately after a 28 yard rush by Ezra Criswell, Daniel found the end zone on a 20 yard touchdown run. It was his fifth touchdown of the season. Ethan Rice’s extra point was good and the score was 44-0 with 4:02 left in the second quarter. On Ethan’s kickoff, OLB Peter Zbylot tackled the returner at the Crusader 20 yard line. DE/WR/TE Luke Harrison had a pick six on the second play of the series and took the ball 27 yards into the end zone. After Ethan Rice’s extra point, the Warriors led 51-0 with 3:00 left in the second quarter. The defense took the field again and continued to put the Crusaders behind the line of scrimmage with a sack by Kevin Snaider and a TFL by DE/T Timothy Muhle. A turnover on downs gave the ball to the Warrior offense at the opponent’s 9 yard line. RB/MLB Conner Burke had a 9 yard rushing touchdown which made the score 58-0 with 2:43 left in the second quarter. After Ethan Rice kicked the extra point, Daniel Abraham took a turn kicking off and put the Crusaders in their red zone. Timothy Muhle ended the first half of the game with a 7 yard sack. Going into the second half, the score was 58-0.
The Crusaders received the kickoff to begin the third quarter, where the Warriors had 3 offensive drives and 3 defensive drives. They forced three straight incompletions on the first series of the game and the Crusaders punted to Daniel Abraham. He took the ball to their 17 yard line. WR/RB Ian Stavinoha and Luke Harrison took advantage of the field position and rushed three times, with Luke entering the end zone on an 11 yard run. Ethan Rice made the extra point and the Warriors were now up by 65 points with 10:06 left in the third quarter. Daniel Abraham had another excellent kickoff and Ethan Rice tackled the returner at the Crusader 10 yard line. They went three and out thanks to stops by the run defense and good pass coverage by Ethan Rice and SS Bryson Zbylot. A turnover on downs returned the ball to the Warriors and Ezra Criswell went in at quarterback. Unfortunately, several penalties stalled the drive and the 40 yard field goal attempt was no good. The Warrior defense only allowed one first down on the following drive thanks to a 5 yard sack by Timothy Muhle. Conner Burke caused a fumble that was recovered by OLB/SS Jack Alderson at the Crusader 35 yard line. QB Caden Alderson entered the game before the third quarter ended. The Warriors were ahead 65-0.
In the fourth quarter, the offense had 1 drive and the defense had 3. The drive from the last series was continued with a 6 yard run by Daniel Abraham but the Warriors weren’t able to convert on third down. Ethan Rice punted and Jackson Resurreccion downed the ball in the red zone, this time at the opponent’s 2 yard line. Josiah Damiani had a pick 6 on the third play of the Crusader’s offensive drive that put TCW up 72-0 with 8:11 left in the fourth quarter. After Ethan Rice’s extra point, Daniel Abraham kicked off for the third time, and once again he put the Crusaders dangerously close to their own end zone. Peter Zbylot downed the ball at the 12 yard line and the defense took the field again. Kevin Snaider had another TFL for 3 yards as the offense tried to get a first down. On the next play, the receiver was being tackled by Josiah Damiani when he tried a backwards pass to his teammate. CB/WR Micah Stavinoha caught the ball and ran into the end zone for the fourth defensive touchdown of the evening. Daniel Abraham kicked the extra point and made the score 79-0 with 2:36 left in the game. Daniel kicked off and the runner made it to the 50 yard line before being tackled by Kevin Snaider. The last series of the game began with a sack by DT/G Sam Pearson and ended one play later with a tackle by Timothy Muhle at the line of scrimmage. The Warriors won 79-0.
Three of the Warrior quarterbacks saw the field, but only Drew Harrison attempted a pass. He completed 2 of 3 passes for 38 yards and a quarterback rating of 109.7. Josiah Stavinoha caught one of the passes for 35 yards and Conner Burke caught the other for 3 yards. Ezra Criswell led the team in rushing yards with 4 carries for 61 yards. His longest run was for 28 yards and he scored a rushing touchdown. Caleb Harmon had 3 runs for 58 yards and had an average of 19.3 yards, the highest on the team. His longest run was for 37 yards. Daniel Abraham had 7 carries for 47 yards, with his longest run gaining 20 yards. He also scored a rushing touchdown. Conner Burke, Luke Harrison, and Joe Cassidy each had 1 rushing touchdown, and Garrett England had 2. The run game was dominant during the entire evening, totaling 209 yards and 7 touchdowns.
On the defense, Kevin Snaider led the team in tackles with a total of 7. In addition, he had 3 TFLs and sacked the quarterback once. The second most tackles were contributed by Conner Burke, who had a total of 5 and 2 sacks. 6 players tied for third most with 4 tackles: Franklin Huard, Mark Haynes, Reagan Zbylot, Joe Cassidy, Timothy Muhle, and Luke Harrison. Franklin Huard also had 3 TFLs, Timothy Muhle and Joe Cassidy had 2, and Mark Haynes and Luke Harrison had 1. Mark had 1 sack and Timothy Muhle had 2. Five defensive players scored during the game. Luke Harrison and Josiah Damiani each returned an interception for a touchdown, Micah Stavinoha and Mark Haynes recovered fumbles for touchdowns, and Garrett England had a safety. The defense was excellent all night, ending drives quickly, giving the offense good field position, and contributing 30 points to the scoreboard.
I interviewed Caleb Harmon about his opinion on the team’s performance, playing running back versus playing linebacker, and more.
Ella: First of all, how did you rip your jersey?
Caleb: So I think part of it was that the jerseys got wet and when he grabbed it I think his fingers got into one of the holes and then it just completely ripped. But I think it’s actually pretty cool to be honest.
Ella: How are you feeling about the team’s overall performance tonight?
Caleb: So we got a win, yes, but our execution still wasn’t at a championship level and we still need to get to that championship level. Yes we won but we need to still keep that tempo. We did not do that tonight.
Ella: Who are some of your teammates that played well?
Caleb: Garrett; I love running with him; and Joe Cassidy. He always is a good example on defense and on offense and I just love those two guys.
Ella: What do you think you did well tonight and what can you improve on?
Caleb: I think I did well executing what Coach wanted me to do and what I need to get better on is probably still reading the plays because I’m not reading the plays enough.
Ella: Did the game plan of the Crusaders’ offense match what the defense prepared for, or were there some surprises?
Caleb: I think we prepared pretty good. We knew everything that they were running and yeah, we did pretty good.
Ella: You’re playing running back and outside linebacker, which position do you enjoy playing more and why?
Caleb: Outside linebacker for sure. I love defense; I love having Coach Price and Coach Morales. I also love Coach Dennis too but defense is just where I’m at.
Ella: How will the result of tonight’s game impact your preparation for the game next week in Oklahoma?
Caleb: We’ve definitely seen some flaws and stuff we need to work on. Like where our o-line needs to go between the whistles and how our linebackers need to be faster. But I think other than that we’re pretty set for Nationals.
Note: On Saturday, September 24, the Warriors face off against the Lighthouse Christian Chargers for a rematch of last year’ championship game. This game will be played in Atoka, Oklahoma at Atoka High School. Kickoff is at 2:00 pm. Check the TCW social media for any last minute updates or changes.
Great job Ella