Football became something more than football these last four weeks for Christ School players and coaches.
A game became an escape from the reality going on all around them. A field 100 yards long and 50 yards wide became a sanctuary from the fallen trees, downed power lines, and displaced families.
How cathartic were the Friday Night Lights of Fayssoux Field?
Greenies head coach Chad Walker’s voice was trembling when he said, “it’s awesome.”
“It was about keeping the guys together over the break that we had. It was about us coming together as a football family," he continued. "We talk about building a trail. Our trail got washed out, and we had the opportunity to come back and rebuild. We’ve talked about it being a new lease on the season, a new path we can take. Our prayers are with everyone in our community.”
Christ School honored 13 boys on Senior Night with the team’s first home win this season, 31-3 over visiting Metrolina Christian Academy. So many of the seniors found a moment to shine.
Among them, Jaylen Daniels ’25 set the tone with a forced fumble early in the first half, Will Walker ’25 made an acrobatic interception, and Jordan Edgecomb ’25 did his best shimmy in the end zone. The touchdown dance came after a 12-yard run at the 6:11 mark of the third quarter and added to a night which also included a fumble recovery for the linebacking prospect who is steadily building up college offers.
Junior Jackson Cancel ’25 was the offense’s lynchpin, rushing for a pair of touchdowns (3 and 23 yards). Mason Holtzclaw ‘27 connected with Niko Andrews ‘26 for a 38-yard touchdown pass with 12.3 seconds left in the third quarter and Spencer Thompson ‘26 had plenty of leg to spare on a 41-yard field goal that capped the scoring.
The Greenies (2-4) got better as the action wore on in a game they badly needed for state playoff seeding. The Warriors (5-4) struggled for much of the night to get any offense going out of their run-heavy attack. Sky Liu ’26 picked off one of the few passes by Metrolina.
“We were a little rusty,” Coach Walker said.
“We challenged the guys at halftime, they answered that challenge, and the seniors stepped up in a big way tonight. We wanted to play Christ School football, play to that standard, and we did in the second half.”
Seniors who were recognized Friday included Jaylen, Jordan, Will, Jake Landis ’25, Finley Sullivan ’25, Cooper Perone ’25, Dawson Thompson ’25, Abdullah Al ledan ’25, Luke Anderson ’25, Sam Browder ’25, Luc Madesclaire ’25, Blue Simmons ’25, and Tyler Brouse ’25.