Kingwood Christian School put plenty of points on the scoreboard Thursday, but the Lions came up just short in a 34-20 loss to East Memorial Christian Academy.

“I was very pleased with the consistency of our kids’ attitudes,” said head coach Vince Elliott. “I was a little bit surprised by their positive attitudes.”

Kingwood took an early lead in the first quarter. A 39-yard pass from Daniel Reeves to Tyrone Pope set up a Pope 1-yard touchdown dive. The extra point by Derrick Lykins was blocked after a bad snap.

The Lions (0-8) gave up a touchdown late in the first quarter on a 52-yard run by East Memorial.

East Memorial scored early in the second quarter, which was followed by a 4-yard touchdown run by Pope midway through the quarter. The Lions made some defensive miscues and gave up a 62-yard touchdown run for the final touchdown of the first half. East Memorial led Kingwood 22-12 at halftime.

The third quarter opened with East Memorial scoring quickly on a 17-yard pass. Kingwood scored with 7:03 remaining in the game on a 1-yard run by Pope to cut the lead to 28-20 midway through the 4th quarter. Seth Trimble had a 58-yard run late in the game called back on a block in the back penalty.

Pope had 23 carries for 143 yards and three touchdowns, while also passing for 44 yards. Pope also had eight tackles on defense. Trimble had two sacks. Terrance Peebles had seven tackles and a fumble recovery. Reeves completed 6-of-12 passes for 91 yards.

Elliott said he saw a lot of positives in the 14-point loss.

“It was probably the first game we nearly put together a complete game,” Elliott said. “We’ve got one more game left. We might just win one before this season is over.”