The moment Juwan Rogers took the opening kick off 99 yards for a touchdown, American Christian Academy knew Vincent came to play Friday. The Yellow Jackets led ACA most of the night and held a six-point lead with three minutes to play, before the Patriots recovered for a 35-27 Class 2A, Region 4 victory.

Vincent’s Brett Frizzell ran a 43-yard reverse on fourth down to keep the Yellow Jackets’ upset hopes alive. Facing first-and-goal from the seven, Vincent was unable to punch the ball in on the next three plays to bring up a 22-yard field goal attempt by Frizzell, which was blocked.

ACA took advantage of Vincent’s missed opportunity to regain the lead, 28-27, on a 56-yard pass from Harrison Pollard o Dillon Williams. A 31-yard interception return on the ensuing Vincent possession sealed the victory for ACA.

“I tell you what, our guys played their guts out,” Vincent head coach Dwight Spradley said. “I challenged our guys and said, ‘Listen, nobody’s given us a chance and we’ve played hard. We can still go 7-3.’ They bought into it.”

That pep talk apparently worked for Rogers and also for quarterback Corey Deloach, who threw for 24 yards and two touchdowns to Frizzell.

Vincent struggled by turning the ball over during game, as it threw four picks and lost one fumble ACA had two interceptions.

The Yellow Jackets (5-4, 3-4) host Montevallo for a cross-county rivalry Thursday at 7 p.m.